A Word on Photos

I want to address an issue that I’ve been thinking about for a long time. It’s about the subject of the use of photos on this blog. I received a comment this morning from the photographer of a photo I used in a post last April, and though his comment was not threatening at all, it sounded off some bells and whistles that I’d always been afraid of.

One of the best things about writing a blog is that I can put multiple pictures with my posts to enhance their effectiveness. I think the visual additions make for a more appealing post, and though I use many photos that I myself take, I often take photos from Google images or elsewhere on the web.

I’ve been meaning to put a disclaimer on the blog about how any and all pictures posted on it are believed to be of public domain and if anyone has an issue with a photo I add, they simply have to contact me and I will remove it. I plan to do that sometime today, but in the meantime I just wanted to add to this issue one more piece of commentary.

Unfortunately this whole subject has to do with money. A person who takes a photo or writes a piece of music or an article is the creator of that piece and needs to get paid for it in order to be used. I accept that fact, but I still think that it stinks. I make very little money off of this blog, yet it’s something I enjoy doing, and I think the visuals I add to my pieces add a certain quality to them. If I use a photo that someone else owns the rights to, I do not do it with any sort of malicious intent. My work has been plagiarized in the past and I know how offsetting that can be, especially when I’m not given credit for the work.

From here on in, I will do my best to give credit to the sources of the photos I use on this blog and if anyone out there who owns copyright to such picture wants it removed, I will do it gladly. It’s something I should have done all along and for now I will thank my commenter for pushing me to this long awaited point. Thank you!

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