Today's photo is from my friend, the talented and damn adorable Alejandra Guerrero. I wish she'd come back to LA. :)
Now onto today's topic of discussion....
Flickr. A thorn in my side, so to speak. Some of you know my past problems with the site, and for those who don't, here's a bit of what has happened...
I started my page over a year ago, really just doing it to, well, show off. ;) I'm a bit of an exhibitionist, so for me, having all you guys and gals look at me was such a thrill!!
Then what made this even more exciting for me was being able to work with other photographers here in LA that I met through Flickr. So I did, and had this amazing portfolio of pics, and wanted to share them with you all. The photographers were so wonderful as well - they just loved having others viewing their work.
But like a shining star, things fade. Flickr has now twice deleted my account for posting "too many" photos taken by others. This is crazy - the pics are all ME and I have permission, more than that really, from every photographer to post their photos. I don't claim to take the pics, but I always give credit to the photographer.
Honestly I think that there is someone on Flickr who doesn't like me. I don't know why, maybe they are mad at me, jealous or something. But any way, since Flickr is policed by its members, someone has reported me, and Flickr nicely deletes my account without notice. POOF - it's gone! I know of other models on Flickr who post pics taken by others and they don't get deleted! WTF, right?
I realize that this is a bit of a rant but I think that I needed to get this off my chest. And until I get my own website, which I am slowly working on, the best place to check out some of this other stuff, you can check out my new Flickr page: http://www.flickr.com/photos/32477672@N02/.
I'll post from time to time, so keep checking back, as you never know what you'll come across. I've started with a recent shoot with Ed Fox, the guy behind FootFactory.com, and I'll work backwards through them.
This may be my longest blog to date (well, there's only 4 of them...), and it's for my friend who says I don't blog enough. ;)
10 comments:
non originals on flickr is a touchy subject...strictly against the TOS...but we all know there are other factors which trigger these deletions...
i just posted a long rant which ended up on the subject...
http://www.flickr.com/photos/46515576@N00/3030151780/
i've never been deleted...but gawd knows i've pushed the limit constantly since Yahoo bought the site...
and when push comes to shove it will likely be the non originals that are the last straw...
good luck with your web site
Go ahead and rant girl, I think it's unconscionable that anyone on the flickr staff would arbitrarily delete your account. I believe as you, someone is jealous of your work, or the work of others with you as a subject. The intent of the "posting photos taken by others" is not intended for cases such as yours. It's intended for the losers who don't have an artistic eye of their own, and "steal" others off of the net, posting them to their photostream for attention. If you are the subject in the photo, you have every right to post that since your body is your property. A photographer's right to publish goes two ways, the right of the subject, the right of the artist, but only with collaborative consent can the two share the rights to the resulting work.
If I were a paid subscriber as a 'pro' and my account were arbitrarily deleted the way yours was, I'd seek legal counsel. Exchange of money constitutes a contract with lots of legal ramifications. However, in the venue of flickr where a lot of investment can be made in terms of time (which can very well equate to monetary investment as well), arbitrary deletion is wrong.
I've had my account flagged as "unsafe" over the last year or so, only because there were one or two photos that I originally set to "private" for me only, but had neglected to set the flag to restricted. When I was ready to allow others to view the photo, I didn't think to check the flag, and somebody somewhere complained about the photo(s). I worked hard to prevent such an occurence, and demonstrated that these were oversights. Flickr is in the business of making money, and it is in their best interest to placate paying customers. For them there is no harm, no foul in deleting "free" accounts, but I'm thinking their less likely to delete someone with a pro account who makes good-faith attempts to abide by their rules. And what makes abiding by their rules even more challenging is primarily those in the muslim world who have access to the internet who might "accidentaly" come upon an improperly flagged photo, who then logdes a complaint. The flickr gods are quick to react to such accusations, but they also have the power to help the offender. In both cases I was at a loss in attempting to figure out which photo was the offending one. Believe it or not, it was a photo of me nude standing behind a kitchen sink, but covered from the waist down, no bits could be seen, but maybe it was the fact it was implied made it offensive to someone, probably jealous. My contention was that it is moderate by flickr definition, obviously not so.
I love your work and the way you look in front of a camera, and it's a shame that indescriminate people can't accept that beauty. All the best in your work, shoot well!
I never quite understood what had happened and why your accounts kept getting deleted but now it makes perfect sense.
I understand that as a model, you consider them ‘your pictures’ and everything but in essence this is where Flickr differs in that it is a ‘photographers’ site in the truest sense.
It may seem like a semantical argument but, one of the ongoing issues facing any person in the creative field today is the commandering of work via the internet.
I happen to know specifically of a friend (through Flickr) who takes wonderful shots and wound up having her work stolen and used for a poster for a film festival in France. Suffice to say she didn’t get the credit for the image she deserved nor did she receive payment (and it was a self portrait to boot!).
She’s not the only person this has happened to either. Another very well-known Flickr photog also had her work stolen and being used by a British company that was producing are prints from it.
So, rights issues are always an ongoing sticky point especially where Flickr is concerned. I’m not saying it’s right of them to just delete your account wholesale without any explanation, just that I now can understand why the actions taken happened at all.
The place for the shots you have been putting up on the Flickr stream is really Model Mayhem or here on your blog. I know that’s not the answer you want to hear either and I probably am not making friends by saying it.
There’s another site too I’m trying to think of but which escapes me at the moment (another photography/modeling site).
In the meantime, I can understand that what you are trying to do is to get your name out there so you can work with more photographers and expand your portfolio.
First you’ve already taken the best step which is to have the photographers either link here to your blog or to a model mayhem account. Other photogs who see those pix and want to work with you will be inclined to track you down through those avenues.
Again, I personally never tire of looking at you (LOL) so I am a bit disappointed every time your stream gets deleted but there are ways to work around it.
Hi Shell!
Statevillian from Flickr here. Following your blog in a "safer" environment.
hey...you are not alone...
here are some clips from the censorland hi lite reel for ya...
http://www.flickr.com/photos/haggischick/2951609095/
pls cut and paste...sorry
you will notice there was a bit of a breakthrough...with a new protocol...and as nice polite new notification letter...
s'all bullshit darlin'...window dressing... and face saving hypocrisy...
why in two minutes the pastor from the pentecostal church down the street or the twelve yr old can set him/herself up a faceless flickr account and see whatever fokkin' filth they choose...it doesn't cost them a penny and there's no body gonna stop 'em...not Yahoo that's for sure...
filters schmilters...flickr is possibly the biggest porn library on the net...they just don't want the morons to find out what a huge smut racket they are running...
deleteds
That really blows sweety I can't believe that your flickr account was deleted twice because you are posting too many pics from other photographers!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That is truely absurd. U know what F*CK em :) I am sure there must be a smart ass who is reporting u because t happened twice and they were not that far apart!!! Lousy of whoever it is :(
miss u x
Flickr's policy is ridiculous, but you aren't the only one. I ran into the same thing.
I suppose the only explanation is they don't want to have to worry about the hassle of t rying to prove they weren't hosting unauthorized copyrighted works. I can't blame them for that, except every freaking picture on their could have the same issue. They need to come off that crap and allow people to post pics they own or have permission to display (with proper disclosure, of course). Pretty much the rest of the universe operates that way with now problem.
If Flickr/Yahoo is that squeemish, they shouldn't have a phot sharing site.
I recently got 'censored' by Flickr, and it's not fun. No warning. No kind letter giving you a chance for recourse. Like you said... *poof*
lemme Join ya in administering a Few Swift Kicks to the Nuptials of the Stoopid Flickr Admins!!
;)) Peace*
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