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10/06/2004 08:41:06 PM · #1 |
I've seen a lot of scams discussed. I received this today, and it looks pretty shady, so I doubt I'll respond. Since they had to find my photo on DPC, I wondered if anybody received this.
E-mail below:
Dear Chris Beller,
I am in the process of compiling a manuscript for publication. The book (When the Mountains Seem Too High) will be an inspirational, gift book comprised of quotations interspersed with photographs. Each photograph will have a quotation beneath, above, or across it. In other words, the photographs will relate to particular quotations. As I am in the beginning stages of this project, and have not secured a commitment from anyone to publish the book, I am not certain about anything at this time. However, my concept as it stands now will use one photograph per 8-10 quotations. There will be far more quotations than photographs, perhaps 30-40 photographs for 300-400 quotations.
I discovered one of your photographs I would like to use to illustrate a quotation. The photograph is Daaaad! I am not a photographer, but I assume this photograph is of publishable quality? Is that correct?
At this point in the process, I am ready to have a graphic artist create a few sample pages for me to submit to either an agent or a publishing house. Since I know this photograph is one I want to use, I am asking if you would consider sending me a copy of this photograph electronically so that I can have her create the sample pages. I would also need your permission for her to reproduce the image on the copies she will be making for me. Would that be possible? I can create a release of copyright form and send you a copy or you can use a form you may already have. I will also need a copyright release form for the printing company who will make copies for me to send to various agents/publishing houses (probably 8 copies) since I will submit this book concept simultaneously to several companies.
Although I cannot promise compensation, I would hope you would consider publication of one of your photographs in a nationally distributed book to be worthwhile and perhaps potentially profitable as it would expose others to your work. All the photographs would, of course, be credited.
I can keep you abreast of how the process is coming along if you desire.
Any consideration you can give me in this matter will be greatly appreciated.
Sincerely,
Zoë Melvin
Message edited by author 2004-10-06 20:41:26.
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10/06/2004 08:55:34 PM · #2 |
| Sounds to me like the scam is to get your photograph for free, for his/her for-profit publication! Ask him/her if it would be ok for you to reproduce his poems in a book of photographs you will be publishing. No compensation, of course. ;-) |
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10/06/2004 08:57:58 PM · #3 |
My way of thinking:
If you can't meet someone who's publishing a book in person, there has to be a very good reason since it's that person who will end up making a lot of money. |
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10/06/2004 09:00:08 PM · #4 |
| I'd ask what (and in what form) I would be paid for the photo if the project goes forward. |
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10/06/2004 09:04:39 PM · #5 |
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10/06/2004 09:17:55 PM · #6 |
do you have anything to loose? but that one photo... unless it means a lot to you, there shouldnt be a problem.
can you post the photo?
(yes, in reduced quality =) )
Message edited by author 2004-10-06 21:18:26. |
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10/06/2004 09:21:28 PM · #7 |
It doesn't seem like a scam at first glance to me, but what do I know? I do agree with the sentiments above though, that you're risking making your work available to them with no promise of compensation. If you're tempted and want to take the time, I'd: 1) supply a copy that is either low resolution, or has a prominant watermark or copyright notice; 2) make sure any "release of copyright form" you sign only gives the person the right to create the 8 copies for pitching the book idea, and leaves you with full ownership.
But I don't really have any experience with this, so maybe the published among us will have better advice. |
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10/06/2004 09:24:07 PM · #8 |
Originally posted by peete:
do you have anything to loose? but that one photo... unless it means a lot to you, there shouldnt be a problem.
can you post the photo?
(yes, in reduced quality =) ) |
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10/06/2004 09:24:35 PM · #9 |
Doesn't look like a scam to me. See what you can find out. Post the next email correspondence. :)
M
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10/06/2004 09:40:31 PM · #10 |
Thanks for linking the photo in mavrik.
I wasn't even going to respond to the e-mail, but I guess I'm a little curious now. I suppose I should do a little investigation on behalf of all DPCers, to verify if this is a fraud or not. :)
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10/06/2004 09:45:52 PM · #11 |
I don't see why something like this would be considered a scam. They aren't asking for any of your money. They seem to have told you quite a bit about their project and have selected one of your photographs by name. They even offer you the option of writing up your own agreement. I get the feeling that it is a project that may never see fruition, but if it does it might be a pretty cool opportunity. I would definetely respond to the email if I was you.
