Author: willcain

“I’ll Wash It Every Day”

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In 1989, when I first purchased my mint condition 1982 Harley Davidson Sportster 1000, it was pretty kick ass bike. It featured streamlined drag pipes that would wake up the dead when you revved the engine. And the chrome on the bike shined so bright you could see it for miles. Any work that needed to be done would be done only by me. Didn’t want to take it to anyone else. I took pride in the fact that if a clutch needed changing, I could do it myself. From the day I purchased the motorcycle, it was MINT.

Every day my brother would say, “If that were my bike, I’d take care of it sooo much better. I’d wash and wax it every day.”

A few years later, I purchased my 1993 Harley Davidson Fat Boy. I didn’t want to sell the Sportster, but also knew I wasn’t going to ride it. So, I gave the Sportster to my brother fully believing that he would honor that statement. I was completely wrong.

One of the things we both learned in the motorcycle safety class was NOT TO RIDE DURING THE FIRST DROPLETS OF RAIN. The water coats the road and along with the oil on the road, creates a very dangerous window for riders. The road is very slick at that point. One should wait until about 15-20 minutes before hopping on a motorcycle. By then, the rain has washed the oil slicks away from the road.

Before he took the bike out in the rain, I said why don’t you wait a few minutes until the rain washes away the oil slicks. He insisted he’d be ok. No need to wait. His girlfriend was waiting. had to get there to see her. He strapped on a helmet, started the bike, and then rode of into the steady drizzle.

Twenty minutes later. He comes in the door looking like hell and freaked out. I didn’t hear the motorcycle pull up. Where’s the bike, I wonder, then ask. I dropped it on the road. Slipped from the oil slicks in the drizzling rain. “No shit!?” I exclaim. “What did I tell you!?” Luckily, he was fine. The bike on the other hand. Not so good. Broken mirror, highway pegs, bent fender, steering bushing lost, a scratched gas tank and rear fender. It could have been worse. The woman driving behind him stopped when she saw him lose traction. If she didn’t stop it would have been more serious. But, no big deal, the bike can be fixed.

That was over 12 years ago.

The Sportster still has not been repaired. It sits in the shed, slowly rusting away. The air filter has rotted away to the point where it has gummed up the carburetor causing the engine to run poorly. The once pristine chrome speedometer now suffers from reticulation. Not a pretty sight. I’ve thought about taking the bike back (he’s offered it to me numerous times), since he is now afraid to ride. Can’t blame him though, that kind of experience can freak you out and make you lose your desire to ride.

For years I thought about taking him up on the offer, but every time I look at the bike I get disgusted. I recall hearing, “If that were my bike, I’d take care of it sooo much better. I’d wash and wax it every day.”
Uh, what happened to taking care of it. Within a month that motorcycle should have been back on the road. I didn’t have the patience to deal with it. Maybe I should have.

Exvery time I saw him  I’d ask, “Did you fix the bike yet?” Every time he’d say “NO!”

So the bike has sat for the past 12 years. Rusting away.

Recently, a friend purchased a new bike and asked me to ride it home for him. He doesn’t have a motorcycle license yet, and has yet to take the safety course. I said sure. I’d be glad to.

It was the most fun I’ve had in years. Gave me the itch to ride again. The freedom. Wind in your face. 95 miles an hour on I-95. That is the speed limit? Too much fun, except for the bugs and pebbles from dump trucks. A blast. Relaxing. Thought provoking. Calming. Stress relieving. And many more.

So I went to my parents house and said to my brother ,”When that was my bike, I took care of it sooo much better. I washed and waxed it every day. It’s coming home!”

Anyone have a trailer?

– BC 🙂

Lack of…..

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Recently, I photographed model Sabrina West at a local park. She wanted to use some of the photographs to enter the a contest contest. I told her I don’t have a problem with her using the images for the contest, as long as my watermark remains intact. So, she uploaded the photos to the site. Problem is that when you upload the images, their system automatically crops the photo as tight as possible, removing any watermark on the edge of the frame. The site also lacks a backstop asking the model if she has a photo release from the copyright holder allowing her to use the images for the contest. In this case the model has permission, with conditions, and I would have provided a release if asked and my conditions were met.

A few weeks ago, I clicked on the link to the models profile on the site, expecting to see my watermarked images. What I saw was my super cropped images, sans watermark. Immediately, I emailed the model. She informed me she had done what I asked, but a marketing company cropped the photos.

