It seems many of my tweets and some recent posts are about rights grabs – well, this post is about one way I feel that requesting and using image from an online photo sharing sites, in this case, flickr, should be done.

Many times, even from my little flickr stream, I find my images being used, and most of the time, they are not used and credited correctly.  Yes, I am aware that photo credits don’t pay the bills, but I think you have to consider where the request is coming from, and how it will be used, before you just refuse it because the requester doesn’t want to pay.

A short while back, I was contacted, on flickr by ARKive.  Even though it had the appearance of a form letter, the content of it was to the point, and explained what they were asking for, and how and where it would be used, further offering to send still more information if I should want it.

Dear Joseph,
I hope you do not mind me contacting you but in searching the internet for images of Puntius denisonii (red line barb) I found a fantastic image of yours on your Flickr page (http://www.flickr.com/photos/josephhoetzl/4274699613/) which I would be interested in using for ARKive, if you would like to become involved.

ARKive – www.arkive.org – is a unique conservation initiative.

Films, photographs and audio recordings of the world’s animals, plants and fungi are being gathered into one centralised digital library. To date we have created digital multi-media profiles for more than 8,000 species, digitising and storing over 50,000 still images and over 6,000 movies. These important audio-visual records are being preserved and maintained for the benefit of future generations and are being made available via the ARKive website.

I am able to send some more detailed documentation that will tell you a lot more about the ARKive project should you provide an email address. However, in summary:

· It is ARKive’s current primary aim to compile audio-visual records for the 17,000-plus species currently threatened with extinction, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species.

· We are looking for media (moving footage, still images, audio) to depict each species’ life history as comprehensively as possible. In order for us to achieve this aim we need help from as wide a variety of donors as possible and would like to be able to add you to our list of contributors.

· The ARKive website acts as a showcase for image providers, displaying copyright and contact details with every image and links to each media donor’s own web activities.

See examples of species which have been ARKived at www.arkive.org. Please let me know if you have any queries. I am contactable at the below email address.

So, I went and did some reading on their site, and decided I would contribute my image to the site.  When I responded to the email, I was further impressed that they then responded asking how I wanted to be credited.  I guess I shouldn’t be impressed by this, but in light of the way all the rights grabbing and misuse and incorrectly or no credited photos are used on the web, I was.

Please could you also let me know how you would like to be credited (e.g. © Joseph Hoetzl) and what contact details you would like displayed next to your images? We can add a postal address, email address, telephone and fax number and web address.

I was then informed that they received my photo and information, and would be in touch with a link to the page where the image would be display, and how the credit would appear. This relates a bit to the section on “followup” in my post about bug tracking.  Following up, whether it be about a bug, a request, or just a final thank you is a critical step in any dialog.

The final result of this dialog can be viewed at on ARKive’s site at http://www.arkive.org/denison-barb/puntius-denisonii/image-G87673.html

And naturally, I exchanged a few emails with ARKive before publishing this, and provided a draft of it for their approval.

I was listening to the Typical Mac User Podcast, episode 212, by Victor Cajiao and his guest for the show, George Starcher.  They were had a good discussion on the use of uninterpretable power supplies (UPS).  Victor explained how he lost a Mackie mixing board due to a power event and he was doing something about it so it wouldn’t happen again with the new one.  They mentioned use them with computer, networking and podcasting equipment but what I didn’t hear was too much about protecting other electronics beyond the home theater gear.  That got me thinking, I already protect a lot of my electronics, home theater stuff, computers, network gear, and my fish tanks with UPS’s and voltage regulators, and I use larger APC devices at work, but how many photographers think beyond the computer gear, external hard drives, and networking equipment and expand the protection to their photography equipment?

