Is the Work of Photographers Truly So Worthless?
Last week I was surprised to find a photo I had posted to Instagram was being featured on the Tourism Australia Instagram account. Before long it had 30K likes, but nobody asked me for permission to use it. Other business accounts have also used it in their advertising without asking me. This was the shot in question. It was taken on a Sony a99II with the 70-400mm f/4-5.6 G SSM II lens. It's a combination worth about $7K AUD. I usually have 2-3 other camera bodies and lenses at the same time. The expectation it seems is the photographer bring 30K of gear along, paying their own expenses along the way, then hand the results over royalty-free. It's quite bizarre and astonishing. Here it is featured on the Tourism Australia's Instagram account: https://www.instagram.com/p/B2RLoICIeI1/ One newspaper reports that Tourism Australia's annual budget for the 2017 year was $129 million dollars. Yet even a photograph shot with $7K AUD worth of equipment should not be