Without knowing it, I was using my curly hair to advertise a Lace Front wig that was also supposed to be Heat Resistant.
As part of my exhibition “Bad Hair Uprooted” which will be on display in Redhook Brooklyn from August 1st, I have commissioned an investigation into photos that are being used without my permission. It is wonderful that we can all enjoy photos of beautiful hairstyles but it is very unfair that it is at the expense of the hard work of photographers. Not only do we not get paid for our hard work and creativity, we do not even get the credit. This is not only disrespectful, it is also against the law.
The first reason to work on this is the worst case of photo theft that I accidentally came across in the Netherlands. In a magazine where I was still considering advertising, I saw no less than 10 of my photos. A magazine that is full of frizzy hair hairstyles simply stolen from the Internet and traded internationally. That is not just unjust, it is criminal.
When I asked the owner for an explanation, he came up with all sorts of excuses that no moron would believe. Finally, he thought of saying that the models in the photos send him the photos themselves and according to him, that is also their right.
First of all, that is not true, even every half-baked amateur photographer knows that and as the owner of a magazine he should certainly know that, but the worst is yet to come. I myself was in three of those photos in the magazine. Photos that I shot of myself as a photographer and in which I am also in as a model. So I know for sure that neither the photographer nor the model sent them to him or gave permission. Of course, the so-called businessman was then also badly exposed.
Eventually he would meet me halfway he said. Of course I had no confidence in this but against my better judgment I gave him the benefit of the doubt. Scammers, I already knew, are not to be trusted and it did not take long before he confirmed this himself. After emailing back and forth there was not even a proposal let alone compensation.
It is simply unbelievable that a magazine full of stolen photos from the internet is sold as if it is nothing. In the meantime, the magazine has changed owners to avoid a lawsuit. The Dutch legal system has failed again here, but that is another story.
Fortunately, there are still people who know how it should be done. From time to time I receive a request from them whether a photo of mine may be used. In almost all cases I do not even charge a price but give permission in exchange for credits with a link to one of my websites.
I am also grateful to those who let me know that my photo is being used on a shady site somewhere and ask if I have given permission for this. The answer has unfortunately always been no.
Because of these experiences I now consciously searched for photos that are used on websites without my permission. Nowadays you can do this very easily by placing your mouse on a photo, clicking the right mouse button and choosing the option: “Search Google for this Image”.
After a small investigation of 110 photos, it turns out that no less than 78 were visible on web pages without credits and without permission. A friendly email was sent to all of these 78 with the request to mention the credits with a link to going-natural.com or to remove the photo from the site.
Of the 78, 43 responded. Most said they didn't know it was a photo from going-natural.com and politely placed a link. About five decided to remove the photo from their site and the rest didn't respond. Fortunately, you can now send a request to Google to remove the photo from their search engine. That has happened with 8 photos, the rest will follow. All in all, quite an undertaking that costs not only time but also money.
Yet I must admit that even this undertaking also brought with it an unprecedented experience of undeniable ironic humor. When I saw the above photo on a site for wigs and weaves as an advertisement I seriously had it. It really couldn't be more ironic and of course I laughed heartily about it.
First of all the fact that the company name is written across my photo as if it were their own original photo to prevent it from being copied just makes the whole thing laughably dubious. So not only are they thieves stealing photos from everywhere with no knowledge of afro hair, but they are clearly scammers when it comes to the hair they are advertising.
The height of irony is really that in this case real afro hair is being advertised as fake synthetic hair to sell wigs and weaves to people with afro hair! Can it get any crazier?
For those who don't know, this was one of my first twist outs with my own hair, my own god-given kinky hair. The photo was taken by photographer Keston Duke in 2005 to illustrate an article about twist outs. Here is a link to the extensive article The Twist Out with the hair milk ; how to do the hairstyle yourself with the Going Natural Hair Products from the WebShop. Or A perfect Twist Out .