Research Post 1: The Five 'W's

            Hello all! My name is Lauren B. Riley. I am a junior at Texas Lutheran University majoring in Communication studies with a focus in journalism. With my degree I plan to work at a publishing company doing photojournalism or writing while my own photography business continues to blossom and grow. As part of a class I am currently enrolled in here at TLU, Social Media and Society, I am going to be doing a research project. Over the course of the next couple of weeks I will be posting my progress here on my blog. How exciting! Coming up with a topic for research was not hard. Obviously photography was going to be my number one interest. (Are y'all tired of me talking about photography yet?... sorry not sorry!). For my research project I would like to cover the topic of copyright/contract violations regarding posting photo content on social media. What is the pull of doing so for clients if they paid to have the photos done a certain way, especially if they love that photographers style. I think it will give me a great outlook and resource into my own business as well as get others to be more involved in the conversation.

            To conduct my research, I plan to ask other photographers that I know directly, their experiences with the matter. I know so often times we get upset and don’t know directly how to handle the situation. And for a lot of photographers out there, getting a lawyer to help create contracts is not so much an option. Let alone trying to keep up with violators. I may also talk with a lawyer to get some insight on what consequences are. I also plan to look up the real laws of copyright and photo content online. What counts as actual stolen content and what does not? I can also use the library resources on government policies. There also lies the issue of what constitutes as a legit business. Some people claim that they are legit without any licensing, such as LLC. or Sole Proprietorship.  

            I am hoping to get a lot of information from primary sources that are available to me through my city, school library, and fellow tog friends on my Facebook. This information will allow me to have a very clear look into the world of social media in regard to what is right and what is wrong. However, I do not expect to have a clear answer to the ethics of those that choose to violate such terms set by photography business. To each their own with reasons. I can only expect to take educated guesses by potentially speaking to violators (I have a few of my own!).

            This project should be fun and informative! I hope to get others really thinking about their decisions when posting photos online. I am concerned about running into the issue that each and every contract between client and photographer are going to vary, especially between businesses. After all, they are custom to fit each business. I am not sure how I could get this information other than asking to see contracts directly, which some togs wish to not share with others. I hope that others will find this project helpful and I hope to maybe keep some people out of trouble! Thank you for coming along this journey with me. It should be exciting!