Asking for permission....

(I forgot to mention when posting my question that if I ever actually DO sell any art I make with your photos (with your permission) that I’d be happy to send you a free high res. copy of that art for you to keep. You only need to let me know you’d want me to do that.) ;o)

Hello all,

I’m fairly new to DG’s and am really enjoying the time I spend here. It’s really a lot of fun and very informative too! One of my other hobbies besides gardening is digital art. I love taking a really good photos (high res) and working with it in my various digital software programs, turning them into ‘art’ works. With permission from the web site I’m posting on most forums (those I have access to) and asking for if I may use the photos posted in those forums. There are so many really wonderful photos and I would greatly love to be able to turn them into art.

For any of you that grant me this permission I can assure you that if I use one of your photos I will be more than happy to include you as the photos original owner on any finished work. I’ve been saying for years now that someday I’d like to actually try and sell my art work but as yet I haven’t even tried. I would like to some day. But for now I just basically play around with them and see what I come up with.

So if you don’t care if I copy/use your photos please just let me know in this post. And ‘thank you’ in advance to whom ever gives me their kind permission!

God Bless,
GrammyJo ;o)


This message was edited Jul 7, 2008 2:40 AM

I changed the settings for DG to not put the copyright stuff on the pics I upload a few months ago. I could care less if anyone uses them.

I am by no means trying to be negative at all...so please know that upfront ok?!...but what u r basically saying is let you use our pics for you to sell one day and you get the money and we get the original photo credit?

welcome beginners!

I appreciate the fact that you are asking for people to volunteer permission to use photos up front, but I have to back rednyr on this one. Am I understanding correctly that you contacted DG admin/staff about this and they said it was OK to post and ask for permisson? Photos in themselves can be considered as artistic/intellectual property so it is important to be very careful just like anywhere else.

If this is something you're interested in doing seriously it might not be a bad idea to find 1-2 photographers you like and establish a relationship with them to use their images, and make some sort of agreement with them from there...

Thank you for getting back to me on this. How nice...

bradh616, thanks so much for your permission. That’s really kind of you.

rednyr, thank you also. To answer your question “let you use our pics for you to sell one day and you get the money and we get the original photo credit?” yes, that’s exactly what I’m asking and saying. Like I said I have YET to even try to sell anything I’ve done. I’ve been talking about it for a couple of years now and really do WANT to do so. My husband retired this spring and because the steel mill he’d worked at for 45+ years was bought out (after claiming bankruptcy) the government took over his retirement as part of the ‘deal’ and he lost about 1/3 of the retirement we’d been planning on all of these years. I’d like to find a way to supplement his retirement by doing something I LOVE doing.

Tropicanna, to answer your question (and get something cleared up too) “I have to back rednyr on this one. Am I understanding correctly that you contacted DG admin/staff about this and they said it was OK to post and ask for permisson?”, what does ‘rednyr’ mean? Now to your question, yes, I asked DG for permission to even ASK permission from posters in the various groups. I would not have even sought permission had they said to do so was against their policy. I would have just let it go and simply enjoyed the photos for what they are. I actually take a LOT of my own photos and work with them. The only problem with that is I’m limited by where I go to take my photos and what subject matter is there at the time to photograph. With posters from all over the world on this web site the range of photos is huge and means much MORE fun in finding new photos to turn into my ‘art’ work. You’re completely correct in that each photo can be considered an artistic work in itself. That’s why I’m asking. Some people are very ‘protective’ of their personal photos and would never want anyone to use them for ANYthing. I respect that completely, again that’s why I ask before hand. When someone gives me permission to use their photos and many people online have (with the understanding that someday in the future I may actually try and sell what I’ve made from them) I keep their correspondence and written permission on ‘file’ on my PC. I also tell anyone who gives me permission that if they’d like I’ll send them a free high res. copy by email of what ever finished work I create and sell using their photos. I neglected to add that to my request and need to do so. And again, ALL of this only matters IF I end up ever selling my work. Right now that’s just a fun ‘dream’ of mine. ;o) I don’t know that you’ve given me your permission. So I’ll wait until you do (IF you do ;o). Again, I completely respect your feelings if you’d rather not.

