It's time.

Vove

I never wanted to add a watermark to my photos because I believe it spoils the aesthetic and takes away from the subject matter.  I also believe that it's a super cool thing to share how I see with y'all which is why I post in the first place. Regular readers of this blog already know that  I love it when people appreciate my pictures and want to re-post them as long as they are properly attributed back to me and, if possible, the artist depicted.  But recently I have noticed a butt load of 'unauthorized' downloads from this site.  I am choosing to believe that the people who do this are so enamored with what they see that they absolutely M U S T   H A V E   I T  for themselves to love and cherish till the end of time rather than for financial gain, personal glory or worse to portray my photos or another artist's work as their own.  I always always always ALWAYS add a credit to my pictures when I know who the artist is, is it so wrong to ask the same courtesy for my photography? 

So, yeah...it's time.  I now have added the dreaded watermark to my photos ;-(   I have also upgraded to a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0) 

So, what does this mean to you?

You are free:

• to Share — to copy, distribute and transmit the work

Under the following conditions:

• Attribution — You must attribute the work in the manner specified by the author or licensor (but not in any way that suggests that they endorse you or your use of the work).
  
  Attribute this work:
  
  What does "Attribute this work" mean?

  The page you came from contained embedded licensing metadata, including how the creator wishes to be attributed for re-use. You can use the HTML here to cite the work. Doing so will also include metadata on your page so that others can find the original work as well.
• Noncommercial — You may not use this work for commercial purposes.
  
• No Derivative Works — You may not alter, transform, or build upon this work.
  

With the understanding that:

• Waiver — Any of the above conditions can be waived if you get permission from the copyright holder.
• Public Domain — Where the work or any of its elements is in the public domain under applicable law, that status is in no way affected by the license.
• Other Rights — In no way are any of the following rights affected by the license:
  • Your fair dealing or fair use rights, or other applicable copyright exceptions and limitations;
  • The author's moral rights;
  • Rights other persons may have either in the work itself or in how the work is used, such as publicity or privacy rights.
• Notice — For any reuse or distribution, you must make clear to others the license terms of this work. The best way to do this is with a link to this web page.

What exactly does this mean?

Trust no one / JulieFaith

I regularly peruse my own Flickr, which those of you that are habitual flickerites can identify with.  I like to check out my home page and see the comments on my pix as well as the followup comments on my contacts' pictures that I have fave'd. I also really like checking out my stats page.  Yanno, seeing my Daily Aggregate View graph spike and fall, watching all-time views grow and mostly linking back to my Referrers.  This is one of the ways I track who is using my pictures where.

So today I come across an unfamiliar link in my Referral list.  Ok, so...I follow it ...and end up here.  A page full of pictures of doors, you say?  Ya, well 5 rows down, far right pic is this:

Door detail - old school letter blocks / JulieFaith

My picture of a door on Spring Street, downtown Los Angeles. (I love that pic, btw) Ok, that's not so bad. Kinda cool actually, right? Ok, well the text is all in Japanese but I can see a cut-and-paste code beneath the picture that allows a user to post the picture to their blog, advert or whatever. There is also a wrench tool icon which I click.  Up comes the larger image with lots more options to use the picture and lots more Japanese text.

Now I'm getting kinda worried. Especially cuz I can now see basic Exif info and my name. Ok ok, I think, calm down.  I click on my name and up comes a page with a bunch of my photos.  They all have this little cut-and-paste code beneath them and they all have this little wrench that links to a bigger image with more options to use each picture. Lots and lots of Japanese text everywhere.

At this point I am kinda freaking out.  I'm thinking it's creepy.  I post on facebook to see if anyone has heard of this site igosso.net. Meanwhile, I put Google Translator to work and find a line near the bottom of 'my' page that translates to, "Please use this license for each image. Any reuse, etc. Please note with a link. Please see the Use of Creative Commons license."

So now I'm wondering what exactly igosso is asking of their users. Their home page states via translation, "The search service is available free from commercial flickr materials free of charge." It's crappy translation but now I know that they aren't asking for money for my or any one else's pictures. And it looks to me like the code directly credits me and allows the reader to click through from the picture directly to my Flickr.  I'm actually using the Igasso codes in this post. I'm not happy with the quality at all - see pic below. What do you think? Is Igasso a bunch of pirates or are they friends?

Pirates 2 - detail / JulieFaith

One note:  I already have a "Attribution Share-Alike Creative Commons" on my pictures which means people can use them as long as they credit me. I actually did it on purpose thinking maybe people would become familiar with my work.  Guess I got my wish. 

Sooooo.... this is actually a good thing.  Right?

 *Siiiigh* maybe it's time to watermark everything. ;-(