It was good while it lasted.
All good things come to an end.
If the game is no longer fun, do you still play?
Maybe I'll just take my ball and go home.
For the last few hours I've been kicking around ways to start this. Something clever or funny or original or even harsh.
I decided earlier today that no longer will my blog have anything to do with the images I create for the company I work for.
This blog has always been my own creation, since I began posting stuff in 2007. I was never asked to do it and it wasn't connected to my job in any other way then I would post images sometimes from assignments I shot — mostly stuff that if not posted here would never see the light of day. That's the beauty of self-publishing via this format. I'm accountable only to myself and whatever I say or put on here is not reflective of anything or anyone other than me or my own thoughts.
When I was offered the opportunity to have my blog featured on my employer's website I said yes, hoping that it would bring more eyeballs to my work.
It did, for a time.
But my own promotion of my blog traffics far more people to my blog then were clicking onto it through my employer's site.
My blog has never just been about what I produce for the company I work for. It features my street photography, pictures of my kids and family, weird things I come across, personal projects, and whatever else I find interesting or feel like sharing.
Last spring I posted a series of images from my hometown of Crescent City, Ca., and the personal story that goes along with them. It's one of my favorite things I've ever done, and it was done specifically to be featured on my blog. It was my own creation.
The company I work for has just created a set of rules that led me to make this decision. The rules include not posting any work-related photos unless they first appear in either publication or on a company website, all work-related photos must include company credits or watermarks along with links to company websites, and all existing work-related photos on personal blogs need to be credited to the publication.
The whole point of sharing images here before they are published is to give people an advanced look at what will be in the paper this week, including images that will not be in print. I've always felt like this has promoted the publication I work for in a positive way.
I will not be going back and adding watermarks, nor company credits, nor links under photos.
At the bottom of this blog you will find, from the very outset in 2007, copyright information representing both myself and the company I work for. That'll just have to suffice.
Anyone who comes across this blog has never had much trouble figuring out who I work for, and I've never made it a secret when posting things. This blog will also no longer be accessible through my employers website.
But perhaps the most important aspect of this for me is the fact that the images I create are my own. The physical manifestation of work product — film negatives, digital files saved to a hard drive — if paid for by the company I work for are indeed there's. However, the creation itself is my own.
It is intangible.
I'm sure there are more legal-minded or daydreaming folks who can give a definition that goes one way or another.
For me, it means a change of direction. No more peeks at upcoming stories, or a dozen photos from the football game Friday night. It will be whatever else I want it to be. But when it comes down to it, it will be my own.
-DKM
