Thought of the day - fairness

My very first post on this blog was about moral question I couldn't get out of my head.
I don't know whether you've seen it or remember it, but long story short - I photographed some skater kids and was concerned later if I'm allowed to send them the photos (for the mere fact that they were underage). I have just started with the whole photography thing and up until that day I never even thought about that kind of stuff. They were just skaters - 10 or 11 year old kids with a skate and nice manners. I did my research and found the solution for the question that was bothering me, and I did the right thing.

But my point is, I was asked by one of the boys to send him the shots because he has a skater blog and wanted to post the pictures.

And then he said something that surprised me.

"Make sure you send us your name, lady (lady?! :O ),  so that we can give you credit."
And I'm like, "Credit?"
"Yeah, credit, for the photo, you know."

I knew what he meant, but...

..."so that we can give you credit"?

That's what an 11-year old said to me.

An eleven year old.

ELEVEN (11) (or ten, or perhaps twelve, it doesn't matter. A kid).

So, the kid knows that it's nice to give credit when you use someone's photo. That kid knew. A lot of my friends know that. Lots of other people know that. It feels like common sense, right?

And yet, there I am yesterday browsing through Instagram and finding my own photograph in someone else's gallery. Come on! No credit, no name, no "repost".  And not a kid, an older guy.

I know it's not a big deal - it's just one photograph. Whoever put's their content online knows that this can happen. But seriously, don't you have any doubts about whether that's right? Is there any moral and social obligation in your mind that might trigger the "maybe I should put an artist's name underneath it" alarm? No, I guess people don't have those alarms.

Maybe he didn't know? Or he didn't think it was a big deal. Or maybe I'm too f* nice sometimes. He should have known better. We have a word for him in Croatian - magarac.

And even though it's flattering that someone really liked my photo, I'd still prefer that they don't just post it under their name. It's actually a steal. By all means, if you like my photo - you're free to reshare it - as long as you say who's photo it is.

So I asked the certain individual to either remove it or to put my name underneath it (I mean, there is my watermark on the photo right there!), but he never replied. And what can you do? Except to report the post as a spam, or to fill in the copyright violation form and submit it to Instagram.

I did both.

If everything else fails, I have snapshots of the individual so I can publicly expose him. But that's not gonna help either.

I know there's a lot of people struggling with the same problem out there. And I'm not a professional photographer, but it still doesn't feel right. Especially on a platform like Instagram, who's whole purpose is to show your visual arts, photographs and videos. It makes it even worse, actually, because it diminishes the whole value of  Instagram idea.

It just happened so, that I really like that photograph because it took me some time and effort to make it the way it looks (the photo underneath). It's a matter of principles. It's collective common sense and proper conduct that everybody needs to lean forward to, but I guess that's Utopia.

So, be nice, work hard, play hard and stay fair. That's my thought of the day today.

XoXo

It was busy... just how we like it. Update.

So, the last couple of weeks were pretty busy. Ever since I came back from Croatia, things just kept going on and there was no rest for the wicked.

The work piled up, the house was a mess (I do live with a male) and the fridge was empty (male again).

In between cleaning and restocking, there were moments of some photo opportunities I just couldn't miss.

The first thing after my arrival back home was a party we had - business and private kind of party with plenty of friends, lots of food, drinks and a good band. It was nice and exhausting, and everything ended with a good burnout, as expected.

After that, I was mostly trying out a new Nikon I got recently.

So naturally, I went on all the usual places I normally go and tried to capture it with a new lens.

I must say I'm pleased, even though I could use another telephoto lens. What I have now is actually doing pretty good work on macro shots.

Back home, I witnessed some Philippe Ramette's photographs for an upcoming exhibition that was supposed to take place after my father's - and his work got me thinking a bit. I sort of wanted to try out things he does, so I played around a bit with that. My options were limited and actually didn't have as much time as I wanted, so there is a few experimental shots I got. For now.

I went downtown (which I rarely do lately) to see the Buskerfest and famous Toronto sign on Nathan Phillips Square (which everyone took a picture of yet, but me).

I also visited Distillery district again (I wish I could be there more often - that place is amazing).

We also went to CNE (Canadian National Exhibition) place one night. Too expensive just to get in and leave the car outside, when basically everything else you need to pay extra. I was terrified of the rides (I would kill to ride on the most bad-ass ride when I was younger), but I guess that's adulthood. You kind of become aware that there might be actual mechanical issues and all sort of risks and that you might actually die.

We went up north to a cottage for the long weekend. I got up at 6 am to try and shoot the sunrise. Of course, east somehow ended up being totally on the opposite side of where I was thinking (It's not like I'm carrying a compass with me all the time) so the sun got up behind the bushes and cottages and the image was everything but nice.

We also had a photo shoot going on last week, where I finally got to shoot some real people (in your face, Shelly the hamster). Actually it was a girl, a model, and she did her job pretty well. I got to the conclusion that I need a lot of practice still. It was a good experience. I'm looking for models now.

Last, but not least, I joined Instagram. A huge step for me. I've been kind of avoiding it this whole time, but what the heck. You can see a lot more photos if you follow me there - @sharoncocaine

That's all for now. Rock on, folks.