So, any photos that appear on my website, flickr page, facebook page, blog and twitter would naturally show up in a search. You can therefore imagine my shock when I searched for a photo I took the day before the Europa League Final in 2011 and found it on a webpage of a television company here in Ireland!!! Now in fairness to them, they handled the whole thing perfectly and rightly paid me for the use of the photo. Heres the photo by the way!!!
Yes, thats right, its a football. I'd hate to guess how many photos of footballs are on the internet and for some reason they chose my photo. I feel so honoured!!!
On the flip side of this, I was informed recently that a League of Ireland Club had also used a photo belonging to me. Not only did they use the photo, but they edited it, removed my logo and created a advertisement with it. The club in question is Sligo Rovers and when confronted about it, they could not have been more rude/ignorant. Maybe thats a bit harsh on the club, when in fact it was one of their Committee Members (Rory Houston) that was blatantly rude and ignorant. He told me that he would remove the photo but under no circumstances would Sligo Rovers pay for the use of the photo. He truly believes they've done nothing wrong. "You stole my photo, edited it, removed my logo and used it in an advertisement for your season ticket, from which the club earned money." So, if I ever have the good fortune to be up in Sligo on a Friday night, I must pop into their club shop and steal a few of their jerseys, quite sure they'd see things differently then!!! Here is my photo and their advertisement:
Right, rant over!!! Needed to get that off my chest!!!
Next time ................. Something more positive, My Favourite Images Part 1
