Some of you wanted an update on the progress of The Case of The Stolen Picture, so here you go…

I posted last week about finding a picture from my blog (of our nursery) on a store’s website.  The picture had been used without consent and did not give any credit to me or this blog.  It was a weird feeling - violated, flattered, annoyed, and funny.

On Facebook it created quite a conversation: they had some nice stuff… I should get store credit!  Was this an outrage or a compliment?  Someone’s 4-year-old daughter rightly concluded that they were pirates.

My own son was infuriated.  He told me we needed to “tell them to give that back!  That’s our condo!  Give our picture back!” ;)

First thing I did was e-mail them politely but firmly telling them that the picture was mine, was obtained without permission, and they needed to either remove it or credit it.  And I waited until the end of the week… there was no response.  So I tried phoning the store on Monday.  No answer.  Left a message on the machine.  No response.  I was beginning to wonder if the store was even still in business.  

That’s when I contacted Lindsey (from Little House Blog) and Jennifer (from Rambling Renovators) via Twitter.  They’re like the big sisters of Canadian design bloggers, giving tips about blogging and planning events like BlogPodium.  And they’re awesome.  Within minutes they responded with some great advice on what I should be doing.

Lindsey pointed out that if they didn’t respond I should get ahold of their website host.  Good call.  And Jennifer pointed me to this helpful article about what to do when your content is stolen.  I was glad to have a variety of options on how to proceed.

I decided to give them one more try - I sent a much more firmly worded e-mail then called the store again.  This time someone answered.  I can’t say the conversation was the most pleasant.  The woman on the other end seemed rushed, annoyed, suspicious, and awkward (I mean, how awkward to realize you’re a skeezy pirate!).  I tried to be firm but polite… but it was strange.  I felt nervous being so confrontational.  She hurriedly told me they’d take it down and hung up.

Click.

Wait a second!  No click!  I wanna’ know: were you oblivious to the fact that taking my picture was wrong a la Judith Griggs?  Or were you evilly plotting this scheme with ill intent?!  Where did you find my picture?  Why did you take my picture!?  I felt very unsatisfied.  

By the day’s end the picture was still up.  And after the very brief and none-too-happy phone call I decided to hit “send” on my e-mail to their web host.

Then, yesterday I received a phone call from the store owner.  She told me that she was aware of a phone call I’d had with her employee and just wanted to know more.  I once again explained that the picture was mine and was taken without permission, and that I’d tried several times through e-mail and phone to notify them of that.  She apologized and explained they have trouble with that e-mail address and that the picture had been taken down.  She also told me that she’d spoken with her lawyer who’d informed her she was not in the wrong because I didn’t have any kind of watermark on it (um… sorry, but that is not the case.  In Canada, once a person creates an original work in compliance with the Copyright Act - blog writing and photography included - it is copyrighted.  I own the rights to it.  Period. )  She assured me that no malice was intended but that they found the picture and really felt that it fit the look of what they were going for.  Overall she was professional and polite (even though she did try to put the onus on me for not marking my photo) and I was feeling better.  I told her that I had given them permission to continue using the photo as long as they gave me proper credit and referred her to my original email.

So… I consider the whole matter dealt with.  I won’t be posting any rage-filed attention-seeking complaints on their Facebook page now. ;)

And let this be a lesson to us all:

1. Bloggers, stand up for your original work, and
2. Pinterest is not a source.  Go find out where a picture is from and credit it appropriately.

The End.

OK, peeps of the inter-webs.  I’m gonna drop some science.

(That’s right.  I just wrote the nerdiest sentence you will hear today.  And depending on your circle of friends, maybe all month.)

There is officially now NO excuse to post pictures without giving original sources and credits.  Because the good people of Google have offered up another crazy, how-is-the-Google-so-smart, completely FREE service.  It’s been around for a while.  And it’s pretty rad.  And it is fighting the good fight against people sourcing their pictures to “Pinterest” or “unknown”. *shudder*

It’s so freaking/unbelievably easy.  Let me show you.

For starters, let’s dig into my old “home inspiration photo” files on my computer. (Whoa… do you remember life before Pinterest?  When we saved pictures ONTO OUR COMPUTERS?!)  Long ago his lovely bright picture was dragged (drug?) and dropped into my photo file because I loved it.  But afterwards (especially 6 years later) I had no way of ever remembering which website I got it from in the first place.  But I’d love to share it with you.  But I no longer post pictures on my Tumblr that don’t list at least one of the: publisher, designer, photographer or stylist.  Darnitall.  

Photograph by Luis Rivera for Real Simple

But wait!  I found the source!  How did I do it?!? Check. Check. Check it out:

Look at the Google home page. Look up up up to the black menu bar and click on “images”.  Now you’ll be on the Google Images search page.

 You notice that little camera icon that I subtly highlighted for you?  Click on it.  You know you want to.  And you are magically transported here:

Now, I prefer to upload an image.  But you can paste the URL.  Whatev’s.  I usually drag and drop the image onto my desktop, then click “choose file” and upload it.  When I do this the computer cooks up some possibilities of where this image came from.  After it does this, you need to sift through the search results with a bit of discretion:

Look for a reliable source first - a big time blog, or magazine site, or the portfolio of  a designer/photographer/stylist/etc.  If one of these pops up it should either be or list the original creator of the image.  SCORE.

