I feel cheated :-(

So I have a friend who uses Nikon and been shooting for more than 20 years.
I started this hobby about 5, 6 years ago - and love to take portraits and just finished setting one of the rooms in my basement as my "fun" studio.

Anyhow, this friend of mine asked me if I could shoot with him for his niece's 18th birthday. I brought two studio monolights, triggers, the whole shebang. I also agreed to shoot this for free.

This was 3 weekends. Took me 2 weeks to edit it as I also have a day job and kids. The issue is, I sent the edited pictures (about 315 from about 395) and burned them in discs.

After he received it from the mail, he emailed me about it and told me that he is dropping the discs to his niece's family. We exchanged emails and thanked me - which is great.

Last night, I went and "snooped" at the Darkside forum - found out that he posted two of my pictures and claimed as his. He also posted more than 300+ on his online photo gallery as "part 2" and did not mention the owner of these photographs. He also created another album and deliberately edited 4 or 5 pictures using another software. I found it very offensive and violated. I drove 2 hours round trip for the party. I was there from 6 to 11pm. I spent my nights for 2 weeks after work editing these pictures. And now I felt like someone stole something from me.

By the way, all his shots were taken with a wide angle lens (24-70) on a FF at small apertures so all his shots were "snapshot" quality. I used a 135L and took headshots at F/2. Obviously, he doesn't know what he was doing.

Sorry for the long rant.

Did you tell him?

No. I didn't want our friendship to go downhill - I'm sure he's got some reason why he did it.
He's in his 50's. I'm in my 30's so he's like my dad's age.

Now, I feel like selling all my gear and get away from photography.

You didn't use self-destructible jpegs? These are great! Send out a signal and they magically vanish from harddrives! Go get yourself some!

Seriously, I'd probably mention that you saw the images posted and you were curious why you weren't mentioned. Be nice, play Columbo-style and see what the response is. If it's not the response you want, then kill him.

airshaq20 wrote in post #12634871
No. I didn't want our friendship to go downhill - I'm sure he's got some reason why he did it.
He's in his 50's. I'm in my 30's so he's like my dad's age.

Now, I feel like selling all my gear and get away from photography.

just let him know that you saw that he posted some of your work and ask kindly if he could give you credit

Todd Lambert wrote in post #12634886
You didn't use self-destructible jpegs? These are great! Send out a signal and they magically vanish from harddrives! Go get yourself some!

Seriously, I'd probably mention that you saw the images posted and you were curious why you weren't mentioned. Be nice, play Columbo-style and see what the response is. If it's not the response you want, then kill him.

ummmm not the approach i was thinking

I think your friendship will go downhill anyway after being treated like that. Dont sell your gear, just ditch the so called "friend"

Todd Lambert wrote in post #12634886
You didn't use self-destructible jpegs? These are great! Send out a signal and they magically vanish from harddrives! Go get yourself some!

Seriously, I'd probably mention that you saw the images posted and you were curious why you weren't mentioned. Be nice, play Columbo-style and see what the response is. If it's not the response you want, then kill him.

Two years ago, his mom celebrated her 80th or so birthday. He asked me to shoot - but totally forgot. I was no show. He didn't spoke to me for a while. His mom died last year so I volunteered to shoot by my self (for free) to make up for the past "mistake". He also asked me to bring my studio lights and teach him how to take formal portraits after he saw what I did for our church directory. Again, I went and assisted him. The same niece needed some portraits taken for her seniors, again, brought my gear, taught him how to use lights and after that, he was bragging about how easy it was (yes, it was easy as all he had to do was press the shutter - I was the one who set up the background, lights, measured the lights and positioned subject and what he's settings he should use).

I wish I could "kill" him, LOL, but no, I'm a Christian. I guess I'll just stay away from him from photography.

Here's one of the pix I took that he posted and claimed as his (fortunately, he did not edited it):

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airshaq20 wrote in post #12634871
...
Now, I feel like selling all my gear and get away from photography.

Are you selling cheap?

Call him up or better meet with him and tell him what you told us. If this is the type of friend he is, then you shouldnt be trying to coddle the friendship. Tell him whats going on and talk it out or else you will always be bitter about it and never feel like its been resolved.

The other option is to give your gear away to me. I hear the nothing feels better than charity

TheLostVertex wrote in post #12635054
Are you selling cheap?

Call him up or better meet with him and tell him what you told us. If this is the type of friend he is, then you shouldnt be trying to coddle the friendship. Tell him whats going on and talk it out or else you will always be bitter about it and never feel like its been resolved.

The other option is to give your gear away to me. I hear the nothing feels better than charity

My wife won't be happy if I just give away about $20K of my gear, LOL.
I think I will watermark all my pictures from now on. Dang, I just came back to photography after about a year or so of being in hiatus.

Does he claim he took any of the photos where he's included in the shot? (could be interesting for him to try to explain, in light of his equipment particularly).

Sounds like you allow yourself to be manipulated by guilt feelings (or similar). That's bad for business, and worse for healthy family relationships (but a whole other forum).

Simplest would be to notify the host site (usually there's an email link, or look for instructions via a "legal" link) of the unauthorized use/copyright violations; they're required to quickly remove the material ("takedown notice"). You might wait to see first how he responds to your modest and nonconfrontational request that proper attribution be given.

Seamless wrote in post #12635181
Does he claim he took any of the photos where he's included in the shot? (could be interesting for him to try to explain, in light of his equipment particularly).

Sounds like you allow yourself to be manipulated by guilt feelings (or similar). That's bad for business, and worse for healthy family relationships (but a whole other forum).

Simplest would be to notify the host site (usually there's an email link, or look for instructions via a "legal" link) of the unauthorized use/copyright violations; they're required to quickly remove the material ("takedown notice"). You might wait to see first how he responds to your modest and nonconfrontational request that proper attribution be given.

Title of the thread is "Post your single Speedlight flash photos here".

He then posted two of my shots and said "Taken at a recent event."
He then posted all the pictures I took in his online gallery and titled my series as "xxxx birthday Part 2" and his actual shots as part 1. No mentioned of anything about if it was his or not - and I think posting something in your gallery simply means "hey, check out my pics" right?

Anyway, at this point, the damage is done so I'm ending my rant here. Thanks all.

Edit: although I had an speedlight sitting in my hotshoe, it was actually turned off when I took most of my pics. I used two monolights bounced to the ceiling that lit my shots. So technically, it was not captured using a speedlight.

If he's old enough to be your dad, then he's old enough to understand if you preface explaining how you feel about him with a solid punch to the face. No need to get all emo on an Internet forum.

http://www.youtube.com​/watch?v=7n90zKQpeFI

tell him to give credit where it is due. if he's doing shady stuff like this he's obviously just a cranky old man looking for his 15 mins of e-fame with someone elses shots.