An American in Jordan

Back in December I wrote about how Amlak, the real estate advertising company, took one of my pictures from online and used it without payment or permission on the front page of their weekly advertisement magazine.  In essence, they stole from me.

Many of you spoke up about your disgust for their poor business practices in this situation.  Some of you even suggested that I sue them.  At that time, I wasn’t sure how to pursue the matter but I never forgot about it.

A few months later, one of our mutual blogging friends (who will remain nameless to protect her identity) began working for Amlak.  While in her new role, she was privy to certain information, including the fact that Amlak were embarrassed for being outed and were upset about any negative publicity my article was creating.

They asked our blogger friend to contact me about the situation and she did.  She explained that the graphic designer who had used the image in the publication had been fired and the head of the design department had been seriously reprimanded.  She also informed me that Amlak would like to extend a personal apology and compensate me for the image.

But how much should I request in compensation?  I contacted a friend who’s husband is a professional photographer in Jordan.  He has experience in these matters and he suggested that I request a substantial amount of money as reparation.  After all, he explained, Amlak should know better; they have plenty of money to acquire images legally; they chose my image out of thousands of prosects; and if they had asked in the first place without stealing the image, they could have purchased it for quite a bargain.

I was impressed by the figure that my photographer friend had suggested, but I decided to seek further council just to have a clearer idea of how to proceed.  I contacted a friend whose sister is an intellectual properties lawyer in Amman.  In other words, this lawyer’s entire job is to sue people who violate copyright laws.  Her advice?  Ask as much as I want in this case because I will surely win.

So I contacted my lawyer in Amman.  I told him about what the others had recommended and asked his opinion.  He advised me to cut my asking settlement in half (still a substantial amount) and present that offer to Amlak.

In the meantime, the higher ups at Amlak still had not personally called me.  Instead, they drug our mutual blogger friend into the middle of it, asking her to do the negotiation for them.  We talked several times on the phone and we were both learly uncomfortable with the position that Amlak had put us in.  I had no argument personally with her and she didn’t even work for Amlak back when this situation happened!

In the end, Amlak didn’t take the initiative to make things right.  Rather they continued to deal with me through my friend, forcing her into the middle of a situation that she shouldn’t have had to deal with.  Their counter offer was so insulting that she didn’t even deliver it to me out of embarrassment.

I am disappointed in the Amlak company, their lack of honor and business ethics. I guess I expected more professionalism from the company leadership, but my expectations have gone unfounded. And if they want to steal my work and then insult me by offering me practically nothing in return, then they can anticipate a fight.

Every so often I Google myself, just to see what’s out there on the World Wide Web about me. What I generally discover is historical location photographs that I have taken in the past that are being used (with permission and/or credit) by cultural, historical, religious and encyclopedic websites and online documents.

But occasionally I find something different. And while none of it is too exciting, I did happen across an online article entitled Swiss Girl Meets Steven Spielberg, Spends Time on Indiana Jones 4 Set, where a different style photo of mine was used as the article illustration. Notice the photo of Indiana Jones getting his face punched in by a Nazi goon? Yeah, that’s mine.

In this series of Flickr Favorites, I’d like to highlight just a couple of the many worldwide portraits that I enjoy. Obviously I can’t list all of my favorites, but these are some of the most recent and a decent variety, I think.

Be sure to look back at previous favorites: Series 5, Series 4, Series 3, Series 2 and Series 1.

Apparently Jordan is not the only country where security are bullying photographers. According to the BBC, England has it’s fair share of crackdowns against innocents.

You can read the article yourself, but I especially like the following bit:

“There’s a great deal of paranoia around but the police are on alert for anything that vaguely resembles terrorism. It’s difficult because the more professional a photographer, paradoxically, the more likely they are to be stopped or questioned.

“If people were using photos for terrorism purposes they would be using the smallest camera possible.”

Exactly!

Entry-level DSLR cameras are all the rage these days. Well, maybe not in Jordan, since you can’t buy them anywhere it seems. But everywhere else in the world, budding photographers are tossing their crappy point-and-shoot cameras and looking to purchase something a little more robust.

Canon was the first to issue a sub-$1,000, pro-sumer camera (the Canon 300D, a.k.a. the Digital Rebel) back in 2003. Nikon followed suite shortly thereafter, and it didn’t take long for competitors Sony and Olympus to jump into the fray.

This month, all four manufacturers have released the latest and greatest versions of their pro-sumer line: Canon’s EOS Digital Rebel XSi, Sony’s Alpha a350, Nikon’s D60 and Olympus’ E-420.

Obviously they all look decent at a precursory glance, so if you’re looking to take the plunge, be sure to check out Gizmodo’s un-official performance review first.