webpixie Posted February 17, 2007 Share Posted February 17, 2007 arg so im actually p***ed off at the moment none of yall know me well enough to know that this is an extremely rare thing as im a very passive understanding person..often a doormat.. so im a part time photographer along with lots of other things. i decided i wanted some portfolio work to show examples of promo type stuff from musicians, singers, stuff like that.. so i did the not so smart thing of taking photos for someone for basically the price of gas to drive there and back, however part of my payment is also them crediting me for my work everywhere they use it. its a pretty standard thing right? well this was maybe a year ago.. it ended badly because the singer who things she is a diva didn't like how she looked in most of the photos.. the funny thing is i photography mostly BBWs and well she falls into that category.. now apparently this is a new thing to her because she refused to think she looked like THAT and she wanted me to do MAJOR editing to the photos basically turning her into an airbrush job to make her look skinnier. I dont mind touching up flaws and some unflattering stuff but i refused to turn any of my photos into an airbrush. not to mention that would be way to much work for free. the touching up i was doing out of my own heart anyways that was not what i was "hired" for... well i since then had found her on myspace and checked her page this was a month or 2 after and she wasnt using them, so i was happy. (which by the way i wasnt using the photos that i thought were best from this shoot because she did not like them and it was a respect thing) so tonight it popped in my head to go find her again and check up see if she ever got some photos.. well guess what? she is using my photos.. some even altered(badly) on both myspace accounts her website and her photobucket account(no telling where else) all without credit, not only not on the photos but no where to be seen no little comment or link in site.. so i message her on myspace and she responds(in all capitals i might add) very childishly telling me that she will be contacting her attorney blah blah blah i gave up the rights blah blah blah. so i respond and point out the fact that mostof my payment was the credit for the photos so that anyone that saw them knew who took them.. she finally sent another response a little more adult sounding claiming she didn't know that and that her attorney(the person who actually contacted me about the photos in the first place and sounded allot more level headed) didn't tell her she needed all that and blah blah basically im giving her 24 hours to add credit or to take all photos down.. if she dosnt do so i will be reporting her to myspace and photobucket for breaking copyright and she will get kicked off both..sadly there isnt too much i can do about her site without going into a major thing. hopefully her 'attorney' will talk to her and they will get it worked out properly.. using peoples art and photos without credit is a MAJOR pet peeve of mine.. which is why if i need a photo for graphics i usually use royalty free stock art. the only exception is images from actual things like tv shows movies and games (NOT fan art based on them) and even them ill usually add the name somewhere.. as yall might have noticed on my signatures.. grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr Mod Edit: Edited so it wasn't so... loud. Heh. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mira Posted February 17, 2007 Share Posted February 17, 2007 Wow. What a -removed-. Sorry, but that had to some out. XD This post has been edited by a member of staff (Samuel) because of a violation of the forum rules. Swearing, attempting to bypass filters, or covering up swears is not allowed. Please check your user inbox to see if you have been contacted regarding this incident, then review our rules. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
webpixie Posted February 17, 2007 Author Share Posted February 17, 2007 lol exactly.. partly my fault for not printing up a contract and getting her to sign it. however it also means she cant say that she owns them since i have the originals and she has no contract Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt Posted February 17, 2007 Share Posted February 17, 2007 Firstly, (moderator head here) don't just blurt out the first thing your fingers tell you to type. Please. :P Secondly (normal head here) it's technically stealing if they didn't 'pay' the credit to you that you asked for. But you really shouldn't rely on word of mouth. Always have something written down. If it's just word of mouth, there's no way to prove that's correct information. And no, you can't just write it down now. <_< At the end of the day, there isn't much you can do besides what you're doing now. I know MySpace take it seriously with copyrighted images, but I'm not sure about Bebo. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cloudedsunny Posted February 17, 2007 Share Posted February 17, 2007 I'm so sorry this happened to you! She does sound like a b* and how unfortunate that she decides to play into one of the typical BBW stereotypes about not respecting her own beauty too. Being a photographer and BBW myself I have learned that 90% of photos of ANYone regardless of size are "ugly" but "ugly" can be beautiful too! But your photos were probably great, she just has untrained eyes and self esteem issues. All the legal stuff though?! WOAH how nutso!! Basically she has no legal right to use your pics so I'm AMAZED she threatened YOU with her attorney when anyone in their right mind knows that she's the one breaking the law!!! If she's resorting to the fact that it was a verbal contract to change her mind, then scr*w her, you changed your mind too. Contact free legal representation and get them to contact her, legal aid or whatever it is. Thankyou for posting this too though, because it will definately make me careful about who I allow to use my work in the future! And contracts too...and model release forms... At the end of the day, sad as it is the world is full of people who steal artists work and use creative people for their own gain. As an artist I guess I have tried to put my fears about people stealing my work on hold because what is it I'm really afraid of? If by some wild tiny chance my work does stay on and be remembered after me, it will be obvious that it was my work. If someone else has stolen it, they obviously have no talent, no morals and probably won't be remembered as anything good. Everything comes out in the end. And since you own the originals you can do an artwork about her...the real her ;) hehehehe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
.Dan. Posted February 17, 2007 Share Posted February 17, 2007 This reminds me of the crap Youtube's in. They have so much copyrighted stuff on their site. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ellie_Penguin Posted February 19, 2007 Share Posted February 19, 2007 Ugh i totally know how you're feeling. Funny thing is that if she told everyone she took the pics and all, and people asked her to take pictures, she wouldn't have been able to do it :laughingsmiley: Anyways, I hope she takes the pics down and if she doesn't, I hope she does get banned from photobucket and myspace. I don't know if this would work, but maybe next time you can look into a law book about copyrighting, scan the page and send it to her? I've had experience before where those people claim to have an 'attorney' just to scare you away, but really they're just friends of her and nothing more. An attorney would've explained on detail which rule you were "breaking". Good luck!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
webpixie Posted February 19, 2007 Author Share Posted February 19, 2007 well luckly i now do use contracts infact did a shoot today with one, yay..this one was jsut so kinda spur of the moment style thing i didnt really think about it soon enough even now i had trouble finding one for the purposes needed for this type of situation, (of course with more money involded but the credit thing and various other stuff into concederation) i was already using general model releases but that was partly becuase of the errr types of photos i was taking...yea... lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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