Just FYI, the current promotion by the demozette to publish "THE BEST ARKANSAS PHOTOGRAPHY BOOK EVER" is nothing more than a money-making project for this newspaper and the book publishing company in Washington. This should give you a hint - you get paid ZERO if they use one of your photos, and there are NO image quality requirements - ANYONE can get any photo published in the book no matter how terrible the quality is (as long as their friends cast enough votes). Even cell phone photos are OK (as long as they are uprezzed to 2000 pixels). The only thing a photographer gets other than a few folks who get unknown gift certificates by winning the top prizes is a $5 coupon off for you to buy the $40 book. Oh boy.
If your photo is worthy of publication in a coffee table picture book (especially one being billed as the BEST EVER!), it certainly is worth money to you and you should be paid for its use - in this case the only folks who will pocket money from your great photo will be the newspaper and their publisher. Even if your terrific photo is able to make it into the book (getting enough friends to vote for it is the only way you can be included - quality does not matter at all), it will be sandwiched in with hundreds (actually they have not said how many photos will be included - should be a red flag right there) of really crappy photos and be lost in the shuffle.
They are actually trying to claim that this book that may be filled with cell phone photos of aunt martha's bean crop would be better than the wonderful coffee table picture books published by renown National Geographic photographer Matt Bradley? What have they been somking? Oh yes, I forgot - it is all about the money, of course, but so sad the photographers who create the art won't be getting any of that!
I urge you to not take the bait and give them free photos to use for their own profit...
I just found out they already have MORE THAN 60,000 submissions already - holy cow! Those cell phone cameras have been working overtime...
This project would have much more merit if the images were selected for their photographic quality and merit instead of family and friends voting on them, but I guess the demozette has to do whatever they can to make a buck...
It may even be worse than Tim says. I'm no lawyer and wouldn't know how a judge would look some of the language in the "Terms of Service" published on the project's Web site, but the following excerpts would give me pause, because they seem to leave wide open the possibility that the Democrat could use, in perpetuity, any submitted images for other than just the stated purpose of putting together a book, all without any compensation to the photographer.
Get a load of this:
"You understand and agree that you will not have any right of approval over the use of the Materials pursuant to this Agreement and you will not receive any compensation as a result of any use of the Materials or the rights granted pursuant to this agreement."
"We reserve the right to alter these Terms of Service at any time. If the alterations constitute a material change to the Terms of Service, we will notify you. What constitutes a "material change" will be determined at our sole discretion, in good faith and using common sense and reasonable judgement."
The entire text of the terms of service is located at:
Its the same with most photo contests. If you enter a photo in the Bedford's, Game and Fish contest(although not for their profit), they can give it to others to use at will.
The funny part is, if you hold your curser over an image on there site it says "Don't steal images".
I don't think its fair to compare Matt's books. Has he done one in the last 20 years? His stuff is great but printing wasn't that great back then.
Posted by Wayne Rhodus on July 10, 2008 at 1:58 PM
Leave it to the lawyers to find a way to legitamize stealing driven by corporate greed and the bottom line! I can say that because I have a brother and numerous friends who are attorneys! Interestingly, none of them would disagree with my statement.
The trouble is they are only stealing from those who don't know or care about it. Unfortunately for those of us who are looking to profit from photography, we are the ones who lose revenue.
Discussion
6 repliesIf your photo is worthy of publication in a coffee table picture book (especially one being billed as the BEST EVER!), it certainly is worth money to you and you should be paid for its use - in this case the only folks who will pocket money from your great photo will be the newspaper and their publisher. Even if your terrific photo is able to make it into the book (getting enough friends to vote for it is the only way you can be included - quality does not matter at all), it will be sandwiched in with hundreds (actually they have not said how many photos will be included - should be a red flag right there) of really crappy photos and be lost in the shuffle.
They are actually trying to claim that this book that may be filled with cell phone photos of aunt martha's bean crop would be better than the wonderful coffee table picture books published by renown National Geographic photographer Matt Bradley? What have they been somking? Oh yes, I forgot - it is all about the money, of course, but so sad the photographers who create the art won't be getting any of that!
I urge you to not take the bait and give them free photos to use for their own profit...
This project would have much more merit if the images were selected for their photographic quality and merit instead of family and friends voting on them, but I guess the demozette has to do whatever they can to make a buck...
Get a load of this:
"You understand and agree that you will not have any right of approval over the use of the Materials pursuant to this Agreement and you will not receive any compensation as a result of any use of the Materials or the rights granted pursuant to this agreement."
"We reserve the right to alter these Terms of Service at any time. If the alterations constitute a material change to the Terms of Service, we will notify you. What constitutes a "material change" will be determined at our sole discretion, in good faith and using common sense and reasonable judgement."
The entire text of the terms of service is located at:
http://www.capturearkansas.com/about/tos
I don't think its fair to compare Matt's books. Has he done one in the last 20 years? His stuff is great but printing wasn't that great back then.
The trouble is they are only stealing from those who don't know or care about it. Unfortunately for those of us who are looking to profit from photography, we are the ones who lose revenue.