Making This Blog Legit (And a Little Design Contest)

I LOVE this birth picture, donated by one of my readers.  Do you remember that moment in labor?  That "prayer" moment?  Love it

Hey ladies (and gents, if there are any)-
So, I have seen a few articles lately about the legality of using pictures on a blog.

I have a confession.  I am not good with computers.  I don't know how stuff works.  I am also bad with cameras.  My kids will someday ask for proof that I raised them and I will be like, "Uhhhhh....do you need a picture or something because I don't have any....".

Anyway, when I started blogging I really just wrote stuff that I couldn't cover in my natural birth classes or just to rant and rave without actually offending people who knew me in real life.  Eventually OTHER people started reading and somewhere along the line I realized I needed to add pictures to the blog.

I used a free pic site for a while at first.  Then they changed it.  I was told you can just pull stuff from the Internet.  I honestly don't even know if that is cool or not but I THOUGHT it was for a long time and used pictures that I just found on google searches.  I use LOTS of pictures from my Facebook peeps.  (THANK YOU if you have shared a picture of your birth or your baby or your life with me!)

But lately I have read that it is illegal to pull pictures off the web.  I don't think there are TONS of pic's like that on this blog but KNOW that I have used some.  I apologize if that was illegal or wrong and I will be slowly pulling them off.  I blog briefly at night when my kids are snoozing so it will take me time.  I don't have hours of time to devote to this but it seems like the right thing to do.

Anyway- that is me trying to be more legit and honest.  I didn't know I was being dishonest and I hope you can honestly forgive me.

Also!

I need a picture for my blog logo!  I love the Venus picture that I have up above (brown, curvy, that one)  but I sure as heck didn't take it and I don't I can keep using it without burning in hell or something so.....

If you would like to design a picture for this here little blog and submit it to me, I would be EVER so thrilled.

You don't have to, because let's be real, I can't pay you.  I can however tell people you are awesome, and I will do that.

I would love to have it keep honoring the beauty of the Venus, which to me represents the curves of pregnancy and the way it changes our bodies forever and how much we should cherish that (without being really graphic).  But let's be real- beggars can't be choosers!

So- if you would like to take the time to design something for me and give me permission to use it forever in exchange for some link love on my blog I would greatly appreciate it.  If anybody submits anything I will share the top few on Facebook, get some feedback, and have a big announcement!

You can send me your stuff at mamabirth09 (at) yahoo (dot) com

Also- if you would like to just share your pictures (don't have to be professional) with me for use on this blog OR for use on my mothering.com blogs I would LOVE IT.  They can be pictures of anything- family, birth, breastfeeding, children or even just flowers or tables or a kitchen or a bird or ANYTHING.  I need pictures that I can legally use.  If you want to watermark them that would be GREAT.

Though I do blog about my experiences as a mother, this blog isn't nor will it ever be a photographic chronicle of my kids because I just am not comfortable with that for ME (but I think it is awesome other people do that.  I love those blogs.)  So anyway, I won't ever just produce my own pictures and I do need your help and generosity with that.

Thank you-

Sarah

Comments

Chloe grice said…
It's great that you're addressing this in your blog: the whole copyright thang is such a difficult issue online, particularly with Pinterest, but I think as long as each of us makes a conscious effort to acknowledge authorship, that will go a long way to easing the problem.

My feeling is that personally, I don't give two hoots if someone copies a photo from my blog of something I've made, but I'd be less comfortable if it was a photo of my kids... however, anyone who puts stuff out there in what is effectively public space, should accept the consequences of doing so.
Briar said…
There are some really fabulous additions to the Wordpress API that allow you to search public use photos that you can use without copyright problems. But since you're on blogger, I'd recommend just using Flickr directly. http://www.flickr.com/commons There are a few different search options, depending on whether or not you make any money off this blog, but I've always had the best luck with Flickr.

Personally, I think it's foolish to think anything you put on the internet can ever really be OWNED or copyrighted, but that's just me. Good for you for trying to clean up your standards.
melissa v. said…
I'm just coming to an awareness of this, too. There's been lots of loud shouting on the interwebs about this lately and I have a birth site, too, that I frequently copy and paste images and link back, thinking I'm being integral. Apparently not? I can see copyright law for entire posts or new ideas, and peoples' comfort with photos and that~ I kind of thought it was ethical as long as you linked back, but these days I see this is not the case.

I think people are overreacting, but I'll also acknowledge that the internet is a rapidly evolving entity and the rules are developing along with it. So, I have to go back and slog through my blog posts, too. Sigh. MANY of my images are from mommas who donated them with permission, like yours. But the odd one is not.

There are also free stock photo or common photo sites that you can use images from? I'll see if I can find links.

http://foter.com/
http://www.blueglass.com/blog/a-pictures-worth-1000-link-how-to-find-and-cite-images-for-content/
http://search.creativecommons.org/
http://www.flickr.com/creativecommons/
http://www.everystockphoto.com/
http://www.kozzi.com/
http://sxc.hu/

That's a good start, I think. I'm learning... =)
Mama Birth said…
I have mostly used free sites- I use morgue file a lot- and when I have used google images I link back- but I am sure there are a few I haven't linked too. I do tend to think there is an overreaction here too. I have seen people pull my posts and use them on their websites- sometimes almost the entire post- but that is OK because they link back? All those words drive traffic and would normally cost to get. I don't know. I don't want to tick anybody off. I don't want to get my butt sued. It seems like the rules are constantly changing too. Don't know what to think.
Anonymous said…
I don't think this is a case of where the rules have been changing so much as the awareness of the rules has changed.
Unknown said…
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