What a shame. I think we should all contact this fool and let him know how busted he is and how much bad marketing he is going to get if he keeps those pics up.
how embarrasing that the photog is from my neck of the woods. I know a lot of people in the market here and I have never heard of that company so I wonder if they are new. Is the video showing the images that were stolen? This makes me mad not only for Gabe (who I am a huge fan of) but that there are creeps like this around here doing that and essentially "stealing" business away by showing other people's phenonmenal work grrrrrrrrrrrrr
This photographer has stolen more than Gabe's photos. I belong to another forum and there are at least 4 different photographers who's work was on Hoffmans website (by the way this girls name is Ashley Karandjeff).For those of you who would like to leave her a message here is her myspace page: http://www.myspace.com/hoffmanphotography
Why because it gets mentioned on another blog?
This needs to go public not just amongst photographers. Scare the crap out of the next clown who thinks they can pull such a stunt.
Marcus Watts wrote:
Why because it gets mentioned on another blog?
This needs to go public not just amongst photographers. Scare the crap out of the next clown who thinks they can pull such a stunt.
Nah, thats not a blog, but a local "knot like" web site where the said offender advertises. But like they said, the PPA is involved now, no need to do much more.
Oh, ok.
I still think the local paper would be good. People are not aware of us until they have need so after a few weeks it will be forgotten. Public shame is not a bad thing.
It sucks that photographers do this, however going to the press will probably result in stories that are detrimental to the wedding photography industry as a whole, not just this one corrupt studio. I would think PPA will do an excellent job of taking care of this.
I really don't understand why people do this? I feel for Gabe and others that have had this happen to them. However it is a fact of life, and we do have to deal with it in a way that does not bring us down and allows us to continue to be the person/photogapher we are.
I've had this happen twice to me. In not the same way.
First, a few years ago, a photographer I helped get started, suddenly stopped all communication. (I found out later it was he didn't appreciate my constructive critism. If you shoot for me, expect me to critique your work. My clients are expecting a certain look, which is why they hired me) About a year later, someone forwarded his new website and mentioned, didn't you help him get started. I checked out the website, and the VERY First photo to come up was one of my client's kids. Then more and more photos. THe ONLY samples he had were photos of my clients. In fact, he had shot solo for me a few times. NONE of those photos were even on the site. Only the ones where he followed me and shot over my shoulder were on the site. I explained that although he is welcome to use these in his portfolio, he does NOT have permission from my clients for advertising. My clients don't know who he is and I believe the would be offended that he is implying that he was their photographer and that they are supporting his business. I then asked him why he didn't use any of the photos where he solo'd for me. My clients are well aware he was the photographer and would not be offended if he used them as samples. (I knew the answer, but wanted to see his). He is welcome to mix some of them in with his, but don't ONLY use my work, and don't make it so prominate, when this is clearly NOT his style.
I am more than willing to share my knowledge and help out others, but I don't appreciate being taken advantage of. He still feels I'm jealous of him getting out on his own. Far from it. If any of my clients ever see their photos on his site, it will be me that they call and complain to. They don't know who he is. I feel I'm the one at risk.
Second was when I photographed a Convention down in Houston last summer. The photos were provided to the orgainization who then printed them in their National and regional publications along with posting them on their website. A competing newspaper, downloaded all of my photos from their website and printed them covering the back page of their paper making them into a collage of the convention. I spoke with the orgainzation's lawyers about this, and since they had purchased the rights to publish them, felt they should be the ones to go after the newspaper.
What have I learned? It's easy to get all worked up about it. Don't, take a deep breath and think about the best way to handle this situation. Or better yet, put it into someone else's hands and let them deal with it for you so that you can continue to focus on moving yourself forward. You don't need the agrivation. Resentment is like drinking poison and hoping that the other person will die.
tcamper wrote:
..............it would be interesting to hear from Gabe.
So I guess I should comment on this
I have received in the past 12 hours,120+ emails telling me about her. Now part if me is a little choked and part of me really doesn't care. It bugs me that someone would copy my images, slap their logo across them and try and pass them off as their own...that bugs me. I also feel a little responsible as my clients fully expect to be on my website, but they do not expect to be on others...especially clients kids. Now the flip side, my thought is it will not affect my business personally, as she is located in another country and I would hope that potential clients of hers would ask to see more then the 15-20 images she has on her site. And lets not forget that karma will turn around one day and get her...so for these reasons, I haven't let it get to me.
I totally appreciate all the emails, blog comments and phone calls from friends and fellow photographers I have never met, alerting me of this....I find it incredible how the "honest" photography community looks after each other.
So those are my thoughts...it bugs me yes...but really there are more important things to get worked up about and I have sent her an email, so she knows where I stand on it
Thanks everyone for all your support on this and lets let karma do it's thing