Message edited by author 2004-10-06 21:46:47. |
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10/07/2004 11:46:58 PM · #12 |
I have recieved the same email considering
Will have to look into this a little further and contact them. Definitely can do a low resolution for the pitch. And then see what happens. Considering if it is published, they WOULD make money, and have to work that out. And NShapiro, that is a good idea.
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10/11/2004 09:12:02 PM · #13 |
Hi there,
Because of my website (proofpositive.com), I look at dozens of new scams a week. This actually looks legit to me.
Like others have said, s/he isn't asking for money ... which is the first filter I go though on scams.
And ... it also says, s/he hasn't even approached publishers yet. The chances of this ever getting published are 1 to 250,000+.
Keep your copywrite. Get the photo published. It is good exposure for YOU.
The author of a book like this will rarely ever makes gobs of money (unless they are a GREAT promoter) ... so personally, I wouldn't expect or ask for any.
Melanie
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10/16/2004 04:17:41 AM · #14 |
I sent off an email for more nfo on this and the "copyright release." I said something more like a Permission of Use sounds more like what they are looking for.
Anyone else with more info?
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11/13/2004 06:43:10 PM · #15 |
I received this e-mail from the lady that originally requested use of my photo. At her request, I am posting the entire e-mail she just sent me. It sounds as though this is an honest request.
Happy reading...
November 13, 2004
Mr. Beller,
I contacted you last month regarding using this photo in a book I am submitting for publication. As I had not heard from you (or several others I had contacted), I returned to the DP Challenge website to try to find other photos I could possibly use. To my horror, I discovered that I was being discussed in one of the open forums!
And, yes, I did contact several members who had submitted to the DP Challenges. A graphic artist informed me I needed good quality photographs, so not being a photographer, I went to where I knew good photographers displayed their work. Once I located some photographs I knew I wanted to use, I contacted those photographers. You were one of about ten I contacted.
I am a 49 year old housewife, mother, sometimes writer, and former English teacher. I have been married to the same man for 28 years. He is a doctor of pharmacy and works for a nationally recognized company. I have never been arrested, nor suspected of any crime (to my knowledge) until now. Although I do admit to speeding occasionally, I have never received a speeding ticket nor a traffic violation. I did receive one parking ticket while moving my daughter from her college dorm room one year, but it was forgiven once I appealed the ticket. For 49 years I have remained a relatively private person and never expected to see my integrity questioned on a world-wide forum such as the internet.
I do not know how to prove that I have contacted you and the others with a legitimate offer. What can I offer you to prove that I am not trying to steal your photograph? I really cannot think of a way to prove that I am who and what I say I am. Can you? If so, please let me know.
Well, now it occurs to me I can provide you with my church's phone number and allow you to call them if you do want to discover what kind of person I am. For the past 19 years I have attended two services a week at a non-demoninational church in Panama City, Florida. The name of the church is The Rock. The phone number is 850-785-7625. The church secretary or any of the pastors will readily vouch for me and my integrity. Their web site is: therockofpanamacity.org. Their email address is : apostle@therockofpanamacity.org
Nevertheless, I still want to use Daaaad!! in the book I am putting together. As others have noted, I have no guarantees about having this book published. That is the prime reason I cannot pay for 40 photographs. I, perhaps naively, thought you as a photographer would benefit from possibly exposing others to your work. I have self-published in the past, but that is not the route I want to go this time as it would be prohibitively expensive to publish a book with color photos. I also wanted to submit photographs I had picked out because if a publisher picked the photographs, the finished product might not resemble what I had envisioned originally. And, yes, there is a possibility that even if the publisher does agree to publish the book, the publisher still might want to choose the photographs, not use the ones I submitted. However, seeing the photographs I submitted might induce them to use some, if not all, of the photographs I would like to see in the book.
