To film or to surf......

Spy Dude
January 2007
Hi there Sixty40 readers.

Photography is my passion, yet i haven't shot surfing in a while.. for that i do apologize. Call it circumstance and finance. As you know i am a film based photographer .. not digital and thus shooting random frames ends up costing the earth and the reward is often non existent. Over the last 10 yrs or so i have gladly contributed my work to the cause of maintaining and uplifting our sport of bodyboarding, even when our local magazines threw my work back in my face, even when i offered it to them for free i still carried on shooting and supporting where i could. But the reality is that the industry steals more than it rewards.

I was shocked to discover a little while ago a website called globalsurfers.com. who had for the last couple of years been stealing my work, chappies work and so forth, removing the branding and placing their own branding on the photos.. when i asked them why, their reply was.. well arrogant.. that their readers uploaded the images, that their readers removed my branding and cropped the images (Gordon's dungeons wave and schmos wave at the hoek were among two of the images) and their attitude was along the lines of we are in England you are in South Africa.. we dare you to sue us. Yes they took the work down, but that wasn't the point, as an industry player they never paid for the use of it. End of the day i have become less and less optimistic to release my work onto the Internet because of theft.

Now this brings me to you guys, who gladly lift images off sites like this and wavescape, photos of you or photos you dig and put them up on other sites like bodyboarder.com or globalsurfers or majicseaweed or what ever without a second thought to the copyright of that image or the fact that at the end of the day you are shafting the photographer who bothered to take the photo of you, i can honestly say this, out of all the photos i have on this site, only one dude came to me and offered me a little money for the pic i took of him, the rest are more than happy to have a right clicked and saved image of themselves on their PC and never thank or pay the photog. If i give yo the image then so be it but most of the time... ya well that's my point.
So these days i guess i am more amped to just be in the lineup scoring a few barrels and having a chat then bobbing about in the channel waiting for someone else to get tubed.

There is a reason you NEVER see Doug's work on the net, or ST's, or calabs or Tucky.... its because of you lot... So next time you see an image by Peter or DC or me for that fact... make a contribution to the cause, and don't be like Logic, cos that isn't the way forward.

Anyways that's my 2 cents worth.. this is just food for thought... oh and Peter.. to answer your question,i am amping to shoot you bru, its just that you never phone and all your surfs are done in secret. Bodyboarding needs to be shot going big or else it looks lame.

Bodyboarding 1,275 views

13 Replies

Spy Dude
January 2007
This is my point... the theft of chappies work and rebranding.... this is what i classify as NOT COOL.
Spy Dude
January 2007
and they expose secret spots... fuggers@#%%@***@
dcmike
January 2007
Yo yo spy! - I couldn't resist...

If it wasn't for guys like you that made the effort, and I know how much effort and cost it takes for film based work, there probably wouldn't even be a gallery! Props Bro - Mucho Respecto - I don't think anyone's shots inspired me more when I first started on the boogie. To see Llans flipping it's lid with those pristene barrels and the icy refreshing water had me bunking work just to see if I could score the same conditions!

I hear you on the rip off score and yes, you have been at it so much longer than the rest of us but...

Every day on this planet millions of waves roll up to the shores with 100s if not 1000s of prospective boogers being born, bringing with them new styles, new moves, new attitude, new vibes. We should be out there doing just that, new locations, new angles, fresh takes... I kinda figure pics are a bit like pop songs, they come and they go and in our consumer world we only want to see bigger, better, faster, more... Realistically, the original pic at it's optimal resolution is so far from what the okes 'right clicking' get, that they'd cry and might even pay for the shots if they only knew how sick they are in real life!

To ride or shoot?...If it's 6 foot plus I start weezing and I get cramps in my rickety old legs and there ain't no way I'm gonna charge those gnarly breaks with my basic booger skills but the camera comes out and on those 'lame' days where it's smaller - well, I'm on it!