It doesn’t make to much sense to use a UPS for your AA battery charger, or your camera battery chargers, but it does make a sense to use a voltage regulator, such as the APC Line-R 1200VA or Line-R 600VA to power these devices.  Why?  Well, it probably isn’t critical to be able to charge your batteries during a power outage, but with the cost of some camera batteries alone, for example, the $70 for a Canon LP-E6, and the charger for it costing around $100, protecting them with one of those voltage regulators, priced at around $50 for the Line-R 1200VA or around $40 for the Line-R 600VA starts to make sense.  Or how about that fancy MAHA MH-C9000 Advanced Battery Charger for the AA’s?  That and a pack of the AA’s I use in my flashes is around $60.

Beyond your batteries and chargers, think about protecting your other photography equipment with these too.  Those monolights/blocks should be protected on something, at least a quality surge protection strip.

Also, don’t forget about power protection on the road.  Many people will readily take their laptop’s power brick and plug it in at the hotel.  I don’t recommend this.  You setup for protection at home, at a minimum, try something little portable protection too.

Yes, there are other manufacturers that make these devices, but I’ve had, knocking on a wood, nothing but good experiences with APC equipment.  I don’t work for them, but their products work for me.

Are there any other photography or other gadgets that require AC power, that you think need to be mentioned?  Please leave me a note in the comments.

Update:

After posting this, I thought of one more thing that is frequently plugged into the wall, and isn’t a cheap repair in most cases – your cell/mobile phone!  That nice new iPhone, some new Android based device – how much would it cost you to replace it?  Right, so add that charger to the list of things to protect!

It seems that lately, these rights grab scams hit my email inbox weekly.  I am so tired of people getting scammed by these companies!

In this particular example, Gerber is asking people to submit photos in a variety of categories, all for the chance to win the monthly prize, a Flip Slide HD video camera and be “featured” on Gerber.com. After 6 months, when Gerber has scammed people out of enough of their treasured photos, there is a small chance to win the “Grand Prize”, consisting of a $25,000 scholarship, and the child gets to “star” in a Gerber ad.  Gee, how much do you think they would have to pay to have that many photos of children, and cast one to star in an ad?

Straight from the about page for the “contest”,

My, how he’s grown! Isn’t she a cutie?
Who can resist ooh-ing and ah-ing over a picture of your adorable child?  And if you’re like us, you love showing them off! Now you can share your pride and joy with friends, family and other parents-and possibly win big, too.

Are you kidding me!?  And the end of the last sentence, Gerber handily forgot to mention the part where they get to use your photos pretty much however they see fit.  Specifically:

By making a submission, participant warrants that participant is the copyright owner of the submission and hereby grants to Promoter a royalty free, irrevocable, perpetual and worldwide license to use and display the Submission, including in a “Gerber Generation” image frame, together with the first name and city of participant an the child, on Promoter’s website, www.gerber.com/photo, as well as on other Promoter websites (including Promoter’s Facebook pages(s) and mobile website(s)) and otherwise use the Submission in accordance with these Terms and Conditions, without compensation of any kind or further notice to or approval from participant or any third party.  Promoter Parties are not responsible for any unauthorized third party use of any Submission.  Promoter Parties do not guarantee that any Submission made will be posted.  Participant acknowledges that Promoter uses third parties to provide hosting services for parts of the Gerber.com site, and that Submissions may be hosted, in whole or in part, by such third parties

Let’s break that down a bit:

• “In a royalty free” – you nor the photographer never get paid, EVER
• “irrevocable” – you submit a photo to them, you can’t stop them
• “perpetual” – you can NEVER stop them.
• “Worldwide” – they can use the entry anywhere
• “Promoter Parties are not responsible for any unauthorized third party use of any Submission” – they won’t even protect the copyright they are stealing

In the past, I might have overlooked these terms, but, it is clear from the updated verbiage that mentions facebook and mobile sites, that these terms and conditions have been updated. They are well aware of what they are doing.  Gerber is just another company preying on unsuspecting parents and children.

For all photo contests, read through all that fine print.  Decide for yourself if it is worth it.  And please help spread the word about this and other rights grabbing schemes disguised as photo contests.

I wonder what Ann Turner Cook, “the” Gerber baby, would think of this…