How do I feel about people stealing my work?

I had an message out of the blue yesterday by someone in a distant country, asking me how I felt about people stealing my film simulations and claiming them as their own. This really made me think, as it’s not just about the work I do with these simulations, but with photography and blogging in general. Below are my thoughts on the subject, as I know this has happened to not just myself, but others out there too.

The first thing you have to ask yourself with regards to others using your work is, did they ask permission to use your hard work? Honestly, 99% of people are decent enough to ask if they can use something, and a lot of them even ask if I mind if they tweak any particular settings. On the other hand, a lot of my work is just settings. A collection of numbers and parameters that I fiddle with, make look like a film stock, give a name to and then share. It’s impossible for me to think that those settings on Fuji equipment are purely mine, of course others would have used them.

An app was recently released which stole another Fuji users settings from their website, and the person who made the app charged for the app to be downloaded, profiteering from someone else’s hard work. The app was taken down when many people complained, rightly so, but how difficult would it be for that person to just rename everything, or just change a single parameter and still benefit from making money out of someone’s work?

Anyway, back to the message I had. My response was exactly the same as it always is in these situations. If someone uses my work, ALL I ask for is to be credited and no profit made from my work. It’s the very least that the person can do. This goes for images, blogs or anything. A simple credit.

I make absolutely no money from what I do on my website, what I do for my Great Photography Group or what I do with my Fujifilm work. In June this year I have to renew my domain and website, which is a substantial amount compared to last year when I had an introductory offer. I have to sum up the pros and cons of renewing this. Although I’ve had over 100,000 visits since July 2020, does the cost really justify what I’m doing?

If you are thinking of stealing other peoples work for profit… Please don’t.

If you are thinking of using other peoples work… Please ask or at least credit me.

I do this as a hobby, and One Camera One Lens is the place of my personal photography blogs and projects. It’s been hard work building it up, hard work getting communities involved, hard work getting fresh content on a regular basis. Please respect that.

Mark G.Adams
Founder of Great Photography Walks South Wales.
Founder of One Camera One Lens.