OK, shouldn’t be a problem. In the past when this kind of thing happened with a marketing company, I’d emailed the company’s CEO and he has swapped out the unwatermarked images for the correct watermarked versions. So, I didn’t believe it would be a problem. Via email, I asked the CEO to have the images swapped out. He emailed back that it wouldn’t be a problem and said to coordinate with someone that works with him. Simple matter. You’d think.

(see below for the frame grabs)

I then sent the two images to the person I was told would handle it. Waited for acknowledgement that the images were received, but nothing. I emailed the contact a day or so later to follow up as to whether the pix had been received. At this point I’m starting to get a bit miffed. Still no response.

Since I had received no response or acknowledgement that the images were received, my next step was the beer company. I explained to them in an email message:

The marketing company and national beer company do not have a photo release from me to use these images on the site, thus infringing upon my rights. I have contacted a marketing company in order to resolve the issue. I notified them I would allow the use of the images if they post my watermarked un-cropped versions. After initially agreeing, they have not responded.


(this is what I had sent to replace the images)

Two days later I receive a terse phone message from the company’s CEO. In the voicemail he states that national beer company’s Corporate legal department contacted him about my images. His reaction is that while national beer company would like him to replace the images, like I have asked, he’s prefer to delete the model’s profile on the site all together. Oh, and he will also let her know that she’s being deleted because of me. Was that supposed to scare me? He also went on to say “I expect a return phone call today.”
One for promptness, I call him within 5 minutes.

He starts whining to me that he has all of these emails from corporate asking him to replace the images I have asked and that I’ve caused him allot of grief. He then asked if I contacted national beer company corporate legal department about them infringing upon my copyrighted work. Proudly, I say “Yes. I did!”

He goes on to tell me that hurts his business. Really? And my business isn’t hurt by people using my images without any kind of compensation? I explain I wouldn’t have had to do that if his people had just done what was asked or responded when I followed up. The person he put me in touch with never responded. He said, “That’s because she’s in Florida.” And…I’m supposed to know that how? From her non-response? I’m a photographer, not a mind reader. And quite frankly, that’s not my problem.
I told him I really don’t care if they delete the profile. But, all I asked is that they swap out the images for my watermarked version. He agrees to do that. Tells me to send him the images. I did, and that’s where we stand now. That was Friday. Again, I’ve emailed a follow up and no response.

This is a clear violation of copyright law.

I’m leaning towards going back through the corporate legal department again.

First of all, there are a few problems with their site and terms. They do not ask if the model had a signed photo release from the photographer, the copyright owner, or seek permission from the photographer to post his/her copyrighted work. The site automatically crops models images, thus removing watermarks from the imagery. Thus if you agree to let a model post the pix,a marketing company crops anyway they see fit.

What in the world are these people thinking? Am I supposed to think it’s cool that they have my imagery in their contest? Frankly, who gives a damn!? My work has appeared all over the world. Hell, I’ve even had a Newsweek cover. The beer company pays the marketing company, and they claim to make no money off the contest. Why are they in business?

What do the photographers, whose images are used without permission get? Absolutely nothing!! Not even attribution for their hard work making these models look good. And, let’s be honest here. I hate to say this, but some of the “models”ONLY look good because of the photographer’s team that makes them look good.
For each infringement I could seek up to $150,000 in copyright infringement damages against a marketing company and beer company. All I asked for was attribution.

The vibe I got was that this dude was trying to make me feel guilty for protecting my rights as an artist.
That doesn’t work on me.

I know my rights, and I’ll be damned if I let them use my imagery without attribution or compensation.

– BC

Updated:  The issue has been resolved. I had them remove the images because they couldn’t make it so my watermark was visible.  Wonder how many other photographers are getting screwed by these people.

Yes! I can do that!

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Every summer I photograph a sporting event for the folks running the event. And, every year, I’d run into the photographers working for the sponsor. The other photographers attitude was always the same. Didn’t really seem to care about the kind of images they’d make. To them, it seemed more about the money.

Usually, that photographer would have a wedding booked on the same day as the event we were both covering. The photographer would shoot the first part of the event and then hand off to another photographer for the remainder of the day.
Neither of the photographers had much experience covering sports, but there they were, year after year photographing the event for the sponsors.

