Hands Across The Sand

Down at the beach at midday people from all walks of life gathered. Older, younger, male, female, dreadlocked hippie, conservative, children, teenagers . . . . .

The issue being highlighted is the threat of more offshore oil drilling. We've all witnessed via the news the dreadful effect that 'accidents' at these sites can have both on the immediate environment and further afield. The Hands Across The Sand movement promotes clean energy sources for a sustainable future.

Whether people agree with their cause or not, the gathering of a good number of people at the beach to hold hands in a peaceful 'demonstration' was obviously a great photographic opportunity too, and there were plenty of people there shooting images. A great atmosphere and a very eye-catching sight.

The only slightly sour part of this whole event for me happened a few days ago when I was looking to see what was on in and around town over the next few weeks.

There, on the site advertising today's event, was my image (taken at last years event)! Not only had they not sought permission to use my image but there was no credit given to me as the photographer either. I was not very happy :(

I contacted both the website and the event organiser and expressed my disappointment and annoyance and, to their credit, they very quickly added photo credits for me.

It got worse though. It appears that my image was sourced (I imagine) either from the local paper's site or facebook and then the event organisers edited it to create fliers for their advertising. I have no idea how it's been edited but it's something I hope to find out. In the meantime I am left contemplating which road to follow.

I don't believe for a moment that the organisers had any malicious intent or were wantonly 'stealing' the image for their gain but at the same time, it was not their image to use.

Food for thought.