PHOTO CREDITS NO ONE WILL SEE AND COMPLIMENTARY COPIES OF MAGAZINES ARE NOW GIVEN DAILY TO EVERYONE IN THE WORLD, ENDING HUNGER AND POVERTY EVERYWHERE

"The freedom to think, to create, to imagine greater possibilities exists only if we provide for the creators a life that affords them the scope needed to exercise these vital powers. Ultimately, we are talking not only of the livelihood of the creators but of the quality of life of those around them and perhaps all humankind. Must we now trespass on these fields and steal the rice, or ask for free rice?"

That was the gist of a petition signed by an international network of roughly 1000 photographers, journalists, filmmakers, documentary makers, visual artists, and writers, on lightstalkers.org regarding the Orphan Works bill. I changed a couple of words to match up with my location in Cambodia, but you probably catch my drift. These thoughts were authored by Jon Anderson, a terrific photographer and writer who lives with his family in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. No fooling!

Below is a short list of entities that are missing one of life's realities; we all need to eat. The one thing all these people have in common is that they failed to list the term "photography" in their line item budgets when planning their various projects. Some have asked me for "free" photos while others have violated agreements. Astonishingly, some have gone so far as to "use" my photographs for their own benefit while I was looking the other way, hoping perhaps I would get an "ego boost" if I stumbled across them by accident (I don't). Several of them have been asked to advocate for my Ban Bumlao, Laos, Primary School Book Project (which costs NOTHING) but none have responded, completely oblivious to the spirit of reciprocity.

Most of these people or the companies they represent are located in the USA, Australia, or Europe.

What is going on here? I do not care about photo credits no one will see or complimentary copies of magazines because the impoverished Cambodian people whom I buy food from each day cannot use photo credits to buy more food to cook the next day. No fooling! All of their rice vendors require they pay for rice in cash and this system trickles down to me. Those who profess they want to "make a difference" should certainly understand this fact.

One person on the list represented a company whose annual revenue exceeds $500 million USD. The man who runs the company, Kenneth Cole, is a fellow who stated in an interview with Lauren La Rose of The Canadian Press in 2007, "So you've got to figure out how you can make a difference, and invariably, it requires bringing as many of your resources to bear on a specific initiative at a given time. There's two masters that have to be served: one's paying the bills, and the other is inspiring each other". So my question to his company's representative who wanted "free photos" is: Do you want impoverished Cambodian food sellers to have enough cash to pay their rice vendors each day? If not, WHY NOT?

Another "firm" on the list has refurbished homes for people such as former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and actor Sean Connery among others.

Here is an excerpt from their email, " I was hoping to use your photos…..we're trying to develop property here and want to promote Chiang Mai (Thailand)…..thanks (we can't pay anything)".

The firm builds luxury homes and hotels…..do they do this free for the likes of the Barclay Brothers and Chris Evans? How do they stay in business??? Who gives them free wood and glass? In addition, get me one of those "free" internet connections! No fooling!

Luckily, the good folks who "get it" outnumber those who don't and most are a pleasure to be involved with, although some like you to beg for the money that they owe you. Anyway my fellow photographers, here is a partial listing of deadbeat entities and/or individuals who DO NOT respect what we do and are unwilling to compensate contributors. Paying photographers is a principled way to conduct oneself as oftentimes it isn't the number of dollars offered or paid, but rather, the respect the person doing the asking displays to us in the first place. Quite frankly, I find one request for a free photo insults us all. No fooling!



