Editors note: The photo editor of the Post-Gazette contacted me once he started getting angry messages from people. We had a pleasant and productive conversation. He offered his apologies for the incident and we came to an agreement. The photo will be added back to the article with a proper credit and I will be compensated for my work. I was assured that the photo department at the paper had not been consulted by the “writer” of the “article” prior to it being published otherwise this would not have happened.
To those that reached out to the paper on my behalf, thank you. I don't know who did but it does not go unnoticed and is greatly appreciated.
Another local publication used one of my photos without asking or paying me. This time it was the Post-Gazette, which now shares a parent company with the City Paper. Unlike the City Paper debacle from a few months ago, this situation had a much less positive outcome and added insult to grave injury.
The paper posted an article about the passing of one of my best friends. The article was hastily thrown together with factual errors and quotes copy and pasted from Facebook comments. The article wasn't so much written as it was assembled. At the top of this poorly assembled excuse for writing was a picture of my friend that I had taken at the second to last show that he played.
Much like the bulk of the article, the “writer” copied my photo from the internet and pasted it onto the Post-Gazette website. The photo was clearly watermarked and said watermark was apparently ignored. I was not contacted or credited for the photo let alone compensated for my art.
It's bad enough that I'm devastated and incredibly broken from the immense loss that I'm dealing with but now I have to use what little energy I have left to defend myself and my work. Let me tell you, there is nothing like blinding hot rage to clear away the fog of grief and sadness. I have a new chew toy and that chew toy is the longtime hack of a music “writer” at the Post-Gazette.
First of all, had I been contacted about the use of the photo, I clearly would have said, “No fucking way!!!” because I am not a scab. As a former member of the Communications Workers Of America, I would not have crossed their picket line under any circumstances. The last time I was on a picket line fellow union members that worked at the Post-Gazette joined us on the line as a show of support and I would not betray that.
I figured since the photo was already published without my consent I would at least try to be paid for my work. I reached out to the “writer” and asked who I should send an invoice to. He said that he saw the photo in multiple places on the internet and thought he could use it. He thought wrong.
The dipshit failed to realize that the photo may have been popping up elsewhere but he was the only one profiting from its usage. He wasn't at the show and he didn't take the picture and he barely wrote the article but he was still being compensated by his employer for the entire article including the photo. He was effectively stealing my work.
He claimed that no one asked to be paid for photos when he “wrote” obituary type articles before so he never bothered to run anything past the photo editor of the paper. This means he has been stealing the work of photographers for years every time a local musician passed. And this “article” wasn't an obituary. It was clearly behind a paywall unlike the actual obituaries. He also stated that he would have to pay me out of his own pocket because he didn't involve the photo editor which seems like a weird policy and smells like bullshit to me. I'm pretty sure that a publication as large as the Post-Gazette would be able to figure out how to accept an invoice and process a payment to a freelancer.
Somehow he was trying make it seem like it was a great inconvenience to fix his fuck up and that it was my fault that he was bad at all aspects of his job. I sensed that I was getting nowhere fast and made sure that he knew that he fucked up several facts in the article and asked him to pull the photo. And I was surprised that he actually pulled the photo. I was expecting him to not give a shit about stealing my work and leave it up.
The next time I need a cobbled together turd of an article, I'll be sure to steal one of his. I'm sure he wouldn't mind. At least I'd keep his name on it so as to not let everyone think that my brain has melted out of my nose and that I'd sunk to his level of mediocrity. And fuck him twice for making me feel gross for making the loss of my friend about me instead of mourning over the loss of my friend.
Again, I haven't lived a lifetime of shitty office jobs because I love working at shitty office jobs. It's because of motherfuckers like this hack that think it's okay to steal other people's work and then get offended when I suggest I should be paid for it.
