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The original was posted on /r/bestofredditorupdates by /u/LucyAriaRose on 2024-10-28 04:01:04+00:00.

I am NOT the Original Poster. That is thatwitch72. They posted in r/AmItheAsshole

Do NOT comment on Original Posts. Latest update is 7 days old.

Mood Spoiler: some schadenfreude; OOP stands their ground

Original Post: August 18, 2024

Recently there was a regional photo contest near my area, however I wasn’t a part of the community that put it on and therefore wasn’t eligible to enter. I was completely okay with this as I like to enter other photo contests in my communities but I digress. I have a family member in that community who asked (repeatedly) to enter a couple of my pictures from grand Tetons national park into the contest under her name so it would be eligible for prizes. I refused because I didn’t know the terms of the contest and whether or not the picture became their IP when entered so I couldn’t use it in my own contest.

The rest of my family seems to think I’m selfish and that I have dozens of pictures good enough for these contests, and that this family member is just trying to be helpful by putting my photos in more contests. Plus, i don’t know what it is, I can’t stand the idea of someone else’s name of my work.

I think I might be the asshole because I could just let her enter these pictures take pride in them secretly if they do well, but I’m refusing.

Am I the asshole?

Some of OOP’s Comments:

Commenter: […] If you’re trying to get your photography out there, you certainly don’t want to let them take your work. In the worst case scenario (which, idk how likely but just a thought) it somehow gets around that this happened, it could end up with your entries in other places being called into question.

OOP: Oh man I hadn’t thought of that

Commenter: NTA.

I see this as similar to someone wanting to copy a college essay and use it as their own, this is called plagiarism. People get in serious trouble for plagiarizing work.

OOP: That’s what I said but my entire family seems to think plagiarism only applies to written work.

Commenter: NTA. How on earth is that supposed to be helpful to you?

OOP: Silent Pride if it does well I guess

Commenter: What did the winners receive? Prizes?

OOP: The winner receives a kind of trophy in an awards ceremony and the ability to enter their picture in the national version of the contest

Commenter: Watermark everything! You are NTA

OOP: That’s not a bad idea. How does one go about getting/using a watermark?

OOP is voted NTA

Update Post: October 21, 2024 (2 months later)

this is an update to a previous post found here 

In case no one read the original here’s a TLDR: I had a family member who wanted to enter the photos I took of the Grand Teton’s into a local photo contest because I didn’t qualify. I don’t want to do it and my family thought I was the asshole.

Here’s the update. So I took the advise of a lot of the commentors and told my family I wouldn’t allow anyone else to enter my pictures under their name, then made sure my family member didn’t enter my photos without my permission by attending the contest and threatening to report them if they tried. I’ve also taken to not sending around any of my pictures without a watermark. I used some of the arguments given in the comments to justify my decision, and while my family still didn’t agree, they let it go and stopped pressuring me to send them all the original pictures. I know some people suggested I tell the contest organizers, but I didn’t think it was worth going that far. Man, I probably should have.

So, more recently one of my aunts also got into photography and sent around a lot of pictures she took on a vacation to New Orleans. Well, my plagiarizing family member took them and entered them into a contest in the local paper (small town) under her own name and won. The picture was featured in the paper and referenced only her as the photographer along with a quote by her. I don’t think the rest of us would have even found out about it if my uncle didn’t like to read the paper everyday.

Now my aunt is angry and so is the rest of the family. I am kind of curious if they would have reacted this strongly for me, but it doesn’t really matter. At least now my family understands why I reacted as strongly as I did.

EDIT: for everyone saying I should report her to the paper, I would if I thought it would make a difference. Sadly, my family member’s boyfriend is the biggest sponsor for the local paper so I don’t think they’d risk losing his funding.

Some of OOP’s Comments:

Commenter: I know you said that person’s bf is a major sponsor of the paper, but I would still reach out to them and let them know that photo was stolen from a relative of yours. They may not care, they maybe mortified. But you need to let them know regardless and let them follow up

OOP: You might be right. At the very least they might ensure she doesn’t get away with it again.

Commenter: NTA I’d be livid if a family member, or anyone else, stole my photography and passed it off as their own. Good for you for doing everything you can to protect your work. Just for shits and giggles, do a Google search on Intellectual Property Law and send the link around to your family, being sure to include the thief. Her boyfriend may be king shit of turd mountain at that newspaper, but he will recognize the gravity of that implied threat. Keep those watermarks coming and enjoy your photography.

OOP: “King shit of turd mountain” I absolutely love that. I’m going to start calling him that haha.

Commenter: Is your family member such a bad photographer that she can’t take her own pictures to enter? Or does she never get to leave the city and see mountains or New Orleans? Since these contests are regional, she should take pictures of local spots that have meaning to the town. That will give her some clout that the Grand Tetons can’t.

OOP: It’s not really that she can’t take pictures, she just doesn’t really care to put in the work of traveling to the location and waiting for good lighting and getting the right settings on the camera. I offered to take her a couple places I got my pictures, but she didn’t really fancy camping in Wyoming and North Dakota just for some pictures haha.