*Action to End Exploitation
www.endexploitation.org
George Reed, Director
Tien Ho, Director of Foreign Projects

*Should be named
Action to End Exploitation of EVERYBODY EXCEPT PHOTOGRAPHERS

Alison Thompson
www.peraliya.com
www.communitytsunamiwarning.com

Arcadia Love
Australia
The M.A.D. (Make a Difference) Project.
www.themadproject.com

"Carmen Siu, USA

Debra St Amand St Thomas
http://weakforcecontact.com

Dr. Stephen Gardner, Baan Safe
www.baansafe.org
(Photo theft x 7)
Dr. Stephen Gardner also owns
Paradise TEFL www.paradisetefl.com
Located in Pai, Thailand

Foxspeed.com

Golfinvestors.com

Golf Week Argentina

http://singapore.about.com
A part of a very large for-profit website (www.about.com)

ilovekrabi.com
A for-profit website violating my copyright by showing my photos (cropped and altered) without permission or compensation (Photo theft x 2)

Jerry Varney, Founder,
www.justonechild.org
Hinsdale, Illinois, USA

Jessie Schwartz, freelance photo editor and researcher
Kenneth Cole blog

Kristy Mosher, graphic designer
Regent University, Virginia Beach, VA, USA

Les Pipoles
http://www.lespipoles.com
A for-profit website violating my copyright by showing my photo without permission or compensation (Photo theft). The model this site is using is aggregation of a lot of photo content used as the basis for a site which has a for-profit objective. (Note several ads on the home page).

Michael Mertens, Luxemberg

Morgan Fitzgibbons, website developer, USA

Mustafa Bhagat, Flicker Filmworks, NY, USA
http://www.flickerfilmworks.com

PrimeTime Promo
(Photo theft)
Hacked low rez files from authorized website turned into "sports cards" and sold on Ebay, some for nearly $300 USD each.

Ryan Chapman "hunger relief representative"
USA

Tiffany Tong
Princeton, NJ, USA
http://www.princeton.edu/~ttong/Temporary/Karachi/index.html

John Fischer, Editor
http://gohawaii.about.com
A very large for-profit website (www.about.com) violating my copyright by showing my photo without permission or compensation (Photo theft)

Todd Jones, Operations Manager
Concept Project Realisation (CPR) Inc.
Chiang Mai, Thailand
www.cprthailand.com
Luxury residential and hotel development company
(Have been involved in the refurbishment of homes belonging to many famous personalities, including Dame Margaret Thatcher, Sean Connery, the Barclay Brothers and Chris Evans).

Wayne Patterson
New Seasons Christian Centre and TRANSFORM CAMBODIA
www.transformcambodia.com

KEYWORDS: Theft, Stealing, Copyright, Infringement, Free, Photography, Photojournalism, Photos, Photo, Industry, Crime, Fair, Use, Fair Trade,

John Brown Photojournalist On LIGHTSTALKERS

My Mondo Library Photography

My Photoshelter Photography Archive Homepage

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My Second Story Posted At Gaia Photos

My Second Story Posted At Gaia-Photos.com

As you may know I posted a story on Gaia-Photos.com awhile back regarding the Stung Meanchey Landfill in Phnom Penh, Cambodia so this new story is a little different as it deals with the National Rehabilitation Center in Vientiane, Laos. We have over 30 Gaia Photos photographers from throughout the world now and we're still growing. There are quite a few new stories from locales such as Japan, Afghanistan, Kashmir and Russia, so please have a look at Gaia-Photos.com when you get a chance!

http://www.lightstalkers.org/john_brown
http://www.mondolibrary.net/view_photog.php?photogid=49
http://pa.photoshelter.com/usr-show/U0000c97S5j4fn.U

Another Child Laborer Killed At Stung Meanchey Landfill In Phnom Penh, Cambodia

Another Child Laborer Is Killed at Stung Meanchey Landfill in Phnom Penh, Cambodia

Sadly, another child laborer, Chantal Srey Mao, 16, was killed at Stung Meanchey Landfill in Phnom Penh, Cambodia about one month ago after a bin improperly secured atop a Cintri Company garbage truck fell and hit the youngster on the head at around 5:30 am. Astoundingly, two medical clinics refused to admit the girl before she was admitted to a third facility where she died the following day. A family member told The Cambodia Daily that Cintri Company did not contact the girl's family while she was in the hospital.

