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Natural Exposures Journal

Open Invitation to Photo Industry Players – Metadata Roundtable at PhotoPlus Expo 2013

By Daniel J. Cox ·

Open Invitation to Photo Industry Players – Metadata Roundtable at PhotoPlus Expo 2013

I’m currently working with ASMP on a program to highlight the issues of Contact Information, known as Metadata, being stripped from our photographs when uploaded across the web.  We’re planning to have a roundtable-like discussion this fall at PhotoPlus Expo 2013 in New York City. I’m interested in contacts representing any of the major players within the industry such as Apple, Adobe, Google, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest or others. Help me think of additional players.

A wildfire burns through the tundra and boreal forest in an area known for polar bear denning sties near the Deer River south of Churchill, Manitoba.

Like wildfire spreading across the web, photographers contact information, known as Metadata, is being destroyed as you upload your photos to some of the world’s most popular social media sites as well as the world’s largest news organizations including Thompson/Reuters. Help retain YOUR rights to YOUR photos. You own them and should be able to keep your contact information in place.

This all was a result of the issue I had with Thompson/ Reuters news agency last summer. You can read about that here. If any of you know the appropriate people, have suggestions, or are the folks we need input from, please send me that information. I’m hopeful through social networking we can make this happen. Our goal is not to litigate but to educate. We all need to work on this together to get it done. Please help.

PS – The uploading of the image above to MY WordPress Blog stripped all contact info/metadata from this image. I’m now trying to figure out why. All photos I’ve been uploading to my blog for the past several years apparently were being stripped of all the information I’ve been screaming about. This is how pervasive this problem is. Even in my frustrated state of bouncing off the ceiling the web is giving me the shaft. I had never checked my images uploaded to the blog. They are all missing the contact info/metadata that I always embedded in them. This is crazy!