Stu Nettle

On the weekend Victorian photographer Steve Arklay was told by a friend that one of his photos was being run on Instagram without credit. Just another day for the modern photographer, right? Imagery is the fuel on which the attention economy runs and those photos are oh-so-easy to attain. Just right click on the image in question and press save...

But rather than post a righteous comment against the photo, Steve did a little bit of digging and was surprised with what he discovered.

Rather than simply lifting the shot to boost his Instagram traffic, the photographer - who in case you're wondering won't be named and shamed on here - posted the image to his Facebook profile replete with his own photography watermark and, quite remarkably, a copyright symbol. After all, you gotta protect your stolen IP.



At left is the photo as it ran on Swellnet, and as it ran on Instagram. Note the copyright symbol.

The photographer also entered the photo in a photo contest on an Australian website, the fine print of which says that all photos entered in the competition can be used across the site. And that's exactly what happened. We've no idea if the photo won or not.

The photo also ended up being used on other Instagram accounts, both personal and commercial ("South swell, west winds. Open till 5 today!").

Meanwhile, on the Instagram account of 'Right Click Surf Photography' a notice was posted: "All photos on this page are for sale." Steve enquired about his own photo.

As most people will know, image resolution on the 'net is 72 DPI. You simply cant right click and print large images, and a 60cm x 90cm print is well beyond the scope.

Steve compromised to a lesser size and continued with the ruse.

At this point Steve had to hand over his details and the gig was up. The fella at 'Right Click Surf Photography' twigged to his name and all the stolen images were removed. And of course the transaction didn't go through either.

Even though a couple of laws were broken, Steve says he wasn't trying to create a sting by entering into a discussion with the photographer. He didn't have the cops on speed dial. Professional curiousity was the driving factor.

Steve's been shooting for nearly ten years, he ain't a green 'round the gills snapper, so he understands the ever-growing grey area surrounding images and copyright on the internet. Lest you fill your waking hours with outrage you just have to let a few infringements slide. Chalk them up as 'exposure'. Your daily act of goodwill.

But the line gets drawn when they're used to fill someone else's pockets.