If none of these pops up, look at the other blogs that come up, or Pinterest accounts, and see if they included links to the original source.  (And give ‘em mad props if they do.)

Now, it isn’t always that easy - and you’ll need to use a bit of savvy and discretion:

• Sometimes the image may be from a hip magazine in, say, Norway.  And I don’t know ‘bout you, but my Norwegian’s a little rusty.  So you’ll have to try and figure out the source with an online translator.  Good luck with that.
• Sometimes the image is not professional.  The small-time blogger decorated that room and photographed it herownself.  Give that person the original source credits if you’re sure of this. (i.e he/she writes “Check out what I did in my living room!”)
• Sometimes websites are dumb and look somewhat professional but do not actually own the image and do not list any sources.  Shake your fist and wrinkle your nose at them.
• Sometimes you will find a whole bunch of people linking the image back to a certain blog - but that blogger did not create the image.  It’s just that they posted it, and everyone else got it from them.  Boo.  You should keep looking for the actual source.
• Occasionally you will find a dead end.  Maybe somebody scanned the picture from a book or magazine.  Or maybe the original source is now gone.  Occasionally you’ll have to abandon posting a picture, because you just can’t find the original source.

Photograph by Steven Brooke for Coastal Living

Mmhmm.  And this one…

from Martha Stewart Living

What a beaut.  And this one!

Photograph by Stacey Brandford for House & Home, October 2005, via Design Maze

Yesss.  I want a fence like that.

So, go Goog it up.

(Graphic by Justine Taylor)

OK, folks.  The time has come.  Or, actually, it’s long overdue.  This blog is going credit-only.  

THE BACKGROUND:

Bloggers, (and worse, Tumblr bloggers) have a bad rap about posting pictures (or other stuff) without giving its original source to the readers.  I’ve done this.  And I’ve grown increasingly uncomfortable with it over my 2 years of blogging.  You see, posting a picture without giving credit to the photographer, the designer, the stylist, the publication… it’s just not fair.  We bloggers can take someone else’s idea, creativity, hard work, style, and piggyback it with the quick click of “reblog”.  We get hits, and followers, and traffic on our blogs while the creators go unrecognized - essentially robbing them of the credit (and potential business) that is due them.

THE CHANGE FOR ME:

So from now on I will only post pictures that I know of the original source.

By giving credit I don’t mean just the blog the picture came from (unless of course the blogger is the original creator).  If I were to get a picture from a blog I’d say “via _______”, but still need to give credit to the original creators of the image.  Sometimes you can’t get all of the sources (ie. only the photographer is listed, or some magazines own the images and don’t list the photographer or designer).  The truth is we can’t always get everyone in (what about the stylist?  Or the lighting guy!  Or the homeowner!?  Or the caterer!?!).  What I aim to do is give at least one of these sources, and more whenever possible.  That way, if you wanted to track down the artist, say, you could contact the designer directly to find out. 

This also means that I won’t be reblogging uncredited images.  (Eep!)  That’s too bad, because I won’t be able to post a lot of lovely work out there.  But I have to draw the line.  And if someone I follow does not regularly credit the images they blog I’ll likely unfollow, since they aren’t a useful resource to me.

And by listing the source I want to do more than just the click-through link.  While it’s great that a click of the picture can bring you to the original source, if you’re like me you don’t often click on pictures to find out the source.  I want the credit to travel through the blogosphere with the image, so I’ll write it below the picture.

I also ask that if you’re going to use an image you find on my tumblr site that you also include the credit (I know some people like to erase the text below the pictures). If you don’t mind I’d appreciate that you list the credit plus “via Birch and Lily” (or “via Justine Taylor”), but your priority needs to be recognizing the work of the original creators.

OTHER CONSIDERATIONS

I have a lot of old stuff on my blog that is not sourced.  If you come across an old post with an uncredited image and know where it came from, PLEASE let me know.  Put it in the picture “reply”, leave a comment, or message me with a link. 

What about Pinterest?  For me Pinterest is a personal tool for myself.  I use the boards to organize ideas and inspiration for my own projects and save the poor hard drive on my computer.  So I may post pictures on my Pinterest boards that are uncredited (though I’ll be trying to move away from this), but I will not bring them to my blog which is intended for public enjoyment.  (This is something I’ll be simmering on for a while though… is it possible to keep private Pinterest boards?)

SORRY IF YOU’RE BUMMED…

…or angry, or offended, or think I’m going “holier than thou”.  But I’ve gotta’ do this, and hope other bloggers will do it too!

Kapish? (“Kapish” quote from the character of Uncle Jesse Katsopolis, played by John Stamos, from the television show “Full House”, created by Jeff Franklin and writers include, but are not limited to: Jeff Franklin, Dennis Rinsler, Marc Warren, and Ellen Guylas.) 

OK, that last part was a joke.  I won’t go that crazy. ;)