Feedback needed for my new wedding and portrait photography website

[Worst Case Scenario]

You website is like your photography*, it’s almost okay!

* Assuming I am looking at YOUR photography.

I’m also assuming that English is not your first language? I only glanced at the text and I saw lots of spelling mistakes and grammatical errors. The picture consistency was very poor and a lot of pics looked like they were taken over the shoulder of the pro? If these are the shots that are so good that you can use them to advertise your business, then the rest must be pretty poor.

The celebrities page stood out as it’s headline reads

A Sexy Photo Shoot with Three Amazing Divas

But there are only pics of two!

 

[emf]

#24755
Don
Don
Subscriber

I think it’s funny he has a separate section for Asians.

LOL – WTH???

[IHF]

His whole website and web presence as a whole, is a joke.  Let’s recap:  This “award winning” photographer’s website is spammed with dick growing serums and the like. Oh, but he’s been hacked, and it should work better now that he spent a few minutes on it.  Oh wait! He wasn’t hacked.  He just hired a freelance web designer…. Oh wait… Nope it was a web designer AND he was hacked!  Poor guy, he’s been victimized like crazy.  No matter, just a few little tweaks here and there and it will all be taken care of, but he can’t even manage to scroll through his facebook pictures and delete ALL the pictures that aren’t his?  An act that actually DOES take just minutes to complete.  https://www.facebook.com/studiokristo/photos_stream?ref=page_internal  seriously, dude, you have like what? 20 pictures left that are yours (or that I can’t locate the original source for and I assume are yours) and you can’t delete ALL of the pictures you didn’t create?  What the hell do you need a kitty picture, or a flippin mouse and a piece of cheese on your wedding page for anyway?
Get rid of the add on makeup service if it’s something you don’t provide, and have no photographs of your own to represent!!  Quit being a douche!
He has at least one wedding photographed in Greece with Canadian transport in the backdrop.  Illegally taken, tacky and dangerous train track shots, that weren’t even taken in the location he claims they were.  His pricing screams “I don’t know what the fuck I’m doing.  Just give me your money!”.  So many many sub par photos.  A lot of them actually taken from a wedding guest’s perspective as the subjects pose for the REAL hired photographer.  Sub par pictures that we can only assume are his, because no one else would ever want to advertise with them, and he likes to use other photographer’s work to promote his shady business.  He for some unknown reason thinks people from Asian decent are “different” enough from the “normal” weddings he claims to have shot, that they need a separate section on his site.  Ummmmmm ok,  (giggles)

“I get paid when people click around on my website, so I think I will go to a whole bunch of different photography forums and ask for critique.  Photographers won’t notice my dishonesty or sloppiness.  Especially that ONE forum that is known for calling out dishonest people pretending to be professional photographers, with their brutal honesty”.

I’m giving him until later this evening to remove all the content that doesn’t belong to him, and if it’s not done he’s getting reported.  Hint: don’t just remove the content I have called you out on, and cherry pick which photos from your Google plus, Twitter, facebook, advertisements, website, etc get removed.  Remove ALL CONTENT that doesn’t belong to you.  And know that I have my eye on you.  If you can’t run an honest business you have no business being in business.  You definitely don’t have any business asking help from the very people you steal from and do harm to by conducting your “photography” business unethically and dishonestly.

[Bill]

See, this is why it is so hard to give people feedback.

I am glad that IHF dug deeper into this and found those photos that were not his, those were probably the ones I was telling him that were fairly decent.

This really bugs me.  I have no problem with a person running ads or having some cash for clicks system in place on their website.  Unless it is a blog or some sort of news reporting site where you have “fair use” of the images for news reporting, don’t use other people shit for your financial gain.  If it’s not yours, you can’t sell it, simple as that, unless you have permission.

I think for now on, I am going to have get medieval on some of these feedback requests such as IHF has done.

FAIR WARNING FOR ALL FUTURE FEEDBACK REQUESTS:

YOU WILL BE INVESTIGATED LIKE A PROCTOLOGIST ON A MISSION, DEEP AND HARD.

 

[cameraclicker]

Stock photography sites exist to support advertising.  I don’t have a problem with generic photos enhancing ads and corporate reports as long as they are not misleading.  On the other hand, I don’t think a photo studio should be using any photo not taken by someone working at that studio, regardless of having permission.  A photographer using someone else’s photos without credit, instead of their own, is engaging in false advertising.

