"Collection of"

 

Hannibal, Missouri on the CB&Q, courtesy of Al Hoffman

This post is one that has been percolating for years and qualifies as a true rant. Often, I will keep my rants contained to a group of close friends. However, this is one that really sticks in my craw, so here goes...

After the dust settled on Internet 1.0 and people discovered that they could right click and save just about any image they saw online (savvy persons found that even if right click didn't work, there was always the trusty screenshot) many online pundits have been compiling rather large assemblages of images on their hard drives. No problem there. 

What has irked me is when some of these same people propagate these images as part of their own sharing and online publishing, with no credit whatsoever to the original photographer or source, let alone noting the details. I noticed this because when I digitized the images I had gathered over the years and sold the physical images on ebay, I was diligent about noting the photographer, location, date, and collection details, where they had been noted. The right click vultures gladly copied the images uploaded as part of the ebay sales (which, in and of itself, I have no problems with,) but never took the time to record the details. Now when those images are shared by the right clickers, they are often shared as, "Collection of 'John Doe' " instead of with proper credit. John Doe's voracious appetite for right clicking does not constitute a "Collection." [by the way, John Doe is used here as a general moniker, without specificity.] If you can't even take the time and effort to record the details related to a photo, even when they were right there for the copying, calling what you have a "Collection" is a true bastardization of the word.

Again, I wish to reiterate that downloading images from the internet for reference is a valuable tool. I do it as much as the next person. I also know that sometimes we fail to record the proper info (yours truly included). However, co-opting those images to feed whatever motives you might have is a no-no in my book. By my estimation, I have easily exhausted over $100,000 in my life buying photos from sellers, archives, ebay, etc., and I would not have the audacity to name what I have as a "Collection." I merely bought a lot of images. Right clickers don't qualify either. When you're sharing images, share the info, too. Remember, it's not your Collection. It's just images on your hard drive.

Dismounting from my high horse...

P.S. find the New Haven hopper in the photo above!