Photographer's Bane

I read a blog recently that brought something very important to my attention. I wrote this blog weeks ago, but shelved it temporarily to write about Gary.

Roni Loren, the woman behind BlogHer wrote an article based on her experiences being sued by a photographer for using his images on her blog without permission. http://www.blogher.com/bloggers-beware-you-can-get-sued-using-photos-your-blog-my-story?page=0,1

Ouch. The unfortunate part is, even though Ms. Loren was apologetic and didn't mean to do anything wrong. Her actions were looked upon as a kind of piracy.

At first I thought "That's crazy! It's just a photo for her blog! It's not like she's raking in money using his work."

When I run it through my head I realize photographers have the same issues with piracy as writers and musicians do. They work hard to create their art as well, spending hours perfecting their craft and investing thousands of dollars in equipment. Why should they be any different?

We get mad when piracy sites sell our books for their own gain, but what do you do when random people from all over the world pluck your work off the internet without even a clue that they're stealing from you?
 
I've been  sticking  primarily to one site--http://www.freedigitalphotos.net/ and haven't had any problems. You can use their photos for free if you acknowledge them, but certain rules apply. If you look at my past posts, you will see that at the bottom of each page I acknowledge the artist and Freedigitalphotos.net or I use the HTML link they provide, such as the case below.

But Roni Loren has me nervous. I can't afford to get sued either. I have a feeling I'll be using my own camera a hell of a lot more.

Photo by: <p>Image: <a href="http://www.freedigitalphotos.net" target="_blank">FreeDigitalPhotos.net</a></p>