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Originally Posted by wrxinsc  I'm an amateur photographer that's just getting back into the art again and I have a question. Granted, I'm not a pro, but I'm still pretty proud of the shots that I think are "good." I shot a rally race last year and posted my pics on the rally website and saw that some of my shots were used by teams that competed and they gave photo credit to me. Eventually, one of my shots made it's way to a very popular Volkswagen website and I saw that they had put their name on the photo.
Long story short, as an amateur, should I put my name on my pics that I post on the web or not? I'm not getting money for my shots, yet I'm still proud of the ones I like. Advice? |
First, yes... you should always put your name on your work. Amateur or not... it's your work.
That said, you should always preserve the value of all work. Consider this... you let them use the image for free. That means, publications like that will continue to look for free stuff... hence taking food off the tables of those that do this for a living. Is that really what you want to do? I'm not singling you out... but this is a problem that people don't really stop to think of.
Now, I know it's really easy for people to read my post and say..."sheesh... what a whiner. That's not the case at all. For many (and many on this site) this is how we make out living. In order to do that, we need advertisers buying images, teams, drivers, manufactures ... and even editorial outlets. Often, it's not just the fees we collect, it is also the exposure. I'm somewhat liberal with web use (for proper credit) since I maintain pretty large online galleries. To me... once they're online, the toothpaste is basically out of the tube. BUT... that does not mean I roll over and play dead. I still want to preserve my relationships with sites I do have working agreements with.
So, all I'm saying, if you're happy as an amateur, be considerate of those of us that are trying to make a living. We don't have the luxury of giving our work away... we need to be paid.
Hope you can see our side of it.
Here's another "artist's" take on it: