shiv verma | photography

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When Plagiarism Hits Home

During most of my 1 day workshops and seminars, I am often asked for a copy of my slides or a set of notes.  On occasion I have had attendees use their smart phones and iPads to capture images of each slide. On a few occasions, I have had someone discreetly record my entire presentation.  I have never said any thing. I have had one known occasion where what I presented was used by someone else as their own work.I am always torn between whether to give a copy or not. This is a difficult situation. A lot of work goes into putting together a workshop, the research, the content, the hands-on, and even the notes.  For someone to take and use the very same for personal gain is unethical and this has come to light in a few recent cases.  Two well known photographers who were well respected in the photographic community were found plagiarizing and as a result have had to pull out from the next WPPI.Now, a recent case has emerged where a photographer/videographer attended a workshop and subsequently used pretty much the same material, the same verbiage, the same examples and the same references to do his workshop on Creative Live.  This is like saying, not only did I steal but let me show the community what I stole.More on this at https://www.slrlounge.com/stolen-workshop-unfortunate-common-trendTheft in the photographic world is not new. Copyright infringement is not new.  What is so disturbing is that the very photographers who are trying to protect their own copyright have shown little regard or respect for a fellow photographer's or a fellow artist's work.Frederick van Johnson discussed this on the most recent episode of This Week in Photography entitled Theft vs. Creative Inspiration - TWiP 341. Of significance are: what , when and how you should give credit if you use someone else's work.Can you as photographer condone this?Your thoughts and comments would be most appreciated.  Use the comments section on this post so that all my all Facebook, Google, Twitter readers and other social media followers can read your posts.