If a professional photographer was featured on national TV, you might think the publicity would boost that photographer’s business. Well, not in this case.
In 2009, the BBC ran a news story about a commercial photographer and his business practices, or should we say, his lack of business practices.
This publicity caused the “fauxtographer” to take down his web site and disappear. Good riddance. Such scammers make all professional photographers look bad.
Now in 2012, it appears the same photo conman is back to his old tricks again.
I’m not sure how photography customers can protect themselves against such scams. The Internet makes it easy for anyone to pretend to be anybody they want to be.
Previously in another post, I briefly mentioned a Toronto commercial photographer who promotes himself by using free stock pictures shot by other photographers. In any type of business, misleading customers is not only bad form, it may also be illegal.
When I worked at a Toronto daily newspaper, a photojournalism student hired as a summer intern used other photographers’ tear sheets in his portfolio. The student just cut off the existing credit lines and added his own. He was quickly fired.
In the 1990s, there was a call to licence professional photographers in Canada to help protect consumers. It would have applied to retail, editorial, commercial and corporate photographers. The proposed licensing would have been optional and non-licensed photographers could still exist. For better or worse, the licensing system never got off the ground.
“Buyer beware” is still the rule as professional photography in Canada is unlicensed and unregulated.
