The Observation Deck

As you all know, I have photographed Lakewood sports for the past four years on my own time, with my own equipment, at my own expense.

On an average day, I would spend two to three hours taking photos at games. That's where everyone sees me in public. But what people don't see is the time that it takes to go through 150-300 images after a game and edit each one, and then post each one to the Lakewood Observer gallery. Usually, on a day where I shoot a game and come home and edit, by the time I'm done with uploading photos to the photoblog, it's past midnight.

I don't get paid a single cent for the (on average) 10 hours a day I do this. I don't ask to get paid for the time I decide to put in. No one forces me to be at these games, it's my personal choice.

Multiply 10 hours a day times four events per week. That's 40 hours a week. Each sports season lasts about 8 weeks, so that's give or take 300 hours a season of unpaid labor. There are three different seasons, so that means about 900 hours a school year of unpaid work. Again, that's my choice, because the reward of being able to help out my alma mater and give the kids good publicity is why I volunteer all this time.

Anyway, I got my Lakewood Recreation and Education summer catalog in the mail today, so I'm assuming everyone else reading this did too. I hope you didn't pitch it! I usually do, I don't even leaf through it, but today I decided "eh, why not. It's always fun to see what crappy photography people pay for."

Now it's time for everyone to play a little game. Grab your catalog and start flipping through the pages. Here are the photos you are looking for.

One, and two:


Three: (this one is on my flickr, which means that the actual file cannot be saved. you have to deliberately press the print screen button, cut out the image, and you will have a standalone file of my image. (that's assuming the "ALL RIGHTS RESERVED" doesn't make you think twice about stealing the image)).


Four:


Five:


Six:




Here's the catch. I have never heard from the Lakewood Board of Education, the Lakewood Rec, LHS Athletic Dept. the printing company that does the catalog, or anyone representing this organization in any way, shape or form, in regards to the right to use my work, which I own.

When I type in the size of the image into my FotoQuote Pro software, which is the standard quote software amongst working photographers in the industry, it suggest that, assuming up to 1,000 catalogs are printed and distributed, I am owed $300 per image used. Now, I don't know what the print run for these catalogs is, but I'm assuming it's at least 1K? Is that a safe assumption? Because if it's higher thank 1K, that quote goes up.

So here's the next step. If parents want to see me continue to donate 10 hours of my day to happily provide you the pleasure and entertainment of viewing these images, write, call, email the Board of Education and the Rec department and remind them just how valuable my work is to you and your children.

I have a lot of folks that check the photoblogs every single day, some even multiple times a day, to see updates. Lately I haven't updated it. And now that this occurred, I won't be updating it for a long time. The editors will get my photographs personally through email, not through submission in the photoblog section.

What breaks my heart is that I put so much time and effort into providing this service to the schools, the community and especially the young athletes that get a thrill every time they see themselves in the gallery, and the Lakewood Board of Education and Recreation Dept. don't have the courage to ask me permission to use my work? They would rather knowingly participate in copyright infringement and theft and pray that the don't get caught red handed than ask me for a quote or hire someone else who gives them a better one?

What also breaks my heart is that now, in fear of my work losing value, I won't be able to update the galleries, and the athletes and coaches and parents won't get to enjoy the work that I love to do, and that I'm passionate about.

Actually, I was contacted one time by an employee of the Recreation Dept. in regards to them using some of my photographs for a wrap-around of an entire vehicle. I gave them a quote, and they denied it saying it was too steep. That's fair.

The money issue in this is that $300x6 is $1,800. That's how much a semester of college cost. Heck, if I was paid for how much my work is owned, I never would have had to take a semester off of college like I'm doing now, and work to get that money back. I could have finished the school year like the rest of my classmates.

If you don't like the price of something in a store, do you steal it and walk home with it? I don't think so. You can always bargain hunt, and I suggest you do. But if you want a Rolls Royce, you won't get one for the price of a Hyundai.

Shame on you Lakewood Board of Education and Recreation Dept., for taking this away from the people that pay your salaries.

Ivor, I'm in the software business myself. Computer programs in my case. I have never uploaded anything to the Deck except my words. But I suspect when you uploaded your pix to the Deck you gave up your rights to them.

Maybe JO can chime in on how copyrights transfer on pix transferred to the Deck. I'm sure he knows. And I suspect that if anyone has a legal right to be upset about these photos, it's the LO. Not you. Terms of use and all that.....

One thing for sure, if you don't want your stuff proliferated, don't post them. Welcome to the real world. Sorry for the lesson.

Ivor,
Your right!

It is amazing how many of my photos appear on facebook pages and in local catalogs and publications without my permission.

Now the only photos I post are journalist. Any artistic photo would be taken advantage of!

I am like you...I get paid nothing and love to take pictures of Lakewood and what this city has to offer...and I like contributing to the Observer...

It is just a shame that they can't at least give you credit or in my case even ask...

Rhonda

Ivor and Rhonda -

This is just wrong.

I think it is stealing and I would look into the logistics of ownership of the pictures.

Even if it was posted on the LO site I'm pretty sure that you still own it. Remember when facebook tried to say it owned things that were posted? They almost lost most of their members.

Pursue it.

Sharon, no reason to talk like that.

