Field of Sunflowers – Creative Commons (Attribution, Non-Commercial, No Derivatives)
Most images I post online are designated as Creative Commons, meaning they’re available for use by others, as long as there is attribution and it’s not modified or used for commercial purposes. Almost all of my images on Flickr and on my blog (including my writing) are licensed this way. Do I have control over whether these guidelines are followed? No, but I trust that most people will respect the license. Here’s why I’ve come to this decision.
I believe in the culture of sharing and generosity.
1. My mission in life is to learn to see differently and to share what I’ve learned with others. I want these ideas to spread.
2. As a solopreneur, I rely on others to share my work to get the word out. The benefits in getting more people to my website are enormous.
We live in a different type of economy now – one of connection and sharing. We have the opportunity to spread our work widely in ways never before possible.
3. Although I do have images for sale at Imagekind, I don’t derive a large percentage of my income from the sale of images. I also believe most people will buy the image from me if they see one they like and want to hang it on a wall.
Note: My workshop content is copyrighted. At this point, I don’t want others sharing freely the content because it’s not fair to those who have paid to sign up for a class.
Here are some examples of successful online entrepreneurs whose work is mostly creative commons. Rather than quote their reasons, I’ve linked to articles where you can learn more.
Trey Ratcliffe is a wildly popular HDR photographer, whose images are exquisite. Below is an example of a Creative Commons image by Trey found on Flickr.
Trey Ractcliffe (Stuck in Customs) – Bridges in Zurich – Creative Commons on Flickr
Images are meant to be seen and not hoarded. ~ Trey Ratcliffe licensing page
Trey Ratcliffe on Why I Don’t Use Watermarks.
Believe me, it’s quite liberating living in a world without internet-stealth-fear. ~ Trey Ratcliffe
Trey Ratcliffe on Why Photographers Should Stop Complaining about Copyright and Embrace Pinterest
A pure artist has two motivations: creation for the sake of creation and sharing for the sake of connecting with the world. ~ Trey Ratcliffe
Leo Babauta has a blog, Zen Habits, which is extremely popular. He goes even further with his “uncopyright.” Anyone can use his content, change it, and they don’t even have to give attribution. Radical, yes, but he says he’s made more money by doing this than he would have by holding tightly to copyright.
And while I’m certainly not da Vinci or Shakespeare, copyright hasn’t helped me, and uncopyright hasn’t hurt me. If someone feels like sharing my content on their blog, or in any other form for that matter, that’s a good thing for me. If someone wanted to share my ebook with 100 friends, I don’t see how that hurts me. My work is being spread to many more people than I could do myself. That’s something to celebrate, as I see it. ~ Leo Babauta
Here are a few very interesting articles by Leo on the subject.
On the Privatization of the English Language – how our trademarks and copyrights often go too far.
The Culture of Sharing – how copyrights protect corporations more than artists.
I don’t begrudge anyone who copyrights or watermarks their image. It’s a personal choice. But I’d like to know – do you use copyright? Why or why not?
Interesting. Back in 2007 someone I know talked about sharing his pictures on Flickr with a CC license. At the time I didn’t understand but learned the value of this. However, on Pinterest it can actually hurt you if you have an image that leads to your site and someone just takes it, removes your info and posts it leading to their site. I had this happen once, and was pretty ticked off at the audacity because I do have many, many images with a CC license.
Good article Kim 🙂
Yes, it’s happened to me too Kathy. I have to believe, though, that most people will provide attribution. I make it a policy and I hope others do too. I guess those are the instances where you have to leave it up to karma. 😉
Like you, I use the Creative Commons license. If one of my images can fill someone’s need (and gain me a little exposure in the process) that is all a good thing. At this point, I don’t make money from my photography and desire only to share what I see.
Interesting, Brenda. I didn’t realize that your images had a Creative Commons license.
Interesting subject and exchange. What exactly is a Creative Commons license? I do agree that watermarks detract from an image and have often wondered if there’s a point to them!
Sandra, the first line of this post has a link to an article by Sara Hawkins that explains the different types of Creative Commons licences.
Thank you Kim, I’ll follow the link. I had not paid attention to it!
Very interesting topic! I need to rethink this. 🙂 I am not professional by any means, am not trying to sell any of my “stuff”, or become “known”, and it always surprises me when I find my photos elsewhere, as I don’t think I’m really *that* good! LOL – although at times I get “lucky.” I have a “copyright” notice on my blog as a kind of “protection.” Yeah, I know – WHAT protection. LOL I realized several years ago that people were not abiding by it anyway! I guess on the Internet anything goes… Will have to think about changing the wording… I recently had some of my “better” (for me) photos scooped by another photographer whose blog I follow and put on her Pintrest page! I have never had a comment from this person regarding my work, and yet she scooped them! (with my blog reference, which was nice). It didn’t bring me much traffic – ie: people who were actually *interested* – just a few more people scooping my stuff for their Pintrest pages 🙂 And really, who spends that kind of time scanning other people’s Pintrest pages for photos! Maybe I shouldn’t care, but it felt like a violation. I had another woman, who scooped a photo, tell me that “sharing was caring” – as she scooped other people’s copyrighted material.. I would like to think that we all had the courtesy to respect each other’s creative work and at least *ask* if the photo, or art, or article may be used – whether there’s a copyright or not. It’s a compliment to have someone take the time to contact you and want to use your work. I would love to know when someone wants to re-post mine… But as the saying goes, it’s easier to get forgiven than to get permission 🙂 LOL But maybe I am old fashioned. 🙂
Kim, I know this is a long one. Don’t feel like you have to post it! 🙂
It’s great to hear your thoughts, Christine. Definitely something to think about.
Regarding Pinterest, did you read Trey Ratcliffe’s article on why we should embrace Pinterest? I see Pinterest as a public bookmarking site. So, the link to the original site is there – people are just bookmarking things they like. I don’t see it as scooping somebody else’s photo and trying to pass it off as my own. I would consider it flattering to have one of my images pinned.
Great dialogue here Kim! I’ve had a couple of my photos snagged from my blog and reposted on the other person’s blog, when I kindly approached her she added a link back to my blog. Pinterest is a fun place to see way more lovely photos than visiting so many blogs, and I have posted several of mine there which have been repined, and that is quite fun. At least I can see who is pinning them and I get the credit. Sharing my work is what I enjoy so much on the internet, although I’m sure many of my photos have been downloaded. Thanks for sharing these useful links! Might I add I have really enjoyed the two classes (50mm, and abstract).
Thanks for your comment, Bev. This brings up a good point – while there are people out there who knowingly take images without attribution, there are even more who have no idea of the correct protocol. They think that if an image is on the Internet it is available to be used. It’s up to us to talk about things like this and model the correct way to do things.
This is very interesting Kim. I wasn’t all that familiar with Creative Commons but I will explore it further. I like to think some of the energy I tapped into when I made the photograph will travel with it. In many ways, all my photographs are gifts anyway so passing them one is just “re-gifting”!