I am a member of a car forum which is quite new to the scene but has a few experienced members, as an owner and I enjoy karting I quite often go to organized meets. Car photography isn't something I've really done before so I took a few shots to post on the forum. All images were watermarked with my name. A few members asked if they could upload the photos to social media which I didn't have a problem with as long as the watermark stayed and no commercial use.
A few days later I get a message from the event organizer saying that the manufacturer of the car wants to publish a blog on the event and use my photos (without watermarks) for a credit, no cash available. I go to the blog to see what formats they want to find the blog is already published, 7 of the 8 photos are mine, all with 1/6th of the bottom of the image cropped to remove my watermark, with a small credit under the one photo I didn't take. The same images have been re-tweeted, facebooked etc by other people doing PR for the car manufacturer.
While it's nice to have work out there, the event was organized by volunteers and supported/prizes given by sponsors and suppliers who were very generous. The manufacturer was asked if they wanted to be involved but we were basically blanked by them. As the event was a success, suddenly the PR has taken off and they're almost claiming it as their own.
100's of photos were taken at the event and posted online, if I start getting shirty they could just pull my images and use others, but 7 out of 8 were from my shots (the 8th was a group shot which I was in, no tripod with timer so I didn't take one)
In this situation what would be best? I didn't go to the event with an intention of making money, I went to support the group and to show photos of their cars as that was what the meet was about. The manufacturer gave nothing to the group unlike other suppliers and is running it through their own marketing channels with photos they edited and didn't have permission to use. They did talk about possibly supporting future events but as they never responded to the original requests and are dragging their heels with the next one, I don't know if I should chance invoicing them (if I get paid, the money would be going back into the group as prizes/support for a future meet.)
A few days later I get a message from the event organizer saying that the manufacturer of the car wants to publish a blog on the event and use my photos (without watermarks) for a credit, no cash available. I go to the blog to see what formats they want to find the blog is already published, 7 of the 8 photos are mine, all with 1/6th of the bottom of the image cropped to remove my watermark, with a small credit under the one photo I didn't take. The same images have been re-tweeted, facebooked etc by other people doing PR for the car manufacturer.
While it's nice to have work out there, the event was organized by volunteers and supported/prizes given by sponsors and suppliers who were very generous. The manufacturer was asked if they wanted to be involved but we were basically blanked by them. As the event was a success, suddenly the PR has taken off and they're almost claiming it as their own.
100's of photos were taken at the event and posted online, if I start getting shirty they could just pull my images and use others, but 7 out of 8 were from my shots (the 8th was a group shot which I was in, no tripod with timer so I didn't take one)
In this situation what would be best? I didn't go to the event with an intention of making money, I went to support the group and to show photos of their cars as that was what the meet was about. The manufacturer gave nothing to the group unlike other suppliers and is running it through their own marketing channels with photos they edited and didn't have permission to use. They did talk about possibly supporting future events but as they never responded to the original requests and are dragging their heels with the next one, I don't know if I should chance invoicing them (if I get paid, the money would be going back into the group as prizes/support for a future meet.)
