want to use your pics....

[SteveCarter]

Hey ya'll. With the big mess with Billy a few weeks ago, I thought I should ask this question. I'm opening up our third store, and fourth, in about three weeks. The Clemson store is having a weather theme for pictures on the wall, etc. It's hard to find REALLY good pics of tornadoes, etc. What I want to do is.....download some of your pics, enlarge them, and them frame them for my store. Of course, ALL copyrights would stay on the pics, and they wouldn't be sold or anything, just decorating the store. I have a couple of my own I took in Ark City, and Wichita areas over the June 4th weekend on my own chase, but.....just some good storms - I busted on the tubes. So, let me know what you think. Naturally, if you would rather I not do it, I won't.

EDIT: The store is a Cingular Wireless store, btw.

 

[Amos Magliocco]

Are you offering to pay to use people's images?

 

[Aaron Kennedy]

Better ask the photographers individually. I certainly wouldn't want my photos showing up on a wall (even with my copyright) without specific permission.

Second of all, deals such as what you mentioned above usually involve compensation ($$$) for the rights of using the photographer's work.

Third of all, simply downloading images off the internet *may* get you decent 4x6s if your lucky.... but in general they will look horrible.

I for one wouldn't give out tany of my original photos to anyone. To easy for something to get lifted. Instead, I would charge a fee for usage/printing and then sell you the print. That way, my photo has less chance of being stolen.

Aaron

 

[Joey Ketcham]

http://www.stormchaser.com/products.html

http://www.tornadoproject.com/products/postpage.htm

There's more places where you can buy weather related posters that would fit your needs

 

[Steve Miller TX]

Thanks, Steve for approaching this topic openly and honestly!

There are several chasers out there with excellent storm footage that would be willing to sell you some prints. Mike Hollingshead immediately comes to mind for me personally because I strive to eventually get the types of shots he does. There are several others out there too with great shots. I have my own little gallery I'm putting together that you can order pics online at http://SteveMillerGalleries.com (I hope this doesn't irk any moderators since this isn't the forum for selling things).

My reservation is that alot of people want to download and use storm images for free...especially in a commercial venue. I'm not sure why the general thought is out there that they aren't worth paying for and even as far as that they shouldn't pay for them. Maybe it's our own fault as a stormchasing community for being too lax about protecting our images online and not creating a fair market for our work. After all, I spend ALOT of money in travel (gas, motel, food, vehicle wear & tear & maintenance, etc) to get good photos, so I expect compensation for giving somebody a nice high-quality print in return.

 

[SteveCarter]

Steve Miller, and a lot of you other guys out there who e-mailed me - thanks! I appreciate that. As far as compensation, I don't have a problem with that at all, but I'm NOT looking for the original prints. I want COPIES, such as some of you actually sell on different sites. After the Billy fiasco, I just wanted to make sure that everything was cool. And it IS difficult to enlarge a print and have it look good. I would MUCH rather just pay for it, have it shipped, put a frame around it, and be done - which is what I'm going to do. You guys have some great pics out there, and I DO understand your copyrights and worry about having a pic "lifted", but like I said, as for MYSELF, I'm just going to buy the copies.

 

[Aaron Kennedy]

Gotcha.... after the

So, let me know what you think. Naturally, if you would rather I not do it, I won't.

I wasn't sure what to think What photographer wouldn't want their stuff sold and hung in public

Aaron

 

[SteveCarter]

Well, to start with, I was just going to copy and send to printshop, and print and frame. Of course, the more I thought about that, the more I realized that maybe I shouldn't do that. There is no way in the world I would EVER try to "billy" something, and then make money on it. These were just pics that I liked, and I thought they would be nice to have fellow storm-chasers pics in my store. Sort of like I would have if I didn't BUST! lol Anyway, I'll just buy the copies and use them. I wouldn't mind paying for an original print though either. Hey, next year, I'll have my OWN!! (I hope) I'll be chasing from mid-March until mid-June. Can't wait!

 

[Steve Miller TX]

Steve,

Maybe I'm missing something here...if so I apologize...a long frustrating day at work :cry:

Anyway, you will be accomplishing the same thing if you buy prints from any chasers out there. They are prints (copies) from an original photo..in my case a digital file. You get a nice print to hang on your wall which is what I'm understanding is all you're simply trying to do, right? Just order it, receive the print, and mount it in a frame and hang. Of course, if you put my name and website in blazing lights around the frame, I might consider a "free" copy in exchange for all the publicity.. ROFL!