Monday, August 27, 2012

Infringement avoidance

Trolling the Internet for images has become a bit like fishing in shark-infested waters these days. I've always tried to be very careful about what images I use but the recent post by author Roni Loren who was sued for posting images on her blog made me more wary. You can read her cautionary tale here.

I believed the images I found for my book videos were legal, but because I'm not certain, I've deleted all but two from YouTube. As much as I loved the book videos and took such pains in making them, I don't have the resources to fight a legal battle. And I would never consciously share another artist's copyrighted work. So I'm slowly rebuilding them, after searching for copyright-free images, or using my own plus the cover images, as in this new video for Death Is A Bitch:



That was a stunning sunset over the orchards behind my house. It captured the mixture of awe and warning I needed.

My one conundrum is my blog series Casting Call, in which I post photos of the actors I virtually cast in my stories as I write. I'll have to figure out a workaround for that. Just listing their names would be boring, and often I'll find a pic that really embodies the character.

I've been going through old posts and removing graphics, but with more than one thousand posts, it's an ongoing process. Unfortunately, from now on the blog will be less decorative and appear more utilitarian. Guess I'll have to start taking a lot more photos and posting those instead, like this one -- one of my garden peppers that, when I sliced it open, revealed this happy face. A sign from the universe that everything will be all right!