Good Morning Friends:
First of all, let me apologize for this post upfront. I have been biting my tongue about this issue for a very long time, but after waking up this morning, and having a look at my stat counter, I can no longer keep quiet! I will try to make this as short as possible.
Image Theft ~ it urks me to the bone. Now, I know that it's bound to happen, even though I have a copyright blurb on my sidebar AND I watermark my photos. I wish it wouldn't happen, but it's a given in this electronic world. I wonder if the people who are stealing my images realize that I can see each and every download through my stat counter?
Well, anyway, people have been stealing images from my blog for years. But the most recent incident really hit home when I realized that, not only is this person a fellow artist, but the images that this person downloaded were very personal to my individual style. I woke up to find that fellow artist had downloaded an image of my daughter's hand from my tutorial AND a personal photo of my grandmother and aunt from the same tutorial. Needless to say, I will not be doing anymore visual breakdowns of my work on my blog.
For those of you who are familiar with my collage style, you know that hands are a signature. I'm not saying that no one else can use hands in their work, but why on earth can't they take photos of their own?
I guess, mostly, I'm disappointed. I'm disappointed to know that another artist, another collage artist, would steal images ~ any images, not just mine.
So, with all that being said, there's nothing I can do about it. I run my entire business through the electronic world. I can't stop posting photos. It's part of what I do. I can't shut down my business simply because I'm irked. But ~ I did need to get this off my chest, and I know there are lots of artists out there that have the same problem. What I will have to do, is make sure that the photos I post are low enough quality so that when the folks who steal them want to use them, they'll be too grainy. So, what this is going to mean for me is an even longer process to get the photos from the camera to the blog. Another step. Sheeessshhhh, it already takes forever to do all the cropping and watermarking.
To the person who stole MY images....please, think before you right click!!
Kim
Gerushia's New World
P.S. To all my fabulous and wonderful friends and readers...please forgive my bitterness. You all know my heart and I'm not usually ugly. But this event really shook me.
13 comments:
This is so sad to hear, Kim. I know a few artists that are experiencing online theft of their images. Some of these art thieves are also reusing the images, claiming them as their own work, and selling them on. I think it is awful and I can certainly understand how you feel. Let's hope they stop! xx
That totally sucks Kim!! I'd be upset to!! I had to start putting the copyright symbol after all my work but I know that really doesn't do too much! I'm glad you posted this to put that person on notice!!
That really is too bad. Let's hope that the intentions weren't for strictly copying and maybe for sharing instruction if that makes any kind of difference. If that's the case they should have asked.
I definitely feel for you and hope that the image lifter thinks twice about using your property now that you've posted this.
Curious if you figured this out with GA or some other stat tool.
So sorry, Your work is so awesome.
Kim
Kim, I know how you feel. It is very distressing when you see something that you have worked very hard on being taken by someone who has no right to do so. I recently saw some artwork that a close artist friend of mine did and it was sooooo similar to one of my own favourite pieces of mine, the sunshine girl, and I was quite taken aback by it. It was so obviously quite the same girl, albeit done a bit differently. They do say that imitation is the sincerest form of compliment, but I did not like the way it made me feel at all. ((((hugs))))
I'm sorry to hear about this..A while back,I a note from someone that I had used one of thier photos on my blog.I felt horrible,but I understood and thats why I add where the photos come from now.I hope the person also understands your feelings.I do and I am glad that you ae shedding light on this.Warmest Regards,Cat
People are clueless, seriously.
But you know, your watermark should be WAY larger... I'm a photographer, so I've been around much discussion on this subject. Make your watermark go right across the hand if you want too, it won't detract from what we see!
it does really stink, kim. :(
i'm lazy even about watermarking. must do better!
xo
Di
so sorry kim...
Hi Kim,
I wanted to stop by to say hello, and was very saddened to see this post - it just sickens me that people can be so disrespectful. Good for you for posting about it!
Thank you for the comment you left me - it's very heartening to hear other artists say they feel the same way. I hope you find a way to try the new things you want - I guess it's always a balance between being pragmatic but also being true to oneself. But I say the latter is more important!
xx.Sarah
Bitterness, I think not. I am so sorry Kim, I remember you had problems before on your blog with people out to hurt your feelings, how shallow and sad. Keep your chin up sweets, we all know that is YOUR style...
Sending hugs that you are hurting.
~xx~
I totally understand. I'm curious though, where can you see this in your stat counter? Is it Analytics? I'd love to know how to find that out!
Hope you're feeling better!
I sometimes right click on images I find on the www. I never sell my work, but I do use the art of others as inspiration for my own little paper crafts. So it may be possible that the right-clickers are just admirers of your work, and not using it as their own?? Reading this, and seeing what happened to the most generous Vanessa, I shall be more respectful of personal images.
Here here!
I'm completely on your side on this one.
However, I do agree with Seahorse Ranch Girl about one thing.....I ALSO occasionally right click on something. Sometimes I'm inspired by the image and just like it so much I want to look at it on my desktop. Also, I sometimes use an image to link back to the artist if I blog about them. BUT----that's only with the artist's permission if I use a link.
Thanks for addressing this. I'm glad to see more peole standing up for artist's rights and saying 'No No No' to nabbers. I hope most of the people that do it are just making an innocent mistake. Still----when someone takes an image for gross misappropriation, it's so sad.
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