Once again, I don’t know if I should laugh or cry. I think inside, I’m doing both at the moment.

Again the eternal battle between image theifs and myself, continues….

Let’s all have a little laugh at the newest incarnation:

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For those that don’t recognise the work pirated here, it’s my Floating Crumbs

Trust the Chinese to take an image so beautiful and turn it into cheap-shop garbage.

I’ve fought every DMCA Takedown with the passion of a bull seeing red, pursued every misuse without credit. The same way that I’ll fight this. Others have raised the issue of “If this site gets taken down then some poor chinese family might not get fed.” And my answer to that… “it’s STILL My image, which I did not authorize its use in this format, I was not compensated in any way, and it is my intellectual property. If I let one go, then I may as let them all go.

They still photoshopped their item into my work (and badly I might add). They STILL committed a known act of piracy that is STILL at least punishable by website takedown or legal action. Whether they oblige or not, I am still within my right to ask them to take it down – after all, if they’re making any money – at all – I am not.

Many have questioned my motives for pursuing seemably small-time thefts. But while no credit links back to the original artist and claims to be part of a brand, no way.

I’ll get onto that DMCA right after this post.

In other news, over the last few weeks, I have been liasing with a client who was interested in commissioning one of my images for their workplaces’ wall.

I know I’ve chosen the hardest genre to make money out of. I’m led to believe wholeheartedly that people have come to expect freebies- or extremely cheapies, from even professional photographers.

All parties shall remain anonymous, but this very experience has opened my eyes to how little the general public seem to value the work of an artistic professional. In more detail, it appears that true prices for the costs of everything that went into getting the shot, are not being valued. This has made me feel somewhat jaded towards doing this full time. It’s hard to keep your head held high, even when the client notifies you that they’re not going to buy your work. Despite the many hours of effort, consulting and selling you put into it, you get squat. When things like this happen, and things like the above happen, it just feels like I’m losing every battle.

I’ve been trying to get out and shoot more. Trying to drum up the effort it takes to rise before dawn in the bitter cold, drive some long distance whilst still half-asleep, and take the gamble of whether the sun will rise and if it’ll be any good. I’ve been trying to find people to shoot with me, but it seems the pool of the willing has dried up and all that’s left is myself. Drum up my own effort. I”m going to get out on the water and to make bad reference to an old favourite comic, I’m going to “D800 all the things!”

Oh look, I managed to end this on a positive note. Better leave it there.