[IHF]

 

“FAIR WARNING FOR ALL FUTURE FEEDBACK REQUESTS:

YOU WILL BE INVESTIGATED LIKE A PROCTOLOGIST ON A MISSION, DEEP AND HARD”

We all, as a whole need to start being more vigilant.  So I’m really glad to see you on board 🙂 So many outed thieves on the Photostealers blog have belonged to noted photography associations in the world.  So far the PPA currently wins the race.  One of the latest is sponsored by Fuji.  http://stopstealingphotos.com/fay-andrea-london-england-united-kingdom/#more-5802

How did that happen?!  Why didn’t they look first?!  Just a quick online scan would have revealed that they were stealing from others.  They need to spend a little time vetting their new member applications to be sure they’re on the up and up.  Quality control would be next to impossible in organizations like the PPA, but it wouldn’t take much to deny copyright infringers and ban them from ever being a member of their organization.  (I’ll take the job.  I’d love to send out those rejection letters) I realize that scammy fauxtographer’s money spends well too, but allowing this kind of crap will end up bitting you in the ass, and the problem isn’t shrinking, it’s growing.  I think this happens because photographers think like photographers and attempting to run a business off of other photographer’s hard work, is furthest thing from their minds.  We all have that understanding because we care about what we do, and respect others who do what we do and excel at it.  But, there’s a whole Chuck load of people out there that don’t feel the same.  They don’t think like photographers because they haven’t invested themselves.  They just think it’s an easy way to make a few bucks.  They treat professional photography like its Amway, Avon, pampered chef… or they just think their work is more important than anyone else’s?

We aren’t a forum where a membership is required.  Those that are, need to start screening their new members, and since we aren’t in a position to screen, it’s up to us as commenters to try to put a stop to this behavior.  I think (or at least I hope, because I’ve seen a lot here) we run into more infringement, plagiarism, and general dishonesty than most forums/groups/organizations do, given the general topic of discussion here and the people it attracts.

Hey!  It may not be armed robbery, or murder, and not matter too much in the grand scheme of things, but… A photographer (or should I say someone who claims to be a photographer) who commits copyright infringement, or even purchases stock to market their business… Well it’s the lowest thing any photographer could ever do.  It’s despicable!!

(Jumps off soap box, and quits rambling). I’m preaching to the choir over here lol I know you all get it, ugh!  I just get so angry about it

[picstop]

“FAIR WARNING FOR ALL FUTURE FEEDBACK REQUESTS”….
This is why I don’t even visit a request in the first place. I’ve seen far far too many “requests” such as this on various forums over the years. Too many of them are simply not legitimate. Either they are beginners stocking up with other people’s work or worse, just plain fake (stocked with other people’s work) trying to pimp goods and services (covertly or not) other than photography. Doesn’t seem fair to legitimate people but you can also usually tell by the initial post if something is “off”. This person’s (if there really is a real photographer behind it) first post was “off”.

Anyway, my forte is not programming but how’s this for a new idea. If someone out there on the internet want to make millions off this idea, feel free. This is the digital age (no kidding eh?). There are a lot of ways to find out if your pic has been misused. I can think of a better one. How about, (sort of along the lines of digimarc but something better),someone start a service where every digital picture you take can be “registered” with a digital signature? Every time it’s posted on the internet somewhere, it “calls home” to the company that has registered it. Then, when someone steal it and posts it, it call’s home and the company requests your “key” to authorize the posting of it. No key, no post. I think all the people out there who know about this stuff will poke holes in it and that’s fine but hey, wouldn’t it be nice?

[cameraclicker]

One of the latest is sponsored by Fuji.  http://stopstealingphotos.com/fay-andrea-london-england-united-kingdom/#more-5802 How did that happen?!  Why didn’t they look first?!

Sponsored by Fuji might be a bit strong.  Some of the manufacturers offer web pages.  If you are using their gear, you are welcome to subscribe and set up a page.  You become a content provider, they become your host, the monetary transaction is from you to them because you are using their hardware.  At http://fujifilm-x.com/photographers/en/fay_andrea_02/#01 , all the photos are above EXIF data showing a Fuji X of some sort was used.  There is probably fine print somewhere that states Fuji is not responsible for content on other sites and even not responsible for content put on their site by others.

Facebook must have some serious storage capacity!  It was reported that they got as many photos in a day as Flickr gets all year!  Don’t know if that’s true.  Even looking at Fresh, at 500px, if you note the top-left photo, then wait a moment and click Refresh, suddenly that photo is at the bottom of the page, or even on the next page.  There is a deluge of photos, posted every minute.

I can’t decide if PPA is a legitimate operation doing good work or are just a cash grab.   That you say: “So far the PPA currently wins the race.”, suggests they are not providing oversight expected of an organization concerned with standards and certification!  Obviously they have some major work to do before they achieve respectability.  As always, caveat emptor!

[IHF]

Picstop,

you might be interested in this

http://www.pixsy.com

[picstop]

Thanks, IHF (hope you don’t mind the abbreviation). This looks more promising than the others I’ve seen (Lenstag and Stolen camera finder). It seems unclear if it can see into one of the biggest culprits, the dreaded FB but very practical that you can submit all photos at once. You are a wealth of information. Thanks again.

[Author]

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