The Lakewood Board of Education employees do great things in this community, and work very hard to give it's citizens tops schools and great recreational programs. They keep kids off of streets.

They are a great organization.

This thread was started to call to the attention that just because things appear on the internet, it doesn't mean that they are yours to reproduce.

Be kind to the photographers out there. Whether it's an artist or a photojournalist, legally, they are all the same. And in most cases, they are starving photographers as well.

Ivor - I wasn't talking nasty, I was saying it was wrong.

Period.

I hate when people read other things into what I say. It is what it is.

Sharon,

I sure did not read anything nasty in you remarks. I am a bit surprised that Ivor did. I think it is a good lesson for everyone and I wish they would at least give him credit for the shots.

Normally folks in the academic world are sensitive to plagiarism and the theft of intellectual property.

I would send a note to the members of the school board because an oversight like this could be costly.

jennifer scott wrote:Sharon,

I sure did not read anything nasty in you remarks. I am a bit surprised that Ivor did. I think it is a good lesson for everyone and I wish they would at least give him credit for the shots.

Neither did I. Weird.

I will say, though, as a professional in the design field, I am both saddened by these things, but never really surprised.

Ivor,

These types of things can happen from time to time.

I can recall similar types of things happening with me.

While I can certainly understand your apparent frustration with the course of events, at the same time I think that in the future, that you might simply want to discuss these matters directly with the administrator involved directly, rather than bring the issue to the public's attention.

Copyright laws are complex. There are "fair use" rules for schools as are there rules for pictures provided to the public for free. I am not aware of the particulars of these laws presently, but I feel fairly certain that, as much as you love the Lakewood Schools, that you did not intend to give them a hard time about all this anyway.

Hey, on a positive note, those pictures certainly did not harm your reputation. In fact, I'd throw a copy of that glossy into your portfolio.

They liked your work, obviously. They probably just assumed that you'd be glad to help them out anyway.

Speak to them about the problem, but I would not worry further, were I you.

Your work helped Lakewood, and I'm pretty sure that's what you would want anyway.

Doesn't look like fair use to me. I am assuming your photos on flickr are not marked as usable for non-commercial purposes.

See this page:

http://fairuse.stanford.edu/Copyright_a ... 9/9-b.html

They fail at 1 - it's not transformative. 2. I would say it's unpublished, assuming it has not been out in bookm form in some manner 3. I have not seen the brochure, but it sounds like they took more than minimal amounts. 4 Potential market - assuming they were actually a market for Ivor - which by publishing the photos they proved they are - they fail this test as well.

I am curious as to who produced the brochures and/or who made the photo selections as well as who approved them and with how much knowledge.

For example, it is not inconceivable that a company was hired to produce the brochures, and a graphic artist at that firm thought that including the photos from the LO Photoblogs would add authenticity to the brochure without considering the copyright issues.

The Board of Ed/Rec department may have not known that the photos were scraped and even if they asked where the photos came from (which is a huge and unlikely if when a project is outsourced) they may not have been told explicitly where they were from.

This is not to say that I think this was OK. It definitely is not and I agree with Sharon, it is theft, plain and simple. Even if there is some legal basis to allow this, it is morally reprehensible.

My point is to say that I beleive it is important to identify exactly who made the decision to take these photos and use them, who had knowledge of this, and who knowingly approved of their use. My guess is that it is an outside firm, but I could be completely wrong.

I know that we always ask our designers where their photos come from. It is something that we always expect to pay for and if we are not paying for it, we want to make sure there are no liability issues, or issues that might filter on to our clients as this one may have on the Board of Ed.

Warm regards,
--Charyn

dl meckes wrote:Normally folks in the academic world are sensitive to plagiarism and the theft of intellectual property.

The theft of Ivor’s photos disturbs me for a host of legal and ethical reasons, not to mention concerns about competence, but in the context of an academic environment, it is even worse. Plagiarism can result in the failure, suspension, or expulsion of the offender. Our schools should help set a high standard for academic integrity in the community.

Charyn Compeau wrote:My point is to say that I beleive it is important to identify exactly who made the decision to take these photos and use them, who had knowledge of this, and who knowingly approved of their use.

I absolutely agree. The School Board should ask the superintendent to follow this breech all the way to its source. Parties should be held accountable and reprimanded. An apology should be given to Ivor, and maybe, depending on the source of the photos, the Lakewood Observer.

Although Ivor had the right to sell them, he may have allowed free use of his photos with proper credit, after a proper request. I think he should be offered some monetary compensation, along with his deserved apology.

Jerry Ritcey wrote:Doesn't look like fair use to me. I am assuming your photos on flickr are not marked as usable for non-commercial purposes.

See this page:

http://fairuse.stanford.edu/Copyright_a ... 9/9-b.html

They fail at 1 - it's not transformative. 2. I would say it's unpublished, assuming it has not been out in bookm form in some manner 3. I have not seen the brochure, but it sounds like they took more than minimal amounts. 4 Potential market - assuming they were actually a market for Ivor - which by publishing the photos they proved they are - they fail this test as well.

Lakewood Schools should either use outside professionals, or hire their own professionals, to create publications. In this computer-empowered DIY age, it is too easy to allow untrained staff to step outside of their knowledge and skill sets to produce work that can have language, mechanical, aesthetic, and legal liabilities. It is often a false economy.


Steve

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