Should a professional photographer be featured on national TV, one 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 site and disappear. Such scammers make all professional photographers look bad. Good riddance.
Now in 2012, it appears the same UK 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 outright illegal.
When I worked at a Toronto daily newspaper, a photojournalism student hired for the summer used other photographers’ tear sheets in his portfolio. The student just cut off the credit lines. He was fired.
In the 1990s, there was a call to licence all 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’ve still practiced. 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.
