Receiving credit for their work is becoming an increasingly harder issue for photographers as the media progresses. Many photographers and journalists are finding it difficult for people to credit their work and not recognizing the effort and hard work it takes to upload, sort, edit and publish photos. The industry has a standard expectation that is to credit your photographers, but society is slacking in doing their part.
As the school year progresses, and the sports season comes to an end, young photographers are finding themselves frustrated with the outcome of their work getting out to the public. Student photographers search for a solution to stop this issue from continuing to happen. As Yearbook photographer and editor Junior, Jayna Gomez, shares how not receiving credit for her work is frustrating.
Gomez has always been infatuated with photography, ever since she was younger and got a hold of her older cousin’s Canon Camera. She loves being in the moment and having the sense of pride overcome her after seeing the good pictures she was able to capture. To get her work out to the public, she shares on her Instagram, @Jaynaphotography5, as well as her Facebook for family to see.
When asked what her typical upload process is, Gomez said “the easiest part of photography is definitely taking the photos.”
- After photographing an event, she plugs the SD card from her camera into her parents computer at home. She shares that uploading at home works more efficiently than uploading on her school-issued Chromebook. If needed, If needed, Gomez waits to upload photos during Yearbook using the Dell desktop computers during class.
- Once she is done uploading, Gomez goes through all of the photos and mark my favorites with a star, using Google photos. Once she goes through all of the photos, Gomez then makes a new album and imports all of the photos she marked as favorites.
- Moving forward, Gomez then uploads her favorite images into Lightroom, an app, and experiments with different editing techniques to see what would make her photos look the best.
- If she plans to post on social media, she will go through and select the photos and tag the people in the photograph.
A typical process for creating the final product of pictures can be tedious and take a range of timing. The uploading process can vary depending on how many photos a photographer takes at an event. Typically, West High student photographers take roughly 800-1,500 pictures. It can take anywhere from 1-2 hours when uploading and sorting. If the photographers plan to edit that often takes days to complete the process.
When your work is shared without any credit to your name, it frustrates most photographers. It is a common feeling that many photographers feel when the people who are in the picture act entitled tot the photo. Photos are the work of someone else and the subject do not have the right to take it simply because they are in it.
In classes such as Yearbook and Wahawk Insider, many students have tried to come up with alternatives to go about this issue. There has been the topic of watermarking photos. This task is very time consuming, on top of going through every photo and editing, the photographer will need to add a mark on their photos with their name or publication so the pubic knows it is their work. West High photography teacher, Mrs. Conradi has been teaching photography for 21 years. She feels that as AI grows it might be harder to watermark images.
Conradi feels that it is important to give credit to you photographer however, she mentions “I feel like the technology is moving so fast right now that even watermarking images may not be sufficient. AI and editing programs are moving faster than the legal system right now.” Photography is no different than any other form of art share explains so why should others feel they should not credit.
During the interview she got the idea of teaching this in her class. Out of her many years of teaching she has never taught water marking but feels that her advanced photography class might be able to handle it. When asked for a piece of advice for anyone struggling with having their work credited, she suggests to have “vigilance with where you display and distribute your images.”
If you are publishing or posting a picture, it is most likely because you enjoy the work and the photographer did a good job of capturing you in the moment. Student photographers are feeling frustrated as all the hard work that goes into taking photos at events goes unnoticed when their work is not properly credited. Be considerate of others and tag your photographers.
