Why Do People Remove Photographers' Watermarks

[DJ Dangerous]

This following post got me wondering about why some people go out of their way to remove photographers' watermarks from photos.

Obviously, @LARNE CABIN went to lengths to credit his sources in his post, so this is in no way aimed at him, but somebody somewhere has taken @Jonathan Allen's image, cropped out the lower area of the photo with the watermark, and re-published it online.

Nobody subsequently donwloading the photo will know who the photographer is, nor will they be able to credit them.

Why the Hell do people do this???

If anything, it makes it even harder to try fix a date and location in some cases, as the only reference at all with some sort of clue is gone.

 

 

11 hours ago, Jonathan Allen said:

I really would appreciate if people posting my photographs would acknowledge copyright: 

 

[Irishswissernie]

It happens all the time which is why I have to put the 'COPYRIGHT ERNIE's Railway Archive' somewhere in the photograph where it can't easily be removed. It doesn't stop some PIA's from trying to obliterate the overlay though.  A few years ago someone actually started selling prints of views from the Archive and I removed  over 30,000 images from Flickr . I subsequently had second thoughts after messages of dismay from 'fans'.

Where the images are my copyright it is still annoying, however I have permission from other Collectors , Trustees and Archives to use their material on Flickr and I do not want to upset them and have permission withdrawn should they think that I have been selling their images for my benefit.

There's not much one can do about it. I just add perpetuators to an ever increasing list of those who will be first against the wall come the millennium.

[Galteemore]

It’s particularly annoying as both Ernie and Jonathan are keen to help bona fide enthusiasts. I have had to buy many of my photographs either in book form or from offline archives. To have them made freely available is such a gift - and shouldn’t be abused.

[LARNE CABIN]

Thanks to @DJ Dangerous for defending me and sincere apologies to @Jonathan Allen . I did not, and have not removed copyright from any photos, but as @DJ Dangerous says picked it up from the internet unaware of any copyright, so please accept my apologies.