Regarding the copyright release form, I never intended you to give up all rights to your photograph. Had I taken that photo of my son (I think it was your son, right?), I would not sign away all rights to it. I thought I was relatively clear in stating that I was asking for a release to send to the publisher or agent showing them that you had given me the right to indeed send them a copy of the photo as well as given them the right to publish it in the book I was proposing. I don't care what you call the form--copyright release or permission to use, or if you use the one I have composed or your own. I understand your desire to be reimbursed for your work--work I, myself, deem valuable--but I believe I will stand a better chance of getting a publisher/agent to buy into my book, if I sumbit photos that they will not have to pay releases on. To that end, I am seeking photos from photographers who are not requiring payment for publication. That is as simple as I can make it.
Is it fair to you? I certainly hope so. If I am successful at getting the book published, your work would be seen by thousands of people who may never have been exposed to it otherwise. If you sell one photograph from having your photograph included in the book, you will have profited. If you do not sell even one photograph, you will have lost nothing. Certainly, you could benefit from releasing the news of your photograph having been published in the book to you local newspaper, radio station, etc. Many in your local area who were not familiar with your work could hear of it from that avenue. I see many ways you could benefit from giving me permission to use your photograph in my book, but if you are not in agreement, I will understand.
I would request since you posted the entire contents of my previous letter on the internet that you do likewise with this letter so that any who have questions about my integrity may follow up as they see fit.
For any other interested photographers, I am still looking for photographs . . .
Those who wish may contact me at:
Zoë Melvin
PO Box 983
Lynn Haven, FL 32444
Sincerely,
Zoë Melvin
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11/13/2004 06:48:08 PM · #16 |
I gave Zoe permission to use one of my photos a little over a month ago when this came up. Put out a standard Permission for Use and sent her a file in good enough resolution to do pre Press work, etc. And I WILL send her a full resolution when she is ready and when/if this goes forward.
Good Luck Zoe!!
And it will get one of my shots in PRINT for the 3rd time! WooHoo!
Message edited by author 2004-11-13 18:49:05.
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11/13/2004 06:55:57 PM · #17 |
I am Zoe Melvin. I am responding to the thread posted by cbeller last month about what he perceived as a possible scam I was conducting. I have responded to Mr. Beller as well as everyone who replied to the thread he originated. Since Mr. Beller posted the contents of my first letter on the website, I have requested that he kindly do me the favor of posting the contents of my last letter to him on the website as well. Contained therein is the only way I can think of to verify my integrity. I am not certain how one does that anyway. The only way I could think of was to supply him with my pastor's phone number, website, and email address. If he wishes to, he may verify my integrity through contacting a man of the highest integrity, a man I have known and loved for 19 years, and a man who knows all the good things about me, and, yes, all the bad as well.
I ask all of you who read Mr. Beller's thread to kindly read my last letter to him dated 11-13-04 or contact me directly if you have further questions or concerns. (I will give Mr. Beller until Monday, November 15 to post my letter or I will do so. I understand he may be out of town and may not have received my final letter as yet, but as I have just discovered to my horror that my integrity and intentions have been bandied around on the internet, I am anxious to have my response made public.) I highly value the reputation my name has in the earth (my integrity) and do not take lightly attacks against my name.
And, yes, I am still looking for photographs to submit for publication with my book, so I will be contacting other DP Challenge members.
Zoe Melvin |
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11/13/2004 07:01:01 PM · #18 |
any of my photos good enough ?
im betting not, but yeh worth a try :p
Message edited by author 2004-11-13 19:01:26.
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11/13/2004 07:19:17 PM · #19 |
If I have anything you want to use, let me know.
M
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11/13/2004 07:25:20 PM · #20 |
how bout you post some quotations and we will submit or / take
(incase of me) a photo which we think would fit it
then you can tell us
yes
no
saves you all that time and energy of searching for the pictures
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11/13/2004 07:26:00 PM · #21 |
| If they just are asking for your fullsize picture for the 'sample print' then there should be no reason you can't put a watermark on it if it's just to get the structure down. Then when it's said and done, if they like it and contact you for the fullsize copy without the watermark, tell them you want paid and see what happens. That doesn't sound unreasonable at all to me. |
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11/13/2004 07:43:53 PM · #22 |
I've responded to Zoe, and believe her to be an honest person. I want to publicly apologize to her if she was offended by my orginal post.
