2011 NPPA Northern Short Course

So, are you wondering what to do next week- specifically Thursday March 10th, through Saturday March 12th? Wonder no more! The NPPA's annual Northern Short Course kicks off three days of AWESOME programming in picturesque Warwick, RI.

Not in the upper northeast? It's worth the flight (especially via Southwest!) to see:

Amy O'Leary teach you all about AUDIO

Eric Maierson teach you about FINAL CUT PRO

Darren Durlach teach you about how to tell a story in video

Tom Sperduto reprise his AMAZING location lighting workshop

AND TONS AND TONS MORE!

The short answer is - this is the best value for your dollar over three days - where you pay once and get to see as many seminars as you can. Oh, and Nikon and Canon are there to do free check-and-cleans of your equipment.

Oh, and Saturday, you get to listen to NPR's David Gilkey, Nat Geo's Karen Kasmauski, Washington Post's Marvin Joseph, and Reuters' Lucy Nicholson, all whom will inspire you to leap and bound forward in your career with confidence.

For more details on the over TWENTY programs and lectures, click HERE to get the details, and sign up!

(Comments, if any after the Jump)

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Stock Loss: Stupid is, as Stupid Does

When Getty Images acquired iStockphoto, they said they did so to prevent iStockphoto from canibalizing their own business, at a time when the average price for a stock photograph was in the $900 range.

Here's a photo, on the iStockphoto website (here) of a nondescript fragrance bottle. Price? About $10.



Where can you buy this exact same photo, with the exact same resolution, for $340?

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Why, iStockphoto parent company, Getty Images, right here via their Getty Images Flickr site!



So, Getty is doing a pretty good job of self-immolation. This isn't the first time, nor will it be the last, that Getty Images makes mistakes that cost them their bottom line!

(via Shannon Fagan on Facebook)

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Copyright - Enforce it Wherever possible

I read with great interest an article on the web site "webcopyplus" - Legal Lesson Learned: Copywriter Pays $4,000 for $10 Photo - where the website admits to stealing a photograph "...frankly, we screwed up." and then tells the tale of one of their copywriters who was "were under the impression that images on the Web without any copyright notices were “public domain” and therefore free to use. Naive? Yes."

Naive indeed.

The story reads like part admission of guilt, part "...we got busted and learned a lesson, but everyone does it..."

What lessons should photographers take away from this?

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First - register your copyright. They said that if the lawyer had contacted the design firm instead of the client, they had some options "Had the lawyer engaged Webcopyplus, in which case our client wouldn’t be caught in the middle, we would have had options: ignore the letter; say, “Go ahead, sue us”; or respond, “$1,925 is our final offer,” which there’s a chance they’d accept." When their request for a copy of the registration certificate was not provided, they were able to go to the Copyright office's website, "and by entering a registration number at the U.S. Copyright Office’s website (www.copyright.gov), we were able to confirm the image was copyright registered and the lawyer’s client was the rightful owner." Now, they are taking the demand seriously.

Second - (and I learned this from singer/songwriter Jon Sebastian) WHENEVER you learn about someone infringing upon your copyright, you should pursue it with great vigilance. By doing this, not only can you generate revenue, but you teach the greater community of users of photography that if they steal, they run the risk of paying the price.

Third - Don't try to go it alone. Get a lawyer. When you have a lawyer, people realize you're serious. The first correspondence from the lawyer to the infringer included the sentence "“Cease and desist demand and offer to settle copyright infringement claim, and digital millennium copyright act claim, subject to Rule 408, Federal Rules of Evidence.” according to the infringer. This is a critical sentence, because the letter made a demand for money, and if that sentence was not in there, the amount that the lawyer was asking for on behalf of the photographer to settle the claim would be something that could be introduced into evidence during a trial, and limit the amount the photographer could actually win during a trial.

Fourth - Engage the infringing entity - in this case, while the infringers were both the design firm and the company, going after the ongoing infringer - the company, you not only will often get a better response from their lawyers, but the company likely also carries insurance to cover lawsuit/settlement losses, and they will likely pursue reimbursement from the design firm. Many design firms don't have these protections, nor lawyers on retainer, and are likely to try to sweep these things under the rug. In this case, the infringement gave a black eye to the design firm in the mind of their client, so there was no sweeping under the rug! They noted - "It was a tough pill to swallow, but we were the ones who messed up, and salvaging the client relationship was priority."

The design firm suggests, regarding the settlement amount "We felt — and photographers we spoke to agreed — the proposed settlement amount was excessive." Well, I'm not sure whom they spoke to, but $4,000 is a very small settlement amount, so whomever they spoke to that represented themselves as photographers must really not understand the value of the photographs they produce - perhaps it was they who also advised a valuation of $10 - "Why would copywriters at Webcopyplus pay $4,000 for a digital photo that retails for about $10?"

One really bad thought that was posited was "...Based on recent discussions, even after we shared our story, some continue to suggest copyright laws are blurry, and insist if you ever run into conflict and get a threatening letter, you can simply delete the image and toss the document in the trash (one designer even labeled it “delete and toss”)." BAD IDEA. They then acknowledge that "While this might work with some individuals and organizations, particularly if they’re in a different province, state or country, which might make legal costs prohibitive, be aware: you could end up in a lengthy and costly court battle. For those who insist, “It won’t happen to me,” mind the fact that this beach photo was the only one we’ve ever grabbed from the Web for a client’s website. And it cost us almost $4,000. Consequently, we urge others to recognize and yield to a simple fact: If it’s on the Internet and others wrote or created it, do not use it without their permission."