Then last year, I received a call from my contact who is the public relations director for the event. He tells me that the sponsor would like to know if it’s possible for me to have one of my photographers photograph the event for them. YES! IT MOST CERTAINLY IS POSSIBLE! The last thing I’d ever want to say to a client is “No.” Even if I didn’t believe it was possible I would have said yes. I’ll always do whatever I can to make the clients needs or requests happen. At that moment they are my focus. If I can make it happen, I will.

Once I said yes, I submitted an estimate to the second client. They approved. Now, I had to come up with a plan of attack. First, I thought of the perfect photographer to work with me. That was the easy part. Second, I had to come up with a plan for photographing the event. Most of the sponsor and event needs are the same. My solution was to have myself and my colleague shoot different aspects of the event and then edit it down into various categories. Each client would get the same DVD in the end. This way, both clients would get images they need, and better overall coverage if we pooled the talents of two photographers together to offer the clients a better package. I then spoke with BOTH clients. Told them my plans. They loved the idea, but had some specific things they needed photographed. I asked for a shot list. They provided that, and we both used the sheet. I looked it over and found zones where I’d be stationed and my other photographer would be stationed. We then broke down the shot list into zones and proceeded to cover our zones on the list. The plan worked out very well. So well, in fact, that we’re doing it again this year.

“Tiger” Tom

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My uncle passed away yesterday. The picture above was the last photo I ever made of him. He made me… no, dared me to make the picture.

I had stopped by to visit him while he was in the hospital battling cancer. Considering he was in the fight of his life, he seemed in great spirits. I walked into his hospital room and had brought along my gear, since i was driving my Jeep that day, and didn’t have a top. I couldn’t leave my cameras in the car, so I brought them into the hospital. He was impressed and said “Cool. Now take my picture!” I told him he was crazy. He said, “I dare you to take my picture! Uhhhh… OK.

Here’s a guy with lying in a hospital bed with stage 4 cancer, and he wants his picture taken. I put my camera up to my eye. My uncle sits up in his hospital bed, puts on a grin from here to Texas, and starts posing. Making muscles. Just hamming it up. I could hardly focus because we started laughing hysterically. For the whole 7 frames I was able to capture, we chuckled through all and then some. When we stopped laughing, he deadpanned, “I’m sick, but still look good.” We laughed some more. Didn’t matter how bad it looked. He still had a great disposition and a strong will to live.

I’m happy I brought my cameras into the hospital that day. I will cherish that moment. It was the last time I saw him.

When I was a young boy, my uncle was always around our house. He helped my parents renovate the house when we moved to the suburbs.

I saw him allot back then.

One time my uncle caught me playing with matches. He yelled at me for about twenty minutes, “Don’t ever let me see you do that again!” I thought he was nuts. What could happen? Well…he showed me. When he was a boy, he played with matches. He was burned over 60% of his body. The scars were horrific, but he wasn’t afraid to show anyone if it taught them a lesson.

I never played with matches again.

Over the years I asked about the accident. I imagined it must have been rough. He said it was excruciatingly painful when it happened. He figured if he could live through that, he could survive anything.

He was the most selfless person I have ever known. Every time I ever saw or spoke with him, he always asked about me, my wife, how we are, and how was everyone else. When I’d tell him all was good, his response was always, “I’m glad. You’re a good kid.” He would have given the shirt off his back to help someone. He never asked for anything in return.

He was fearless.

He was a fighter.

He taught me to never, ever give up, no matter what the circumstances.

I will always remember that.

He was my uncle.

He was my friend.

I loved him.

I will miss him.

He was “Tiger” Tom.

Birds

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I saw these birds about to frolic in the water just after finishing a shoot at Philadelphia Biblical University yesterday. Luckily, I was able to dodge the goose poop before, during and after the shoot. Some of the subjects of the shoot weren’t so lucky.

One of my first portrait pix.

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Over the weekend I was looking through some old prints trying to find early work to show my advanced photo class. Lucky for me, I found this image that was probably one of the first portraits I’ve ever made. It’s of my cousin’s son on Thanksgiving sometime in the mid-80’s. If I recall correctly, we were all watching football, and Ricky was still at the table finishing his dinner. Made a few frames and captured a nice moment.

Georgian Court University Commencement

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On Friday I photographed the 100th Commencement at Georgian Court University in Lakewood, New Jersey.
A gallery of images follows below.