Model: myself. Photographer: Louis Fox. Getty Images
A friend of mine sent an email yesterday asking me whether I had seen "this". I looked at it and was horrified. It was a picture of me, it definitely was me, though the image was old - I could not immediately recall where it had been taken. Wearing a beige jumper arms crossed, my hair in a bob. Hair in a bob? it must have been some seven to eight years ago. Nothing wrong with it. But the caption was very wrong. It was an ad for a sex dating site that specialises in 'mature'. By saying 'click here' it implied there would be images of me in lascivious attitudes. I immediately wanted to know where it came from. My friend was unable to point me to any specific website, it was a pop up ad.
I did a little research, found a couple of sites that could be the culprit, fired off an email asking them to take my photo down. But obviously it's a waste of time. I do not even hold the copyright. However another photographer friend told me that when images are syndicated, agencies do not allow them to be used by 'adult' sites and it was worth complaining to them.
So again with help I tracked down the agencies that hold these images of me and found out three of them stocked them: Getty, Masterfile and a Chinese one, FotoSearch . I don't quite understand how come so many picture libraries sell the same image but there you go. This morning I alerted Getty and Masterfile about a possible image theft but I do understand it will come to nothing. The pop up ad cannot easily be identified.
Model: myself. Photographer: Louis Fox
This aside, I was actually very pleased to see these images. I had just begun modelling when I did that shoot, arranged through my agency. I looked at where those images have appeared and discovered that one was used by Bank of America.
The other day photographer David John Green wrote that one of the pictures he took of me in 2009 has been published in the Huffington Post to illustrate an article about breast cancer.
So despite everything I am glad about this incident. It has allowed me to recover photos I had completely forgotten about.
I do like that bob!
There are not only these photographs, but I have seen some of your nude photographs used in pop-ups ads for porn sites, though like these, the sites were not easily identifiable. If I ever come across any more, I shall try harder to identify them and pass on the URL to yourself on DA.
ReplyDeleteAfter reading your comment, I did a search using Google. You are absolutely right, I found a few images of me taken by Neil Huxtable which were featured on porn sites. But then I saw one of Carmen dell'Orefice and it was so hilarious to see that those ignorant people had gone for a real supermodel without realising it, so all I could do was laugh. I wonder why Neil's photos in particular were targetted, maybe it is to do with the fact his style is so down to earth, not obviously 'artistic'. I am no longer bothered, it is I guess a hazard of modelling.
ReplyDeleteI cannot imagine how anyone could confuse lovely, artistic nude photos such as yours with commercial pornography. But lots of folks have no idea there's a difference! I guess there's no limit to human stupidity.
ReplyDeleteYes, I like that bob too. The photographs are lovely, and it must be a nasty shock to see them being abused.
ReplyDeleteIf you want to track down copies of images, you could try this site, which allows you to upload images, for which it then searches (do check their FAQs on what happens to images you upload, although it seems fairly reassuring):
http://tineye.com/
Thanks Richard. I have now bookmarked tineye. Out of curiosity have we met in real life?
ReplyDeleteHello Alex,
ReplyDeleteI don't think we have yet met in real life - although if we have, it is very likely to have been at some philosophical event (if you go to that kind of thing). It would not have been at a life drawing class, since my artistic skill is less than zero. But we may well have been within a few feet of one another, going round some London museum or gallery.
R