Protecting your content online is a huge part of being a photographer. Image theft is absolutely rampant online. Many people think if an image is on the internet, they can use it any way they want. However, this is not the case as photographers own copyright of an image the moment they trigger the camera. Each photographer looks at unauthorized use a little differently, but I break it down into three levels.

Sharing - This is not image theft. As a photographer you want people sharing your work. This is when a person or page shares your post directly. Their share links directly back to your account. This helps your work be seen by more people and can quickly grow your social media following. Reposting (with credit) - Technically this is image theft and you have every right to request these images be taken down. If someone reposts one of your images, it can go viral and help them quickly grow their social media following. You will likely receive a trickle down boost in followers. I tend to just let this type of image theft slide anymore. Reposting (without credit) - This is image theft in its purest form. This is done strictly to add content to a page without making any effort to credit the photographer for their work. I see this a lot and report this type of theft for copyright infringement 100% of the time. Sometimes it is just laziness, not looking for the name of the photographer that took the image. Other times it is deceitful. People try to act like they were the person that took the picture. They use your work to benefit their own brand.

Which leads us to Brent Shavnore. I’m in a group of storm chasers on Facebook that looks out for unauthorized use of content we produce. When I came across a post about Brent, I decided to look through his Instagram page and quickly found one of my images was mirrored and used as a key element in his “artwork”.