Keep the stoke bru! In the barrel or behind the lens! And here's hoping you hit the jackpot on the weekend and score a digital setup with housing & all and grace the galleries with your shots once again! Peace B!
Spy Dude
January 2007
fully bru... no disrespect bru! Its a hard subject to aproach, and i have thought about it long and hard. Yeah Kelly has locked all my images sothat they cant be lifted any more.

This is a result of surfing the net too much.
Look at how the aussies treat their photogs and videogs... the result... the best flippin movies and DVDs on the market.. ok i hear ya, they have way more waves that us. The money goes back into the market.. Okes pay those ous for photos and video footage, the aussie mags pay the best in the world, the market supports the up comming okes. Its a win win situation.

End of the day i want to see the sport rise up again, as a market force.

A good marketing case study would be the skate board industry.

Anyways
Much repect to all the Dude here in CT and the rest of SA who put in effort into the sport..chappy, DC, SMH, PTP, LNF.

Hope you understand where i am coming from.
Muggy Whitelaw
January 2007
Hey Spy
I hear where u coming from and hope that nothing of that sort happens again. Just 1 issue, even though you cant right click your pictures you can still save them. maybe this should be an issue to be delt with by kelly or just something the photographers should be aware about when they upload pictures anddisable the right click on their pictures.

Keep the sick pictures coming by all the photographers
Peace
Muggy
Marthinus
January 2007
Even if you some how could prevent poeple from downloading/saving an image, they could still make a screen print and edit it on Paint or Photoshop..
kimon
January 2007
that would be a mission. the same way, you can stream copyrighted music (legally) and record it with a free wav editor, etc... the issue is, how many people would do that on a regular basis?
dcmike
January 2007
Crickey, I must be the numbnut here I keep thinking I should have a site where okes can collect the hi rez for a mini fee or wallpaper for zilch - maybe that's why I'm old and poor! haha! I mean, imagine... the images in the gallery are 600 x 400 in mid quality jpg, my originals are 3008 x 2000 in infinitely better resolution and with Spy's film setup there's almost no limit to how big they can go (okay maybe a metre wide max) but hell - If I had a shot of me getting shacked off my noggin at Llandudno, I'd buy it!!! but then again I'm evidently quite vain - mwahaaahaa!
Marthinus
January 2007

kimon wrote:
that would be a mission. the same way, you can stream copyrighted music (legally) and record it with a free wav editor, etc... the issue is, how many people would do that on a regular basis?

Exactly.. or u can just look for the music file in your "Temporary Internet Files" folder, much easier - one can also get videos from YouTube the same way, but its nesesary to convert it from the Flash (.flv) format to MPEG, AVI etc..
that NINJA kid
January 2007
Spy I totally agree on pretty much all of that, even just as a guy who snaps off a few shots before I surf just to upload and show the world what I've been up to I've twice seen my shots from sixty40 re-uploaded ON SIXTY40 and also bodyboarder by other guys (I tuned both guys whilst tryna stay polite to no reply or anything = COWARDS/FOOLS)claiming different people/places/photographers and it made me bleak enough to start using the very unpermanent idea of a watermark or logo...

As a personal choice, I'd definitely buy a High-Res/original image of myself if someone shot it...

Mike: Dude, if you started that site, maybe with Spydude and the other interested photogs (maybe country-wide, maybe even open for anyone to sell any images they'd taken of anyone?) I think you'd have more support than you think, maybe try a flash set-up site if they're more secure (I'm not sure)

We got told by some photog one day on the piers that he was shooting for an international site and we got a card etc and when we went on looking for fresh pics, all of them were too low-res to even see who each rider was ( I guess THAT would stop theft) and being an international site they wanted US$ so it worked out like R90 - R100 a photo which I think we can all agree is a little exorbitant...

Anyway, I agree, but maybe there's a way about it and I'd be SO stoked to see a site along the lines of bodyboardershawaii focused more around photogs and their images and the chance to purchase for us...

