A Very Sad Announcement

I am really sad to have to post this announcement. Over the weekend I found four of our clients who have digitally obtained their images and posted them on other websites—facebook, myspace, blogs and wedding websites. I really do view my clients as friends, so seeing a friend do this really hurts. Digitally obtaining any image without explicit permission is theft—whether you take it from a website, blog or any other digital medium. It is no different than scanning images, pirating software and movies, or shoplifting. We understand that our clients want to share their images on these other websites—and we have given permission for you to use the images we post on the blog as long as the Long’s Photography logo stays untouched.

So, effective today, all images posted in our online gallery will be watermarked across the middle with “Copyright 2008 Long’s Photography”. It is a move I really honestly hate to make. I have always felt that watermarking images distracts from the image itself, but I feel the actions of some have given me little choice. I am sorry for the change and hope that everyone can understand why it is necessary. For those of you who have taken images, please take this as an opportunity to remove the images from your websites, blogs, etc. Maintaining a mutual respect between photographer and client is the only way to produce good work and any clients who continue to digitally obtain their images will no longer be on our client list.