Sunday, February 7, 2016

Why No Pictures?

I was recently asked why I haven't had any pictures on my blog recently.  After all, they point out, the early days of my blog was chock full of witty pictures that enhanced my posts.  Those pictures gave a chuckle to otherwise serious topics, so couldn't I bring them back?

I wish I could, I really do, but I don't want to be sued.

Everyone reading this needs to remember that copyrights on pictures is kind of a big deal.  I realize that websites all over the place pull pictures and post them, but that doesn't mean that what they're doing is legal.  In most cases, someone owns that picture, and they have every right to demand payment if you use their work, both from a legal and moral standpoint.

The internet has given a lot of us a sense of self-entitlement when it comes to stuff.  We see something online and feel like it now belongs to us, or at least that it no longer belongs to the person who created it.  Sorry, but that flawed thinking will put you in a courtroom faster than the humiliation of announcing the wrong winner at some beauty pageant will get you death threats.

So what's the solution?  As previous posts have shown, you can always post your own pics.  I've taken plenty, mostly of wacky things my daughter has done, but my current work situation makes that difficult since I don't have my phone with me most of the time.  In other words, I can't post photos I don't take.

And let's be honest - it's hard sometimes to remember to take photos and/or find the right circumstances.  Since we don't always know what's appropriate to post as relevant - I usually think of it on the fly - we rarely get to set up the right shot.  How do I take a photo of a hillbilly pulling roadkill from the highway if I don't know that's the photo that would work in a post two weeks from now?  Therefore, many of us don't bother.

This is where the work of this comes in.  You have to be ready to take them, and you have to be prepared for many of your photos to never be relevant, which can be soul crushing.  If you find it too much work, then don't take them, but just know that that means you won't have fun photos on your site unless you're willing to risk some photographer or company coming in and demanding $20,000.  As much as I enjoy writing this blog, if I have that much money, it's going somewhere else.

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