Flickr, Photographers, and the Law

Posted on 13 May 2007

From Photo Business News & Forum by John Harrington:

Flickr and the Law

Recently,

I was having breakfast on a travel project with a colleague of mine. He

asked of me “what’s the big deal with Flickr? I don’t get it. I don’t

see the benefit of being there, of taking the time to be on it. It’s

just for people to share their family photos, right? What does it help

we professionals?” I reponded, telling him that Flickr is not just

that, and that friends, prospective art directors, and so on, can make

you a “friend”, and then, whenever you post new photos, they turn up on

their Flickr page. It’s friends and these prospective clients are choosing

to want to be alerted when you add photos, and it’s all automatic and

shows up on their own page straightaway! Further, properly tagged

(think Keywords, Check here,

for Stan Rowin’s insights on this and a link to a report with even more

information), people can find the photos, and get in touch with you,

or, maybe, mis-use your photo.

Stan has other insights on Flickr here,

but how do we, as professionals, not only leverage the value of Flickr,

but also encourage fair and just use of our work there?

(Follow the link to the full post.)

I’ve begun experimenting with Flickr (www.flickr.com/photos/gdanmitchell/) as a repository for my photographs, and I’m trying to get my mind around the whole contacts, friends, etc. business.

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