Another photographer sent in a submission about this particular thief. The saddest part of this is that it appears that this fauxtog was able to get these images to use because blogs require photographers to submit without watermarks, therefore leaving out images unprotected for cases such as these. As you will see, many of these images were taken from Delightfully Engaged/My Wedding.com where they ask for no watermarks on submissions. Even the majority of her words on her site are plagiarized, as you will see that her session guide is an exact copy of this guide by Lin & Jirsa (may not be theirs though, it’s all over the internet apparently). Continue reading Photography by Linds’ Lens→
This girl is happy to announce she is offering to photograph (and video!) weddings this year for free (yes you read that right) to build her portfolio. She even offers two photographers for the price of none – per her website. My personal favorite is that she is urging clients to hire her even if they already have hired a photographer as she says she’ll stay out of their hair. Suuuuuuureeee. Here’s my favorite part of her FAQ though, “Are all of the pictures on this website your own? No, the images currently on this website we’re taken by Robin Bradshaw of Bullet Photography. They are a representation of the photojournalistic style I aspire too and they are temporary whilst I build my portfolio in 2012.”
Well… at least she is honest in her dishonesty. Too bad it’s pretty hidden so unless you are actively looking for it, you wouldn’t know it was NOT her work being shown. The photographer she stole from did NOT give her permission nor did she credit her exactly as you will see in the source.
This submission came from the online form, thank you!!!! It appears that a lot of the images are coming from photographers in Australia and a lot of commercial images and often steal from the same photographer multiple times. Each gallery is made up of many pictures, all appear to be stolen as the original photographers are not listed in the people who are working for this company.
By the time I was alerted to this thief, the owners of the photos have mostly done what they should and reported the image theft to the web site host and Facebook so many of the images are down, but not all. There is also a couple images that are stock images that are being used. Her website online has already been taken down from the owners of the images filing DMCA’s so that’s a plus!
Most images have been removed but there are still some stock images on her page. She is getting pretty nasty back at people commenting on her Facebook Page about the stolen works and calling the owners of the images “snoody” for asking her to remove them.
UPDATE #2:
It appears her Facebook Page is down, possibly gone depending if she or Facebook took it down for the multiple DMCA reports.
It looks like this photographer has been at this for about a month though, not just a week as I can see stolen images on facebook were put up in April. Sure, the images at the beginning of their wedding page on their site may be theirs but the more you scroll the more they “borrowed” from other sites. Of course the borrowed photos have their logo on it… that’s totally a mistake right? Beyond the stolen images I wouldn’t be surprised if they don’t have licensing for the music as well (note, turn your speakers off before going to their site if you don’t care for music on sites).
He’s been confronted and is denying, of course. This excuse? He got the images from a free wedding image advertising site. Ah, of course. Because nothing says legit like using stock photos to sell your photography business. Note this is against all terms of service on stock image sites.
He is slowly taking down images as the owners confront him (owners, I have a PDF of the page before if you need it for any legal purposes) but what’s amusing is that he’s not taking down ALL of the stolen images.
This was stolen nearly word for word from… well I’m not sure who from. According to CopyScape there’s at least 6 photographers using this same bio with words and numbers swapped out and some expanding on this making even more mirrors. Sure, A&K may have originally wrote it but considering that their online presence didn’t appear to start until 2012 I am doubting they were the first to get this. Maybe it’s from that free wedding site too…
UPDATE:
He is removing some of the images but not all and none have been removed from the Facebook Page. If one of the images is yours, filing a DMCA with Facebook is easy as pie. Contact me if you need help.
UPDATE #2:
A and K Photography is claiming that this is a “lie” by a former partner so I’m going to continue to show images and their sources (none of which are from the gentleman he’s accusing of starting this rumor). He’s also threatening to sue. The proof is in the pudding right? Although these sources are linked above, photographers are visual people so here’s the visual proof.
This blog may have been the final tipping point for A and K to finally remove ALL of the stolen images from their Facebook Fan Page as they were here right before they went down. Hi!!!! Now let’s work on your website OK?
UPDATE #4:
A and K has finally removed most (not all mind you!) of the stolen works from their website and Facebook page. However guess what hasn’t been touched? The Google + page!
I should mention here that I think it is quite shady to use their personal portrait from their wedding day in advertising and on their multiple websites since it’s being presented with images they claim to have taken and NOT labeled as them or their wedding image from their own wedding photographer.
UPDATE #4 3/1/2013:
Guess who got caught stealing again? Youuuuu got it, A&K! Boy, that old partner just doesn’t stop does he 😉 It’s amazing he still has access to their Facebook page to keep putting these stolen goods up huh?
This wall of shame is dedicated to photographers that feel that it's okay to steal others' work and post it as their own. Oh I'm sorry, it's okay to let their "web designer" do it.
