Premier Moment

URL:  http://premiermoment.com/

Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/pages/Premier-Moment/433038763410979

I don’t know why but it always baffles me how a photographer with a gallery of stolen images can have more Facebook fans than I do.  Anyway, this is another submission and it’s a doozie.  Lots of stolen goodies to be found here at Premier Moment. 

PS:  Apparently I now have a copycat whom is doing the same thing as I am, just remember, I’m the first AND the best.  I’m not flattered since they are doing the same thing I am doing but have a Facebook page to go along with the site.  I’d have been grateful for help or for joining forces for the power of evily good but outright copying my idea and making your own wall of shame with a similar format just pisses me off.  Consider yourself on the naughty list. 

PPS:  While it is definitely a work-in-progress, I invite you to fan Photo Stealers Facebook here.  I’ve actually had it for quite a while but haven’t done anything with it.  The little copycat got me going in promoting it.  I’m working on a logo as we speak.  

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Their website.

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Their Facebook Fan Page.

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Their profile picture for their Facebook Fan Page, which looked awfully suspicious to me. 

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The image is also used on their website on the Weddings page. 

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Here is the original image from the photographer El Marco Rojo from a gorgeous wedding in Ibiza.  

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Here is a snippet of the gallery on Facebook, which I started to peruse. 

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Another suspicious image, especially since I had already seen it.

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Yet another image stolen, here is original image from the photographer El Marco Rojo (same wedding as above). 

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Another suspicious image.

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The original source is Adrian Bonet from this wedding

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Another image on the Facebook. 

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Stolen again, this time from Nuar Fotografia.

There is also quite a few images taken from Pinterest (mainly of the baby and maternity photographs) that I can’t find a source for so I won’t list them.  

UPDATE:

While Premire has removed the outed images here, they are still using the stolen baby and maternity photographs as their “panoramic” pictures.  

The Facebook page has been removed.  

My Life Photo aka Capture the Moment

URL:  http://mylifephoto.smugmug.com/

URL:  http://www.mylifephoto.biz/

Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/mylifephoto.biz

Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/photography.biz

Twitter:  https://twitter.com/mylifephotobiz

My Life Photo by Thomas C Miles is yet another photographer using stolen images to help pad his portfolio.  Apparently he was recently at a bridal show and caught the eye of some local photographers as he had a ton of work yet no one knew of him prior to his arrival at the show.  After the show, he bragged about booking 100+ engagement sessions (which apparently he was giving away for free) and people looked into his work further to discover that the images he showed at the bridal show were not his.  

Also note that I have enabled comments on the posts now!  

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We’re going to start with the main webpage and continue on from there.  I suggest that you find some popcorn.  It appears that the opening gallery is either My Life Photo’s real work or due to the photoshopping I am unable to find a source. 

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I’m going to start with the gallery and this popup amuses the hell out of me.  Funny that he goes to these efforts so people cannot steal when the work itself is stolen.  Funny shit. 

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The above image is apparently a stock item as it’s pretty easily found on the internet on many wallpaper sites. This is just one of the many

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The next image is a stock and the following I didn’t find a source for so we’re going to the next image that there is a source for.  Notice that it’s significantly smaller in size in the gallery compared to the other images, which is what tipped me off initially. 

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This image is from K Design Photography.  I don’t know why, but it really creeps me out when people steal images of children. 

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This is the next image in the gallery.  Remember, since this is all hosted on Smugmug, these image are available for sale.  

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This image is from Minuta Photography.

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The next image in the gallery.

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If you edit the image (to spot color even, shudder!) I can still find the original source, whom is Shawn Tomkinson Photography.  Note that the watermark was also removed from the photo when edited. 

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The remainder of his gallery is either his work or manipulated to the point I cannot find the original source.  However, we are back to stealing again on his packages page.  

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This is a stock image for an album from Mixbook and the others on the page are also stock images.  

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Onto the Facebook page where the first thing that catches my eye is that the profile image is a huge disconnect from the images shown on the page. 

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It appears to be a stock image that is heavily used for a background to music selections.  This is just one page where it is used.  

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I decided to work my way up from the bottom as the more recent images seem to be from My Life Photos and low and behold we find the tiny pictures again. 

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This image is from CLC Portraits

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Another image in his gallery that caught my eye. 

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It belongs to A. Blake Photography.  

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Another image from the Facebook gallery. 

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This image is originally from Calfa Photography

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This may be my personal favorite, the photographer at the bridal show with large canvases of the images he’s stolen.  

PS:  This seems very, very suspect.  While it may not have to deal with stealing photos, I thought I’d call attention to it while I was here.  

Update 3/6:

Apparently he’s a quick little sucker and quickly deleted the first two sites we outed when he found out he got called out.  The new URLs have been posted because of course, there’s more than one. 

Update 3/7:

All of the sites are down.  There is an apology of sorts in the comments but IMHO I’ve heard the sick kid/wife/aunt story before.  True or not, it’s not a reason to steal.  

Hot 89.9

Originally I made this blog to out sham photographers who are beefing up their portfolios with work that is not their own to draw in clients who are none the wiser until far after the money has exchanged hands and the wedding/event has taken place.

Today I’m making an exception to this rule (we shall see if it’s a forever exception or not) because frankly I’m pissed off by the amount of businesses that have been stealing photographs lately. First it was DKNY and now, the tipping point for me, Hot 89.9. Perhaps the tipping point for me is the final email that they sent to the photographer when confronted with the theft. I found out about this via Facebook today and I’m seething.

Barbara Ann Studios, based in Ottawa, Canada happened across a pamphlet by Hot 89.9 in which they were seeking partners for their “Get Me to the Altar” contest. She happened to see that one of her images was being used on the last page and was shocked as she had never been asked for permission, nor given the file over for use.

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The page of the document in question by Hot 89.9.

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The image from Barbara Ann Studios blog.

Barbara emailed the company and asked how this image came to be used and why it was being used without permission. They replied stating that they used Google Image Search for images at a venue that is a sponsor and it was only used for 10 or less clients and they were sorry. Barbara replied that it doesn’t matter how many people saw it, it is the fact that it was used without permission and gave them a rate in which she typically charges for commercial use of an image. Hot 89.9 replied and scoffed at her price stating that typically they pay $40-$100 for that type of image use. Barbara replied that fee may have been okay had it of been a negotiated rate with a different photographer prior to going live with the document but after the event it is a different matter, that was not her fee for commercial use and she was hoping to settle this without having to go further.

This is the final email from Scott Broderick, which sent me over the edge.

“Barb you were kind enough to provide us with a few definitions. Here is one I just looked up:

extortion

NOUN

The practice of obtaining something, esp. money through force or threats

SYNONYMS

Blackmail-exaction

You are obviously a very talented photographer, I would stick with that. Extortion is not your thing.

Cheers,

SB”


Dear corporations and businesses,

I can’t say it better than Harlan Ellison – Pay the Writer.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mj5IV23g-fE

Everyone else may be an asshole but I’m not.

Thank you,

Photographers

PS: Google Image Search is a tool to find photographs, not a free image database for stock images.

UPDATE 3/3
Yesterday Hot 89.9 posted their entire email exchange on Facebook which resulted in over 1,000 comments, many attacking Barbara personally. Finally after a day they have removed the post and posted its staying private, which is ironic. People are still slinging mud and many questionable Facebook accounts are participating (sorry if it was created in the past day I’m going to question it’s validity).