Ellen101 Loc: Manhattan NY ..now Spring Hill, Fl

Listen to this:

A few days ago I went over to my son's house to take shots of his three children. My plan was to crop them then get them printed, matted and framed then give to my son for father's day.

I went to our local Staples...they did a terrible job. After asking around we went to Wal-Mart photo center. I had the photos printed. The sales associate at the photo center told me I could not buy them. Why?
Because the pictures were not my photos but those of a professional photographer who had a copywrite.

I told her they were mine! I took them. She called the manager. He says the same thing. They both said the photos were taken by a pro. they were too good. The eyes were too clear.

HUH? I took them with my Nikon!
They did not believe me at first.
I did not look like a pro... the photos were too good.
( what does a pro photographer look like ????????? )
My husband and I were in stitches laughing.
They were not allowing me to buy them. They kept the prints behind the counter.

I insisted they call the Store manager. Even he had a hard time believing that I had taken those shots.

Finally after 1/2 hour I was pissed and took their names.
The dispute was only settled after I went to get my camera and show them the photos in the camera.

They told me I could never get a photo printed if I put my name on the picture. HUH?

I was annoyed but felt a little complimented that they thought they were too good to be mine.

traveler90712 Loc: Lake Worth, Fl.

They are afraid of copyright infringement. I believe in the past they had a suit against them and lost.

boberic Loc: Quiet Corner, Connecticut. Ex long Islander

Why not buy a printer and print them yourself ?

CharlesA Loc: New Jersey

Ellen,

I do not doubt your photos were very good, but I think those people were pulling a standard "prank" on you. And, yes, anyone who was in on the joke should be reported right to corporate headquarters at Benton, Arkansas.

The reason I am sure of this is that the same exact thing happened to my niece at another Wal*Mart several years ago. I think this is an inside joke for their employees and it really sucks to "play" with people like that. I'd report these people ASAP, start with the manager then go to Benton.

A clerk in ANY retail establishment should NOT be allowed to comment on your photos or anything else you are buying - PERIOD. This was YOUR property they were "conviscating" on behalf of Wal*Mart and it's not in the store's interest to do so, it's probably spelled out in no uncertain terms in employee orientation. This is a slimy retail NO-NO and management should be made aware of it.

Charles

bparr1 Loc: Carthage, TN

Interesting story. I would have been PO'd as well. I do, however, have something for your consideration. Consider investing in a HP Photosmart 7520. According to PC Pitstop, it's one of the best printers for under $200. Supposedly, if you use HP's premium paper and their ink, the photo will last 100 years.

http://techtalk.pcpitstop.com/2014/06/12/best-one-printer-200/?techlicious-under$200=

CharlesA Loc: New Jersey

That's all well and good, but you're saying it's up to the idiot behind the counter to determine this? So if I brought in a panorama of the New York City skyline that I took and the clerk says I can't print this or give you the file back because I saw it in a photography magazine, that would be OK with you?

As I said in my other post, this is a Wal*Mart employee inside joke that seems to be wide-spread.

Copyrighting photos has become somewhat of a joke over the past few years, anything you can find on the internet can be snipped and posted in a gallery and printed and sold. Only the very highest-paid photographers can afford to hire lawyers to pursue infringement. I am NOT encouraging this type of theft, I'm just pointing out that it is next to impossible to stop it.

Here's another scenario for you all - what if I see an image I'd like to purchase and print and frame. I pay let's say $50 and the photographer sends me the digital high-rez file. I now own this photo and have the full rights to print it which is why I bought it. I go down to Wal*Mart and the fellow looks at the copyright and the watermark and says it's not mine and tells me to scram.

You can't expect an employee in this type of establishment to be the judge, jury and executioner for determining legality of ownership.

Charles

Morning Star Loc: West coast, North of the 49th N.

I had a similar experience at Kinko's when I asked to have a page from a book I am the author of, photocopied for a class I was giving.
Their story: 'You need written permission from the author.'
So I grabbed a scrap of paper from the counter, asked for the clerk's pen, and wrote out a permission slip from me to me....
That kind of got him upset, till I slapped my driver's license on the counter and asked how much more ID he wanted...
He accepted that I was the copyright owner, made my photocopies and apologized.

