Photo contest

[kat]

The local municipality had a photography contest and with so many entries (300+) they decided to wait to announce the winners and hold a gallery for all the photos. Off to see them I went. First and foremost..there were some absolutley fantastic photos! Yay to our small town yeilding some great amateur photographers My eyes just got wider and wider with all the lovely images until I see this one, of a little boy and a frog and all I could think of was, "I didn't enter this photo, what is it doing up?"

I took this photo as we were down at the beach and it was so cute I gave a copy to the mother. She seemed nice enough and worked with my sister in law. She entered it into the photo contest!!! I know I should worry about my photos and the internet, never thought from people I know. It's been a couple hours now and I'm still shacking my head in disbelief.

So now I'm sitting here thinking. Should I just not give up any photos? Can I do something to a file to make it that one would know that it wasn't the original? How do you know when you have the original when it's not on your card?

Boy do I feel stupid now

Hate to say it..but lets cross our fingers that that photo of mine doesn't win..Can't believe I'm saying that. Last contest for me I tell yah. :cry-an:

[Mad Aussie]

You should simply ask the woman if she realizes that it's illegal for her to enter the photo in the contest under her own name. Only you can enter a photo you took in a contest without your permission.

She'll probably have it removed or you can tell the contest organizers to change the name of the photographer on that photo and keep it in the contest as your own entry.

Stand up for yourself and your rights as a photographer Kat.

I'd talk to her first though ... she probably is totally unaware of what she's done being a non-photog herself. If she's unrepentant or even aggressive about it, walk away and declare her fraud to the contest organizers without any guilt or shame. I would in a heartbeat.

[casil403]

Wow...that's pretty dishonourable on her part IMO. I think you have a right to feel what you are feeling. I hope at the very least she mentions that she didn't take the photo in the contest.
If it's bothering you, I think you are obligated to yourself to mention it to her and how it's made you feel. To reduce conflict, I would confont her from an "I" perspective and not a "you" perspective. As in "I was really surprised to see the photo I gave you had been entered in the contest. I have to say that I felt _______ when I saw it."
If she does nothing, take it to the next level and let the contest organizers know about it.
Also Kat, you have no reason at all to feel stupid for doing a nice thing for someone!
Anyhow that's my ..hope it helps!

[kat]

Yah. I'm waiting for my sister to come back home so I can get the ladies info. For the life of me right now I can't remember her full name!!!

[Mad Aussie]

I have to say that I felt like slapping her around with 10 day old mullet when I saw it."

Here here Casil!!

[kat]

Here here Casil!!

[casil403]

I have to say that I felt like slapping her around with 10 day old mullet when I saw it."

Huh? I don't recall typing that sentence...although it is pretty good!
Which mullet...the lizzard or the hairdo...either one however would work for me!

[Barefoot]

Man!, that bites. Does she have any reputation as being a photog, or is this likely the first contest she’s entered?

I really wouldn’t just let this go. If it’s your image and you didn’t assign any rights to her, then she’s way out of bounds. It would be difficult to know what kind of reaction you might get from her if she wasn’t bothered by submitting an image she didn’t actually capture or own the rights to.

Do you have “Comments” enabled in your camera’s menu? Maybe Nikon’s higher end models make provisions to record copyright info in the EXIF data, but mine doesn’t and I don’t think yours does either. So, what I’ve done is to just write my own and include it in the EXIF info as an “Image Comment”.

[AcadieLibre]

You have the original don't you? Then you have the META data. I would inform the contest of it and tell them you have the original. The odds are it was part of a sequential series of photos you took, where she would only have one photo even if she had the sense to fix the META data, the sequential proof is usually the clincher for a photo like this in my opinion. They could also ask what camera she used, lens, ISO, etc. you have the META data usually proof enough. Why all my images are Digitally watermarked. I would have had that photo down that minute.

[kat]

Thanks Barefoot! I didn't know one could do that!

When you have a digital watermark...do you always see it? Can it be not seen up to a certain size? What program do you use? Thanks AcadieLibre!