And for the record, I save a lot of images offa here which I flip through when I'm bored and use as desktops etc and have only re-uploaded a couple of myself on bodyboarder.com but have always credited the photog, when people don't it definitely sucks.
Spy Dude
January 2007
I hear youall.... but like i said, of all the images i have shot of okes in the past, there is a handfull of photos i have given away, there is even a smaller handfull of okes who have come and asked how much.. in this regard.. if any of you know Kimal the paddleskier.. that dude has bought every image i have ever shot of him.

My point is this.... when any of you upload an image to sixty40, you are giving Kelly permission to display the shot, saddly, if you didnt take the shot you dont have permission. So its just common curtacy to inform the photog that you are putting one of his photos up. Be it here, be it on your profile on bodyboarding.com.. what ever, i know of a certain photographer from this site who was spitting fire when he found lank of his images displayed in okes profiles on bodyboarder.com.
As a photographer i am willing to show the world my work.. i love the concept of the net and the speed of information, i know doug isnt and he is a legend.. i quess thats why he is a legend. His shots are exclusive, you dont get to see what he shot and his income is from magazines. Its such a small market, yet the bigger market within it operates is so huge, but as cheap as... its scary.

Its more a greater consiousness this i am trying to hit at here.
I know there are 5 million other ways to secure an image, I just want okes to start thinking... like R100.00 isnt allot to pay for an image... especially where ego, vainity and self love play a vital role...think about it.
Chinnychinchin
January 2007
Thanks Spy and all the other contributing photogs who make sixty40 the sponge paradise it is.....much respect for your dedication and contribution to our sport.

I have honestly never thought about the whole financial situation of photographers. I happily download all the good shots and keep them on my pc at work, so I can flip through them every day just to keep me sane.....But in my ignorance I thought that if photos are on the web then the relevant formalities have been sorted out and a gallery is just that, a gallery. I think it's a tough issue for you ou's.....do you hang onto the pics and try to sell them or bomb them into the galleries of sponge sites and get nothing, but contribute to the sport in a MASSIVE way.....it's sssoo hectic bru! If I think about it I would never work for free.....!!! So heres my 10c solution......

Get together with a few photogs and start your own website, then have the link attached to every sweet pic that goes into the galleries of sixty40 and all the others.....if a shot gets clicked(right or left)....BAM! a hyperlink opens your site.....spydudepics.net or whatever, with a view of the shot and prices......R10 - 72dpi and the relevant copyright limitations you can get for R10.... like electronic only.......R50 for 120dpi and copyright you can get for R50 and 2 "free" shots from the same session and then R150 for 300dpi and copyrights for print media and 5 "free" shots from the same sesh....or whatever....but you get the idea.....a buddy of mine....www.clayant.co.za....can sort you out with a website including hosting, plus he is one of the best designers you will ever see......

I'd pay cold hard cash to get a few surfing shots of myself, and my sweet one-handed cutties.....by the way a certain West-Coast Town spot has been going off it's tettys the whole week.....nice to see all the ol bullies (like me) on it and ripping.....
Kelly
January 2007

Spy Dude wrote:
if any of you know Kimal the paddleskier.. that dude has bought every image i have ever shot of him.

Kimal is a legend - send my regards - met him a few times but heard plenty stories as he's a good mate of my bro's.

A lot of suggestions about how to purchase shots --- coincidentally, I'm looking at a solution to additionally upload hi-res shots which will only be available for purchase through Factory 7 so we can start getting some cash back to the photographers and riders can pick up hi-res shots of themselves either through download or print.

Spy/Photographers - I know I've disabled right clicking (if you set this on the image) but if the issue is stopping you guys from uploading then I can try help secure further by loading in flash. Failing all that (as you can still screengrab) I suggest a large semi transparent watermark - although that is not that desirable. I could also place some copyright notice on the photos if you require and we should really start doing this.

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