Don't Panic! My name is Jeff Hoffman and our family owns the true HOFFMAN PHOTOGRAPHY in St. Louis, Missouri. WE ARE IN NO WAY ASSOCIATED WITH ASHLEY KARANDJEFF. Please feel free to visit our website at www.hoffmanphotography.net to find our WARNING AND DISCLAIMER along with a link to a blog on www.mpix.com that has at this time at least 16 pages of blog information similar to this blog/forum. My business line is 1-314-849-4772 and my direct email address is [email protected]. I've been posting this same information on any forum/blog that I can find that has information that is damaging our family business name. I urge anyone interested in contacting me to do so!
This entire ASHLEY KARANDJEFF / HOFFMAN PHOTOGRAPHY fiasco is a pain in the b***. If anyone wishes to send me screen captures, notes, or complaints about their images being used without their consent - I will gladly accept any additional information. Send to: [email protected] or call me at 1-314-849-4772.
Respectfully, Jeff Hoffman
So Jeff
Someone takes the time to discredit you by building a bogus website that despite the stolen content had some level of a professional feel about it. Yet clients could simply go to your own site and see how unprofessional you guys really are?
Just apologize and move on.
Whoa....timeout.....I'm on the side of professional photographers that are being wronged. Why bash me?
Marcus Watts: I don't think she's intentionally trying to discredit me - it's just happening that way. Why do you think I'm unprofessional? Stolen images have been posted under my business name! What do I need to apologize for? I'm with the real Hoffman Photography! Family business - 30 years experience! I'm just trying to contact anyone that has had their copyright infringed to let them know that it isn't my family business doing it..... it's another HOFFMAN PHOTOGRAPHY being used by an ASHLEY KARANDJEFF!
ARCHANGEL: Yeah. Sites down. Didn't know it was time to renew the domain name. We've had it for years. It should be up sometime late sunday or monday. That was just an honest oversight. We renew the domain like every few years. Didn't pay attention to when it was ready for renewal.
hey...Jeff is the one who is suffering too from this. He has been in business for way longer than a lot of other people in my area and he's just trying to explain that this other dumb girl who opened up a business with his same name is wronglfully hurting HIS own good name....
SJMACKY: thanks! you got it! One thing I don't need any more of is negative slams. I'm on the side of everyone here, have searched this forum out, and am trying to help out any photographer that has been wronged in addition to keeping my own name untarnished.
ok. thats awesome. just making sure its directed to the correct Karandjeff Hoffman Photography. I'm not trying to butt in, just offering as much help as I can & trying to keep my name clean.
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
I'm starting solo this year and have been giving my time away! I'm just been asking for around enough to cover fuel, coffee(s), phones calls and endless cans of Diet Coke.
I have done 2 complete shoot on my own, I first told them I have no portfoloio but will shoot an engagement set with them for nothing which lead to my bookings.
Hopefully by the end of the year I will have enough image to create my website and aiming to move away from 'shoot to disk' market by 2010.
Be honest! honest to the client, honest to your peers and honest to yourself!
This kinda of practice is not only class as theft but it is also fraud!
PPA is on this. As are a few other people who have hired independent litigators. She actually logged onto one of the other forums she stole images from and apologized- with the most sorry apology i have heard in mylife. Basically never admitting she really thought what she had done was wrong.
There really isn't much more to say- than she has ruined her life, and actually was using the same name as another biz in the same area- and hurt him as well. Which just made it all worse. Either way- it is a lesson that NO ONE is safe, if you post it- it may be stolen. And i think we are just a lucky community that when we saw it, the people were told and were able to do what they needed to do.
GabeMC i commened you for your professionalism, and I was the one who was gone on vacation when i saw your images and had a friend write on this board to tell you. I would have just emailed if i could, so sorry about the publicness.
Lets just hope that if anything comes from this- someone else who was doing this saw this and realized that stealing another persons art, is just as sleazy as stealing their wallet.
