Nominative Fair Use of Trademarks
I have pursued copyright infringement multiple times. It is an unfortunate requirement in a field where we must display our work on the internet to remain competitive. I get all the usual responses and threats, but I ultimately get my desired outcome. Over the course of time I have grown confident and knowledgeable about copyright [...]
Author: Walter Rowe | Category: Business, Legal | Comments(0) January 2009
Fresh MILK Photo Contest
This morning I received an e-mail invitation to the Fresh MILK Photo Contest. It looks to be a somewhat prestigious contest. As with all contests, I studied the terms and associated prizes. At first I thought this might be the most fair contest terms I had ever read. Here is a summary of the contest [...]
Author: Walter Rowe | Category: Business | Comments(0) August 2008
Prevent Hotlinks To Your Images
Hotlinking is when another website tries to include an image hosted on your website in their web page via “<IMG></IMG>” tags. This is a form of image theft and copyright infringement where they are using your intellectual property without your permission. I have included code similar to this sample code below in the .htaccess file [...]
Author: Walter Rowe | Category: Business, Legal, Security | Comments(0) July 2008
Why I Don’t Post Photographs on Facebook
I am a professional photographer. As such, I depend on license fees I collect from people who wish to use my copyrighted work. The more ways in which they desire to use my work, the higher the license fee. Such is the way for all intellectual property licensing.
The reason I don’t post my copyrighted photographs [...]
Author: Walter Rowe | Category: Business, Legal, Social Networks | Comments(3) July 2008
MusicPhotographers.net
It is with great pleasure that I announce the launch of www.MusicPhotographers.net. MPN is dedicated to professional music photographers. Our mission is to advocate sound business practices, warn against predatory practices, provide helpful and educational resources, and foster a sense of community. Technical, ethical, legal, and business discussions related to concert photography, and all forms [...]
Author: Walter Rowe | Category: Business, Music | Comments(0) February 2008
Respect Professional Photographers
A recent post on a music photography discussion group started out with the following request:
best live shot you’ve ever taken – post it here. if it’s good maybe ill promote it
The author seems to feel that my photograph used on their web site will promote me, and that this perceived promotion should be [...]
Author: Walter Rowe | Category: Business | Comments(0) September 2007
Commodity Photography
As music photographers, we often hear a band say “we won’t pay you that much for your photograph because we can get the same thing elsewhere for less”. The tendency for less experienced photographers is to give in and accept a lower license fee for their work. Their rationale is that they are still getting [...]
Author: Walter Rowe | Category: Business, Music | Comments(0) August 2007
Where is the equity?
I had a recent exchange with some fellow music photographers. A photographer asked whether they should charge a well known music artist to use their photographs on the artist’s MySpace page. One photographer replied with the idea of charging per image what the band charges per ticket. While that might sound like a logical idea [...]
Author: Walter Rowe | Category: Business, Music | Comments(0) August 2007
The Business of Photography
If you want to be a professional photographer who makes money practicing your passion, you need to become as adept at the business of photography as you are at taking photographs. No client will ever offer to increase their rates for you. You must understand the value that your photographs are contributing to the client [...]
Author: Walter Rowe | Category: Business | Comments(0) March 2007