It's not easy being a celebrity

General
1

Well, you all know this situation when here and there while you ride across the street or somewhere less crowded that a camera/ smartphone is being pointed at you and bang you’re kept in some private database of pictures somewhere…

So now, I accidentally found a picture of me and my son from about a year ago or so in Jaffa (Israel) and it’s sold for money - and quite a lot of it:

I guess there’s nothing illeagal with it, but it is strange that I’m not even even aware of it…(until now anyway).

What do you think about this?

2

It’s bound to happen. I’m probably on a couple of thousand smart phones at least by now. :stuck_out_tongue: I’ve ridden around Atlanta and Grand Rapids for a while, and I always act like a car at intersections. I’ll just hop off right in the middle of the lane, stand there, and freemount up again when the light turns green… it freaks people out I’m sure.

Someone passed me just the other day and I saw them filming me as they drove past. Part of the hobby I guess.

3

I think you should contact the website and offer to pose with a real photographer. If they’re charging that much money for a spontaneous, unposed picture with a cluttered background, they’d probably charge a lot more money for a high quality “posed” shot. I would expect them to pay you accordingly.

4

Seems like a numbers game. A thousand photos are up for sale, and the seller is lucky if one of them is purchased. The photographer is probably given a small percentage of the sale price. Factoring in the money spent storing and backing up the photos and maintaining the website, I wonder if this type of business is typically profitable.

5

It’s hard to make money in stock photography. That’s what that image is, with the generic riders (can’t see your faces). The prices seem way high, though I didn’t notice if it was US dollars or what.

If it’s an American company, American copyright law should apply. No model release? The owner should take it down if you request it. If the photographer is a dick and says “prove it’s you” or similar, I’d say “Show me your model release for those two people”.

But I wouldn’t worry too much about it, unless it really bugs you. You can get pictures of similar (and better) quality on other sites for free, or for much cheaper. Actually you can by my pictures for a LOT cheaper! :slight_smile: I make a very small percentage if somebody actually buys any, which isn’t very often. Maybe if my albums were more current…?

6

Is that seriously a thing? I thought if it was out in public, it’s fair game to take a picture of and that image is yours to do with as you please. Something to do with selling it vs. owning it, or storing it?

What if you sell an image of a police officer to the press?

7

Public Release

Every person has the right to prevent their image from being used for profit, unless it’s for “news”. If the image is being used to educate the public, the publisher has free reign, and it is up to the government (or plaintiff) to prove that the publication of an image has no newsworthy value, similar to Brittany Spears being photographed wearing no underpants during an exit from a car. I’m not saying it’s right; I’m just saying that’s the current state of the law. You probably have a lawsuit, but what is the level of damages you can prove? (In the United States)?

8

Wow, thanks everyone for the insights!
It’s an interesting topic, no doubt and I had no idea about it until now.

Of course, I have no claims over this picture and neither I haven’t thought of doing anything with this situation other than being questioning how it could happen without me knowing of it and finding out about it by accidentally going through Google search…

I’ll consider it as my humble contribution to the promotion of unicycling worldwide :slight_smile:

Thanks again - you are the best forum members a unicyclist could ask for…