This is a happy story about stolen blog content and photo quotes. When I launched Boomer Muse in 2008, photo quotes were at the beginning of their popularity. I would have never guessed they’d saturate the internet as they do now. Of the thousands of my own original photo quotes, many were stolen and many others lost during the disastrous migration WordPress in 2014. Every so often I do a random search for certain photo quote themes, and every time I find websites violating my copyright. Sometimes I make a report but most of the time it’s futile and too time-consuming.

I let go, knowing it’s not the end of the world but sometimes I get lucky. When I came across on old image I’m taken from my driveway on another website, I felt annoyed at first. I couldn’t find the original so I took a screenshot and contacted the website based in Russia. For the first time someone removed it and sent a note of apology.

Are there other photos of mine floating around? No doubt but I was happy seeing my old grandmother pine tree again. The window visible in the image is from my office and I miss the view. During Hurricane Sandy, the old tree snapped in two; her lofty branches are a distant memory. Had someone not hadn’t stolen it, I wouldn’t have seen or able to share it again.

The moral of the story is: Take the high road and while you’re at it, consider taking the road less travelled, where we are more open to possibilities. And always watermark your images. it makes it easier to prove ownership in a copyright dispute.

TIP: Don’t place the watermark near the edges where it can be cropped and removed. You can splash one across the image. It’s the most effective but it detracts from the image. In this instance, I placed it on the edge of the road in the snow. Subtle but visible.

 

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