I try to look on the positive side: Be glad that there are people looking out for you, wish there were more of them.

I have found that having my name embedded in the exif, also helped to prove ownership of a particular photo, even though we all know that exif can be altered.

warrior Loc: Paso Robles CA

:thumbup: :thumbup: :thumbup: Canon Pro 9000 Mark II

traveler90712 Loc: Lake Worth, Fl.

The employee was most likely following what he/she had written in employee training or day to day written guidelines. What he/she should have done as soon as he/she had a doubt was to call the store manager. The best way around it, is to print your own.

CharlesA Loc: New Jersey

I agree and disagree with you.

Absolutely buy a printer or use a professional printing service like Whitehouse or MPIX.

Where I disagree with you is that the pranksters told her they were not her photos by looking at them, NOT by viewing their copyrights or watermarks or EXIF. They actually had the b@lls to tell her the quality was too good to be hers, they must be stolen from a professional.

You're saying then that Wal*Mart teaches their "photo developers" to look at the images and if they look too professional, do NOT print them and confiscate the DVD they are on????? I find that a wee bit hard to believe, I'd really like to see the human resource training manual where that is spelled out.

Nothing but a prank - they should be fired right on the spot along with the zero-IQ manager, IMHO.

Charles

SharpShooter Loc: NorCal

Ellen, congrats on an obviously fine job!!
Hey, imagine if you had shot them with a Canon? You would not have gotten them out of there, even with the proof!! Hey, just kidding.
Again congrats.
I wonder why I never have that problem??!! Don't answer that! :lol:
SS

Jay Pat Loc: Round Rock, Texas, USA

Have some inexpensive photography business cards made up.
Next time, just say, "Well, thank you for the kind,compliment!"
Hand them your business card.
That's how I handle it. No problems.
Pat
Snap Shot Guy

CaptainC Loc: Colorado, south of Denver

Sorry Charles - that is simply not correct. While I am no fan of Walmart, they are doing what they should be doing and that is protecting the photographers copyright.

I worked in a camera store for a while and people were always scanning professional work and bringing it in to have printed. I agree it is a pain to prove the work is yours, but getting hit with an infringement suit for hundreds of thousands is not a small thing.

I had a client with a similar issue with Costco. I had done some charity work for her and rather than go to the trouble of printing a bunch of 4x6 prints, I sent them to Costco to pick up. I sent her a release letter, but she forgot it and they would not release the images until she produced the letter. Just what they are supposed to do - and there was no watermark on the images - just the type of work they saw.

CharlesA Loc: New Jersey

Capt.,

I understand what you are saying, but do you honestly expect the average Wal*Mart worker behind the counter to have the "photographic" knowledge to make these kinds of determinations? And I really doubt they are given any type of training as to how to distinguish between an amateur photo and a professional photo - if that's even possible! If I am wrong about this, please correct me and I will change my views. FWIW, I've seen plenty of images by professionals that are pure crap and have also seen marvelous images by amateurs posted on pbase, Zenfolio, etc. How in the world can Wal*Mart tell these people - "If it's too good of a photograph, don't print it and call the manager." Isn't this can-o-worms full of subjective opinions about photography, IOW, what is the difference between pro and amateur and WHO is qualified to judge?

I use Whitehouse Color Lab for all of my printing so, yes, I am out of the loop regarding Wal*Mart. But, again, say I took a family trip to Yosemite and brought back hundreds of images. I then run a batch-process to turn them into B&W maybe using a pre-filter like Topaz. So I'll go into Wal*Mart and the guy at the photo-zone tells me - NOPE, you can't print these, they belong to Ansel Adams.

The whole thing strikes me as ludicrous. If they sent their employees to school for 6 months to learn about the business and what to look for and then certified them, I'd say, fine and dandy. But you're dealing with close to minimum-wage workers, a majority of whom probably don't have high school diplomas - and these are the people making a decision that my pix of Yosemite are not mine. Really!

Charles

Jay Pat Loc: Round Rock, Texas, USA

I agree with CaptainC.
I've seen it happen in my area over weddings and portraits.
I've had to write releases and go get a business card from the car (and show id).
I have not heard of it with landscape images.
It's the retail stores management and their guidelines for the employees....As crazy as it sounds.
Just explaining what has happened and what it took to resolve it.
Pat