While it's dubious to believe "...this beach photo was the only one we’ve ever grabbed from the Web for a client’s website..." in the end, now, there's one less company out there who is under the misguided thought that if it's on the internet, they are "...under the impression that images on the Web without any copyright notices were “public domain” and therefore free to use." and who now professes "...We apologize, and it won’t happen again."

Good.

(Disclaimer - I am not a lawyer, nor is this specific legal advice, but rather general information for your review and consideration.)

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What's Next in Photography - Jamie Rose

During FotoWeek DC's annual PhotoFest, a group of concerned photography professionals brought together a series of presenters to talk briefly about what's next in the industry. Jamie Rose, a seasoned photojournalist and well-established NGO photographer, and co-founder of the Momenta Workshops was among the presenters, and the presentations are now online on YouTube.

Here's the Highlights video (RSS readers see the video here):



After the jump is the entire presentation, in 2 clips...

(Continued after the Jump)

Clip 1 of 2 (RSS readers view the clip at this link):




Clip 2 of 2 (RSS readers view the clip at this link):




The original description of the program was as follows (and appears here):

What Next?

So you're a photographer, or you want to become a photographer, but you know the business model is changing and constantly evolving.

What is the new paradigm? How will you succeed as a working visual communicator? What will give you the edge over all the others out there?

Come listen to a unique, diverse, and experienced group of visual professionals as they share their ideas of new business models for our world today and tomorrow.

Hear their predictions and how they're preparing for the future. Join us for Questions and Answers with these pros, and participate in their panel discussions.

Learn, Share, Network

Each presenter will speak for 15-20 minutes on their idea for the future with Q&A sessions.

The seminar’s goal is to help discover that one great solution for you in the changing world of the photography business.


Presenters
Steve Freligh, Publisher Nature’s Best Magazine
Kathleen Ewing, Kathleen Ewing Gallery and past Executive Director, AIPAD
Keith Jenkins, Supervising Senior Producer for Multimedia, NPR
Jamie Rose, photographer, entrepreneur Momenta Workshops
John Harrington, photographer, author, President WHNPA
Michael Lutzky, Strategy and management consultant (former photojournalist)

Organized by a group of concerned photography professionals
Khue Bui, Bill Auth, Lauren Stockbower, Larry Levin

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Please post your comments by clicking the link below. If you've got questions, please pose them in our Photo Business Forum Flickr Group Discussion Threads.

What's Next in Photography? - Michael Lutzky

During FotoWeek DC's annual PhotoFest, a group of concerned photography professionals brought together a series of presenters to talk briefly about what's next in the industry. Michael Lutzky, a former staff photographer for the Associated Press who now is a strategy and management consultant for media companies, was among the presenters, and the presentations are now online on YouTube. Lutzky made a number of remarkable points, one so much so that I added it in to the beginning of my presentation (with his permission, of course.)

Here's the Highlights video (RSS readers see the video here):



After the jump is the entire presentation, in 3 clips...

(Continued after the Jump)

Clip 1 of 3 (RSS readers view the clip at this link):



Clip 2 of 3 (RSS readers view the clip at this link):




Clip 3 of 3 (RSS readers view the clip at this link):




The original description of the program was as follows (and appears here):

What Next?

So you're a photographer, or you want to become a photographer, but you know the business model is changing and constantly evolving.

What is the new paradigm? How will you succeed as a working visual communicator? What will give you the edge over all the others out there?

Come listen to a unique, diverse, and experienced group of visual professionals as they share their ideas of new business models for our world today and tomorrow.

Hear their predictions and how they're preparing for the future. Join us for Questions and Answers with these pros, and participate in their panel discussions.

Learn, Share, Network

Each presenter will speak for 15-20 minutes on their idea for the future with Q&A sessions.

The seminar’s goal is to help discover that one great solution for you in the changing world of the photography business.


Presenters

Steve Freligh, Publisher Nature’s Best Magazine
Kathleen Ewing, Kathleen Ewing Gallery and past Executive Director, AIPAD
Keith Jenkins, Supervising Senior Producer for Multimedia, NPR
Jamie Rose, photographer, entrepreneur Momenta Workshops
John Harrington, photographer, author, President WHNPA
Michael Lutzky, Strategy and management consultant (former photojournalist)

Organized by a group of concerned photography professionals
Khue Bui, Bill Auth, Lauren Stockbower, Larry Levin

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Please post your comments by clicking the link below. If you've got questions, please pose them in our Photo Business Forum Flickr Group Discussion Threads.

The Flash Bus - Coming (likely) to a city near you!

I'll admit that my speedlight knowledgebase is lighter than what I know about studio and location lighting that travel in large flight cases, and, in fact, the first time I tried wirelessly using a second speedlight that talked to the one I had on my camera, I was pleasantly surprised with the results. So, when I learned about this upcoming workshop, I was excited about the opportunity to engorge the thinner areas of my lighting knowledge, and get insights into the speedlight mystique.

Lighting gurus David Hobby (also known as "The Strobist") and the legendary Joe McNally have teamed up to visit 29 cities in 6 weeks, all to speak the gospel of speedlight salvation (from heavy cases with excess baggage charges!).

So, check out The Flash Bus Tour 2011 and make a point of taking this day-long presentation, I guarantee it will be worth it!

Cities They're hitting:

(Comments, if any, after the Jump)

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Please post your comments by clicking the link below. If you've got questions, please pose them in our Photo Business Forum Flickr Group Discussion Threads.