I’m only one week into writing class, and I’ve already been published! More than likely I’ll keep the day-job though I do feel much richer.
The article that was published was in fact a photo of my neighborhood – Mueller Austin. I took it years ago and discovered at a blogging conference that people actually want to use free photos on their blog posts. So I went about adding a creative commons license to my photos.
Creative Commons in a nutshell: well it’s like copyright gone wrong – somewhere between copyleft and copywrong to be less precise. Creative Commons allows you to publish your materials with the understanding that others can use them – typically you ask for a link back to you, or attribution. It’s just a few clicks on Flickr.com – no skill required.
So acme blogger goes to the internet and searches for photos of Mueller and finds my offerings and includes them in his or her blog, all free and easy! They put a link back to say I took the photo, let me know it happened, and I get a warm glow inside. Then, given that I’m so excited, I tell everyone I know (all three of you) about the placement by linking to the article.
So is there a hosepipe now connected between some vast untapped well of liquid gold and my bank account? Not really. I do however feel richer.
I’ve been thinking more about the lyrics of “Once in a lifetime” by Talking Heads lately, and how I don’t want to die with a full bank account and bankrupt morals. If there was a country music song that encapsulated this appreciation for the worst case scenario it would be titled, “I paid the mortgage, but you foreclosed on my life”
Maybe I could have sold the rights to one of my 10,000 online photos for a nickel. If I put up another 90,000 photos, maybe I could get a $1 a year in photo licensing revenues at my current level of photo skill. However, if I give away my photos, I get something on the fourth level of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs.
Some kind of self-esteem is due to an inbound link in my opinion. Finding my photo used elsewhere certainly made me beam from ear to ear. And given that I’ve been up since 3am comforting my 5 month old son and typing between wailing, that’s no mean feat. Sure, if I was in photography for the money, I might feel glum. I’m not. I’m happy.
As far as I know, there aren’t going to be any professional photographers who hate me for giving away free stuff. Hopefully their photos are far better than mine.