I paid a visit the other day to the website of the Inverness City Advertiser – a free listings and features magazine that comes through letterboxes in the Inverness area each month – and was surprised to discover one of my photos on there, without permission.
It’s a photo of Billy Morrison, a legend of the Inverness live music scene, which I took a couple of years ago in the excellent Market Bar.
I dropped ICA a polite email, informing them that while I was flattered they wanted to use it, they were not using it in accordance with the licence I have attached to the photo (specifically, that they should have sought my permission and attributed it to me).
They kindly wrote back, explaining they were not aware of my ownership (so presumably they don’t ask their suppliers of photos anything about ownership), and sought my permission which I of course gave.
However, the photo has now been removed and replaced by another one, which is a shame. Nice that they asked (eventually) but odd that they’d rather not use it at all once they have that permission.
Talking of the ICA, this blog (or its old address simonvarwell.wordpress.com) was featured in the ICA’s “What we’re surfing this month” column in the December/January issue. I have to confess I missed that one myself, so have no idea what they said about it. Hello to anyone who’s got here courtesy of that mention.