God Bless and thank you each again!
GrammyJo

I wish you the best of luck in your ventures...when tropicana said she backed rednyr I believe she was just trying to say she concurred with my thoughts since 'rednyr' is my S/N.....

I can certainly understand your trying to be creative in finding avenues to increase your income after the mill closing - in our town the last of the cotton mills just closed...unfortunately down here no one layman had any type of pension going to my knowledge - the BF's entire family all worked there at some point in their lives and his brother 'just got laid' off as one of the last working employees of the mill....times are certainly tough all over and at 56 Gene surely never thought he'd be back to square one trying to find a job again after 20 years at the mill....

so best of luck to you, may your book one day come to fruition..I just do not wish my photos to be used...thanks again!

GrammyJo,

What sorts of things do you do with these photos? Do you have any before and after examples of your work? I'd love to see what you've done so far.

rednyr, what a shame for the men who worked there for so long. I’m very BLESSED in that the steel mill that my husband worked at and retired from DIDN’T close (thank the Lord). It went into bankruptcy then was bought out by USS. But part of their purchasing the mill was that the government took over the pensions or retirement of the men with the most seniority, like my husband. Yet we count ourselves as very blessed as I said. It is truly a sad time for anyone working in a factory (or so many other business’s too). It’s more about ‘the bottom line’ and profits for those at the top with NO consideration for the employees and their families (employees being the reason for their huge profits). My husband will be 63 in October and I can’t even imagine how awful it would be for him to have to start over now…

Good luck to you too and no prob about not wanting your photos used. I completely understand.

God Bless ;o)

GardenSox... I'll try to put up an example before long. Right now its waaaaay late and I have to get to get to bed (should have gone LONG ago!). ;o)

This message was edited Jul 10, 2008 3:20 AM

I'd love to see an example of your work. What software are you using?

Hi pastime...

I use ‘Corel Paint Shop Pro PhotoXI’ (formerly ‘Jasc PSP’). It's not extremely hard to learn...very good and the program I use most. Another great software is ‘Virtual Painter 5’ which is quite simple to use. I also use ‘Adobe Photoshop CS3’, another good program for digital work. I have some others too but these three are my faves.

I'll be posting a finished digital painting very soon so check back. ;o)

I uploaded a finished ‘painting’ for ken33 of a Calendula he gave me permission to copy and use. Here’s the link to that page. http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/871820/

This message was edited Aug 2, 2008 3:41 AM

Grammy new to this however plan on trying to take some pic. and you are welcome to use any of them. good luck

You are welcome to play with any photos I have shared in the PlantFiles as well as in threads in which I have posted. If you can make money, great. I do not need credit for you using a photo of mine. I have had companies contacting me to use my photos for plant tags and I don't even charge them because:
1) they're members here
2) I'm not a professional photographer or even close
3) they asked permission and even offered to compensate me. I declined.
I've also had DG writers contact me to use lots of my photos in their articles. Good for them if I happen to have something they can put to use.

That being said, I'm not going to deny you the chance to make money off of me. More power to you.

I wouldn't be interested in having a finished "painting" unless it was of a native plant or of a natural area on this continent and you can contact me privately and we'll exchange e-mail addresses so you can send me goodies should you find I've got something that even interests you. One slight problem with my photos though, I lost over 10,000 digital images and no longer have the originals so there's no way to get rid of the watermark by sending you an original. Really sorry about that based on what I read about your husband losing a third of his retirement.

GrammyJo- Here's hoping you find something of mine to play with because I respect those who ask. Those who are disrespectful and do not ask in favor of appropriating without my knowledge and consent get sent a short and sweet cease and desist. And friends of mine have found photos of mine being used to sell invasive plants on eBay and there's not much that irks me more.

One last thing, I have at least a thousand photos to load into PlantFiles this coming winter when the gardening season is over. That should expand your opportunities a little bit. My bet is I get one decent photo per 50-100.