I’ve talked about bloggers stealing photos belonging to other photographers. Usually the thief will go to flickr.com thinking the photos to be royalty free stock photos because the website is promoted as a “photo sharing” community. Sometimes the blogger does not know better. Other times they know it’s wrong and just don’t care.
When I read that Orlando wedding photographer Niki Hartman was dishonest in her business practices I was a bit shocked compared to other infringements. I’m sure every business owner makes a mistake now and again, so why the concern now?
The problem is that a photographer ripped off another photographer’s work and passed it off as her own. New York / Brooklyn based wedding and Boudoir Photographer Sherri Jackson [lasadh on flickr] was the creator of the image stolen by Nikki Hartman Photography to promote Nikki’s photography business - http://www.artbynikki.com.
The stolen image was on her blog as seen in this screenshot.
© Sherri Jackson - All Rights reserved - I was granted permission to use for this post
On Nikki’s blog she posts an apology.
This summer I have had a young and upcoming high-school photographer interning with me and had asked her to find me a stock photo to post on the blog because I did not want to use a client’s photo. Unfortunately she was under the impression that flickr was for stock photo…”
This excuse is weak at best. If my photographer, assistant, intern or anyone acting on behalf of my business does anything (good or bad) it is MY responsibility to know what they are doing and oversee their work.
Nikki’s blog post is dated June 12th and today is July 20th. Nikki let an her intern write an advertisement for an intimate boudoir photography, setting prices and and publish this on line without OK’ing it? I don’t think so.
Do you really think that her “intern” made this “mistake”? Drop a comment below and let me know what you think.
Adam Nollmeyer
Phoenix Photographer
http://acmephotography.net
PS: Soon, I’ll be releasing a new “tool” to help photographers deal with this problem. RSS this blog for more info.
July 20th, 2008 at 10:39 pm
I’m unsure on how true her story/apology is but if all of niki’s other photos are hers. I kinda have to believe her. High School kids have no respect for copyright. Cause, if I’m going to post something and have my stamp on it and I shoot as many shots as her. I’d have to say I wouldn’t go out to flickr to find an image just for a blog post if I had like a million of my own photos to put up.
July 21st, 2008 at 4:35 am
My issue is that Nikki’s excuse is that she asked her assistant to get a stock image that she could present as her own. Which, IS STILL ILLEGAL! You cannot apply your log to a stock image and present it as our won work; this violates the terms of use of ever stock agency that I’m aware of.
Additionally, based upon Nikki’s voicemail, which she left for me after I called her to demand that she remove the image and post an apology, indicated that she knew the image was up on her site, bearing her logo, she just didn’t know it came from flickr.
It’s Nikki’s job to educate this assistant and make sure she works within the requirements of the law, not use her as a scapegoat when she’s found out!
July 21st, 2008 at 10:35 am
Pretty sad. Who can you trust?
I’m glad she posted the apology but I agree… seems like it was illegal and unethical regardless of where she thought the image came from.
July 21st, 2008 at 5:44 pm
Legally sourced or not, it is deceptive and immoral to use stock photography to promote your photography services. The obvious implication is that you created the photographs on the site, and people are making buying decisions based on that implication. They are evaluating your photography and your style to decide whether or not to hire you.
If the photographs aren’t yours, it’s bait and switch — and that is illegal in the United States.
July 21st, 2008 at 9:11 pm
Okay, but imagine all the illegal uses of flickr photos that the owners don’t know about, or those that a printed and distributed in different countries. I just wish flickr would stock describing all rights reserved photos as ‘public’ and call them ‘can be viewed by anyone’.
As for what happened in this case, people will do what they think they can get away with and nothing will stop that. a professional photographer should know better.
July 22nd, 2008 at 11:51 am
Amazingly, another CFL photographer does the same thing. Tabitha from Ultimate Images has her photos edited on Flikr and posts them on her own as well.
July 22nd, 2008 at 11:53 am
it was a mistake, she honestly apologized for it.
people are making such a huge stink over nothing.
i KNOW of other ‘professional’ photographers who do much worse and offer no apologies…
nikki was kind enough to retract the image, apologize directly to sherri and apologize to the public.
July 22nd, 2008 at 11:13 pm
@greg, Even if there was a kid who did it (not respecting others) I don’t buy that story because the post date and NOW is nearly a month. As a business owner she must have seen her own blog? Are you telling me the kid created the promotion too?
As Sherri posted below your first comment….
My issue is that Nikki’s excuse is that she asked her assistant to get a stock image that she could present as her own.
@ Vanessa
What are the other “professional photographers” doing that are “much worse”?
July 24th, 2008 at 5:29 am
“it was a mistake, she honestly apologized for it. people are making such a huge stink over nothing.” - Vanessa
That’s part of the problem isn’t it? That people think taking someone else’s work ISN’T a big deal? That misrepresenting your business to the public ISN’T a big deal? As photographers we should be doing more to educate our peers and the general consumer.
In 2000, linking directly to someone else’s image content was consider foul, now it happens everywhere. It’s so predominate on the web it’s just not worth the trouble to try and do anything about it.
I would hate to see the same thing happen to copywritten images.