Once upon a time I took a photo of an Aprilia Tuono motorcycle at New York’s famous Hawk’s Nest, a twisty bit of asphalt high above the Delaware River.
I also posted it on my Flickr, where it became one of my most popular photos ever posted.
Which then helped it get ranked on search engines. It ended up as a top result on Google Images for “motorcycle road”.
(It’s the first image on the left)
Which meant that people started using it without permission.
In other words, stealing it.
At first I was kind of flattered. It must count for something if the Wolverine is my “opening” act.
Then again, here’s the photo leading to a KTM. I have no idea what’s going on in the photo above it.
The photo is quite popular overseas.
Some guy even used it as his profile photo on LinkedIn.
And another used it as his Facebook Cover.
Which is kind of cool. I love that this guy loves the photo and loves motorcycles. Just say “Photo by John M Flores” and we’d be good.
Others have even reposted the photo on Flickr. The nerve!
Nice bike, kid. Please teach your parents that sharing is caring but it’s not nice to steal.
It is also pretty popular with riding clubs and other organizations related to motorcycling.
I once met one guy at a motorcycle show. He handed me a brochure for his club. You know what was on the cover? You guessed it – my photo! I said, “Hey, that’s my photo!” He said, “No it isn’t, a club member took that.” Not wanting to make a baseless claim, I let it go, but later on I studied the photo and compared it to mine and every leaf, every branch, and every pebble matched. Damn, that club member must have gone to great lengths to recreate the scene perfectly!
And others have used it on forums when discussing a ride to Hawk’s Nest.
One fellow even tried to pawn the photo as his own on a motorcycle forum that was having a twisty road photo contest. Really? You want to win a casual online photo contest that badly? He was called out for stealing the photo by other participants who may have seen the photo in RoadRUNNER.
This place, HDForums.com is even running ads on the stolen photo.
They probably got the photo from Google Images, because it’s the first result when you search for “Hawk’s Nest motorcycle road”
When a blogger or small website uses the photo, I usually send a note saying that I probably would have let them use it if they had asked.
George did the right thing and apologized, provided new links to the photo, and even purchased my eBook “TEN TIPS: Motorcycle Travel Photos“. Thank you George.
One place was a non-profit down in Australia. They were raising money for a good cause, so instead of asking them for payment, I just asked for credit.
But when businesses use the photo, that’s another story. One person said that they found it on Google thus they thought that it was free.
What do I dream of? Companies understanding how the Internet works and paying photographers for their work.
That’s a common refrain that I hear, Google=Free.
But the thing is, these companies aren’t giving away their services for free, so why should they expect me to?
Can I just go to Eagle Rider and pick out a rental bike? When they say, “Sir, you can’t just take the bike, you have to pay for the rental!” Can I just respond, “But I saw it on Google, so it must be free.”
Why do companies do this? One of the reasons is that they do stuff like this as part of their social media plan – to get stuff out there that a lot of people like and hopefully share.
And they get likes and they get shares and people seeing their name using photos that they didn’t pay for. When you’re running a social media program and are looking for new material every day, asking for permission to use photos or even paying for them would take so much time. So just take it. As they say, it’s sometimes better to ask for forgiveness than ask for permission.
CycleFish.com conveniently cropped out the Aprilia (I guess that’s not their target market) and swapped in their own cruiser windshield. I noticed that they do that with a lot of photos. But that’s pretty weak sauce.
Others post videos on YouTube in the hopes of building an audience and getting their 15 minutes of fame.
Like I said, if you’re just a guy like me that loves motorcycles and want to share that passion with others, just ask me to use the photo. All I’d like in return is a little “Photo by John M Flores” somewhere.
And you would think that lawyers would know a thing or two about copyright law.
I guess not.
And one of the saddest and most ironic uses is a company SnapGIGGLE that claims to do Motorcycle Event Photography.
Really? Photographers stealing from photographers? If someone pays them to photograph an event, do they actually go to the event or do they just go on Google and looks for photos of a lot of motorcycle riders gathered together while they are at home in their pajamas eating pizza?
I guess I should take it as a compliment that the photo’s become a meme:
But as I said before, when companies do this it just rubs me the wrong way. Instead of paying for photography to help build their brand and ultimately sell their products and services, they are stealing photos. I approached one company about this, publicly corrected their error, and paid me. The rest? Not so much.
But every once in a while, I win a small victory
For all the photographers out there trying to make a buck but finding it hard because you are sometimes competing against “Google=Free” this one’s for you.