A couple pages of my photographs taken at the Stung Meanchey Landfill appeared in Water & Environment Magazine in the UK awhile back, as well as a story I wrote for Environment Magazine in the USA. As photojournalists, writers and publishers, our names are not important, but we hope we can illuminate issues and bring them to you so that we may learn a bit more about the world around us. Chantal Srey Mao's death was preventable, but she lacked the $30 USD per month it would have required to keep her out of the dump that morning. Spending $7 USD per month for school tuition combined with replacing the $15 -$25 USD she contributed to her family's income as a child laborer was financially too burdensome for her family.

My deepest condolences go to Chantal Srey Mao's family, friends and co-workers. Although she was only one of 600 children working at the Stung Meanchey Landfill, she will be remembered forever.

Keywords: Poverty, Asia, Child, Children, Death, Labor, Environment, Cambodia, Phnom, Penh, Recycling, Article, Magazine, Photojournalism, Photography, Water, Publication, Sustainability,

www.lightstalkers.org/john_.brown
Stung Meanchey Cambodia Landfill Slideshow

My First Story Posted On Gaia Photos

My First Story Posted At Gaia-Photos.com

I posted a story on Gaia-Photos.com awhile back and I'll do that from time to time. Gaia Photos is a new group of photographers brought together by a photojournalist based in Nepal, Morten Svenningsen, that focuses on social, humanitarian, environmental, cultural, health and education issues, as well as general news. Gaia Photographers include:

GMB Akash, Bangladesh, Miki Alcalde, India, Delmi Alvarez, Latvia, Roberto Bear Guerra, USA, Rafael Ben-Ari, Israel, Ivan Blazhev, Macedonia, M Scott Brauer, China, Thomas De Cian, Thailand, Thierry Falise, Thailand, Brent Foster, India, Bevis Fusha, Albania, Gianni Giosue, Japan, Masaru Goto, Thailand, Lisa Hogben, Zann Huang, Middle East, Petar Kurschner, Croatia, Piotr Malecki, Poland, João Pedro Marnoto, Portugal, Filippo Massellani, Italy, Justin Mott, Vietnam, Thomas Pickard, Thailand, Alexey Pivovarov, Russia, Espen Rasmussen, Norway, John Watts-Robertson, England, Q. Sakamaki, USA, Gyula Sopronyi, Hungary, Mark Spowart, Canada, Morten Svenningsen, Nepal, Luca Tronci, Nicaragua, Kirill Tulin, Russia, Alessandro Vincenzi, Spain, Jenn Warren, Sudan, Andrew Wheeler, France, Artem Zhitenev, Russia, and me, John Brown, here in Cambodia.

Members works have appeared in A Magazine, Amnesty Journal, Art Asia Pacific, Asia News, Asian Geographic, Berliner Journalisten, China Daily, Choc, Cicero, Courier International, Das Parlament, Der Spiegel, Die Zeit, Days Japan, Doubletruck, El Mundo, Environment, Geo, Geo Italia, Famiglia Cristiana, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Frankfurter Rundschau, Free Lance, Gloss, Gala Style, Grands Reportages, Hamburger Abendblatt, Hamburger Morgen Post, Hinz & Kunzt, Ikono, Insight, Kontinente, L'Express, Le Figaro, Le Monde, Le Point, Marie Claire, Marie France, Modern Times, Newsweek, NRC Handelsblad, Outside, Paris Match, PDN, Stern, Szene Hamburg, The Economist, The Guardian, The Kommersant, The New Internationalist, The New York Times, The Sunday Telegraph of London, The Sunday Times, Time, View, VSD, WEM, Westdeutsche Allgemeine, Wprost, Zenith, as well as several books and other media, so please have a look at http://http:/www.gaia-photos.com when you get a chance!

www.lightstalkers.org/john_brown