Three Palms Photography Blog

After realizing that some of my snow images had made their way across the Internet, I looked at the statistics and logs of my website to find out who had been visiting my site. The logs allow site owners to analyze traffic and “hits” that the website is getting. From the logs, I was able to link back to other websites where my images were being posted. From there, I was able to make contact with the site owners informing them that my images were being displayed without my permission. In some cases, I asked that my images be taken down. In other cases, depending on whether or not the site was “for profit”, I asked that I be given credit for the images and that a link back to my website be posted. I am happy to report that all website owners complied with my requests. If the site was a public “for profit” photography gallery like Flickr, PhotoBucket, SmugMug, or WebShots, it was necessary to submit an email notifying them of the abuse in this standard format:

• Identify the copyrighted work or other intellectual property that you claim has been infringed;
• Identify the material on the site that you claim is infringing, with enough detail so that we may locate it on the website;
• A statement by you that you have a good faith belief that the disputed use is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law;
• A statement by you declaring under penalty of perjury that (a) the above information in your Notice is accurate, and (b) that you are the owner of the copyright interest involved or that you are authorized to act on behalf of that owner;
• Your address, telephone number, and email address; and
• Your physical or electronic signature.

I am pleased to report that all the “for profit” sites complied with my requests, also. As of this writing, however, I am still finding my images posted in public and private galleries. Once an image is out in the public, it is virtually impossible to keep track of and prevent copyright abuses. Sure, there are things to do in order to make it more difficult for images to be used without permission. However, there are ways around these protections. Even though images are protected by copyright the moment the shutter is depressed, the most important action to take is to protect them by registering them with the U. S. Copyright Office. Unfortunately, I did not learn about this process until after my images had been used. Registering, among other things, means statutory damages and attorney’s fees will be available to the copyright owner in court actions. Even though images are protected and even though it is not required, placing a copyright notice on or watermarking the images makes it more difficult, but not impossible, for someone to alter and use images without permission. Personally, I do not like placing copyright notices or watermarks on my images. Though, had I done so, perhaps I would not be in the position I am in now.

As I said earlier, I thought the photographs I took Christmas day 2004 might be significant. When I ventured out to start photographing around town that Christmas morning, I had realized the historical significance of the snow. I had two websites where I had already been posting my images, oldbaldandgrumpy.com and PBase.com. When I returned home that morning, I immediately downloaded the images onto my computer and started the editing process. Not until several days later did I start having regrets about my shoot. My first regret was that I did not take more photographs of more places around town. My second regret was that, about halfway through the shoot, I switched from shooting in RAW mode to JPEG mode because I was worried about running out of space on my compact flash card. The last decision would eventually come back to haunt me in a big way.

After I culled through the images and made some edits, I picked out the ones I thought came out the best. After I was satisfied with the edits I had made, I posted the images to my website and to my PBase account. A few days later, I did some searching on the Internet to see if I could find any other images depicting the “miracle” snow along the Texas coast. Not surprisingly, I found many snow images. What was surprising is I started noticing some of my snow images had made it to other websites! What was that all about? I could not believe that my snow images were being pilfered and posted on other websites. In most cases, the persons who posted them did not give me credit for the images. Not until much later did I learn that, most of the time, my images had been distributed by e-mail. Not that it is a valid excuse, but many e-mail recipients could not have given me credit for the images because they really did not know who took them. This event would introduce me to the wonderful world of copyright infringement, a subject I had only associated with music, video and software pirating, not photography.

It is amazing what can happen when it snows, especially a snow that created the first white Christmas ever along the Texas Gulf Coast. This historic event occurred in 2004. That is the date the story of one photograph starts and the story has not ended just yet, more than three years later. Christmas eve, around 11 p.m. CST, I got my Canon EOS 10D out of its camera bag, along with my tripod and an umbrella, and went outside my house in Galveston, TX to start recording the historic event. All through the neighborhood, I could hear children and adults frolicking in the freshly fallen snow. In no time, there was enough snow on the ground to make a snowman or have a snowball fight. The flakes were huge and there was absolutely no wind at the time. It was one of the most peaceful and wonderful times I had ever experienced. After firing off a number of shots from the street in all directions, I decided it was time to get to bed. By then, it was after 1 a.m. I wanted to get up early in order to photograph other parts of town. I realized the photographs I would take might be significant because it would be Christmas day and it had snowed! Little did I know, at the time, that one particular photograph would have more significance than any of the other photographs I recorded on those two days.

Welcome to my blog. Over time, I hope to post about subjects that are interesting and/or newsworthy, and ones that will be worthy of your time. My main focus, in the beginning, will be photography. Over time, I hope to expand the subject matter to other topics of interest. Right now, though, I would like to keep the subject on photography and relate to my readers the experiences I’ve gone through over the last few years dealing with the area of copyright and what I have learned about copyright as it relates to photography, in general, and my photography, in particular. My hope is you will find what I have to say intriguing. If you do, or even if you do not, please feel free to leave a comment. Thanks!