With the number of scams going through e-mail these days, it is hard not to be skeptical. That was the reason for my original post.
I do wish Zoe the best of luck with her project, and if she still wants to use my photo, that is great.
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11/13/2004 07:47:53 PM · #23 |
Zoe
CBeller had already posted the second email you sent him before you made your post above.
I get the impression you may be taking his question about whether or not the first email might be a scam much more personally than it was intended. Don't get me wrong, I can understand why you would do so, but just want to say a few words.
I truly don't know how internet savvy you are so please don't think I'm trying to condescend when I tell you that, unfortunately, there really are an awful lot of very clever scammers out there that arrive via personal and friendly email letters. It can be very difficult sometimes to let ourselves trust our own instincts on whether something is legit or not. One bitten twice shy... And it certainly wouldn't be beyond the realms of likelihood for a similar message to be sent by someone looking for ways of getting free access to high resolution images. Personally I doubt this would happen often as many stock photography sites now specialise in low cost images but one never knows.
I do think it would have been much more considerate for CBeller to have stripped your name out of the message before quoting it since there was every chance it was legitimate, but too late for that now.
I doubt I have any images suitable for your publication (though you're welcome to look through my portfolio on DPC and in DPC Prints) but would like to wish you luck with your project.
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11/13/2004 08:44:04 PM · #24 |
Yes, I see that Mr. Beller had responded to the thread before I had posted my response. However, as I was busy typing, I did not see that. My apologies.
And, no, I am not computer/internet savvy, and yes, I do understand that there are a lot of people out there who purport to be what they are not and are just trying to steal your money or your identity or anything they can that might be of use. However, I thought in my email to Mr. Beller that I had conveyed a great deal of information and would have supplied much more had I know he had questions or concerns.
I do accept Mr. Beller's apology, although I am certain now that I have had opportunity to correspond with him that indeed he did not intend to question my integrity; he was just trying to protect himself. And I do still wish to use Daaaad!! in the book. It was on my Desperately-Want-To-Use-This-Photo list.
For all of you who are interested, I am looking for good quality photographs (B&W or color) that convey the following moods or topics:
Triumph
Winning
Impossible tasks
Impossible feats
Struggle
Achievement
Reaching for the stars
Going into the unknown
Accomplishing the impossible
Doing what no one else has done
Facing your fears
Defeat
Dreams/Dreaming/Dreaming big
Faith
Possibilities
Desolation
Walking on in spite of hardship
Climbing your own personal mountains (different for all of us)
Discovering how to get around walls life throws up at us
Courage
Overcoming obstacles
Getting up when you've been knocked down
Taking the first step of a long journey, or just taking your first step
Going where no one has gone before
I don't know if the following qualities will mean anything to anyone but me, but I am also looking for:
ethereal photographs
mystical photographs (but not conveying mysticism; yeah, I know that is confusing)
A couple of individual photos I am looking for are:
1. An oak tree out in the middle of a field by itself
I don't want the oak to be in a forest, and I want it to have quite a bit of age on it, not be a weak sapling.
2. Two people walking in rain, struggling against nature
3. A colorful photo of a DNA strand(s)
Then, I am also looking for a photo that would illustrate the following quotations:
"Risk more than others think is safe.
Care more than others think is wise.
Dream more than others think is practical.
Expect more than others think is possible." (West Point maxim)
"Ain't no man can avoid being born average, but ain't no man got to be common." (Satchel Paige)
I would LOVE a picture of someone with Down's Syndrome or some people of African descent, but not necessarily appear ethnic. I would also like some vintage photos but do not know where to locate any or how to judge their quality.
If any of you are interested in checking to see if you have anything that would possibly fit these moods or topics, I would gladly review them.
And if I can answer any questions, please email me at:
come4tea@knology.net
Zoe Melvin (with 2 dots over the e!) :)
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11/13/2004 09:15:07 PM · #25 |
Good luck with the book Zoe and don't take it personally if people are protective of their work. It's only because they're passionate about what they do.
In the end the majority of the work involved in producing the book will come from you so I'm inclined to agree that having a photo published will be payment enough for most amateur photographers. Furthermore it's clear that you are sincere and I believe you have won round the opinions of most of the people here.
Regards,
John |
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