May we steal your photo please?

dispatches: May we steal your photo please?:


Well, at least they asked.

I got an email today that is edging me closer to pulling all my work off of Flickr. In it, a company, Schmap.com, said that they “selected” one of my photos for the “short-list” for inclusion in their Vancouver Guide. They got the photo off of Flickr. Here’s an excerpt.

“While we offer no payment for publication, many photographers are pleased to submit their photos, as Schmap Guides give their work recognition and wide exposure, and are free of charge to readers. Photos are published at a maximum width of 150 pixels, are clearly attributed, and link to high-resolution originals at Flickr.”

This is a commercial, ad-supported site, that is harvesting free content from Flickr. I declined their generous offer (they included a link and an easy check-box to remove the photos). I think maybe they’re trying to behave ethically in a morally dubious morass.

I just don’t see the problem here.

I’ve had some photos used by Schmap a couple of times (portland and vancouver). They seem completely up-front and above board. Tehy asked, said yes. Doug said no. In my case, they did use them. In Doug’s? they didn’t.

Doug doesn’t want to give away his photos? Great. that’s why they asked, and gave him the option of saying no. he did. Nothing got used until the permission process was finished, it’s not like they published stuff and he asked them to take it down.

So I aren’t a paying market? Lots of non-paying markets would use that as an excuse to not ask — so I don’t see why this is a problem…

Hey, they DID ask. And they listend to the answer. We should be worrying about the places that DON’T do that, not bitching at the ones that do.

Unlike Doug, my stuff on flickr is Creative Commons — which means that practically speaking, in many cases they don’t even have to ask. Yet Schmap did, and so have a number of other organizations recently (including a couple of Audubon chapters, and in the last week, the National Wildlife Federation). for Doug, being a pro, it’s different. For me? it’s a jazz, and beyond that, it’s somewhat of a validation that my photography is moving forward and improving as I work on it.

It’s not like Doug was ripped off. He was merely asked permission. How bad is that?

I just don’t see it…

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