Today is Seijin no hi (成人の日) in Japan – Coming of Age Day. Celebrated on the second Monday of January, this is a national holiday on which recognises all young Japanese people who will turn 20 in the current school year (April – March).
At twenty, you are recognised as an adult in Japan. You can drink, smoke, vote… and many people celebrate this Coming of Age day by having parties with their friends (although I guess some of them might not actually be 20 yet!).
I popped out briefly earlier and, even just around Kurokawa, I noticed big groups of young people in either kimonos or suits, looking like they were ready to party. I wonder if any of my students are joining them this year? I have a lot of students who are around that age, so it’s quite possible.
I haven’t had the chance to go out taking photos today, but I found a great picture on the Internet (which I stole from Getty Images).
It looks like fun, doesn’t it? 
nice post . . . apart from the bit about stealing another photographer’s work from Getty.
As it happens I was going to cook dinner tonight, but I couldn’t be bothered, so I stole a bento from Lawsons.
In case you don’t know, Getty images are stock photos – they’re meant to be shared. Getty images are used by people all over the world in new stories. You’d have to be very naive to think that people didn’t ‘steal’ things from each other on the internet. At least I had the decency to admit to it. I often see my photos being used by other people with no comment at all.
Thanks to the Getty photographers involved!
P.S. Tony – I looked at your site, very nice. I can see why you were so hostile now, as you’re a photographer who sells his work online. Don’t worry, I wouldn’t steal pictures from you, or anyone like you.
Good luck selling stuff! I imagine it’s a tough market.
Getty and other images are not meant to be “shared”, they are meant to be bought. And just because other people do it doesn’t make it right. Didn’t you learn that in kindergarden?
Very kind of you not to steal from “anyone like” me, but I’m exactly the kind of person who sells my stuff through Getty. Wake up.
Ooh, I love a heated debate on a Thursday morning!
So, what should I do about people who take my images without even saying they took them then? Personally, I see the internet as a place where if you put something there, you have to expect it not to be safe. Of course, we can take measures as you do – putting your name across your photos, but personally I don’t bother, because I’m not trying to sell my photos (although I’d love it if someone gave me money for them!).
I suppose you’ve never downloaded music from the internet without paying? How about copying a CD off a mate?
It’s all the same. It’s part of the world we live in today. Art is to be shared, and if you can also make some money out of it, then that’s great.
What I would NEVER do is steal a photo and claim it was my own, or not say that I had swiped it from the net. If I can link back to the photographer, then I will, but in most cases I find the pictures on a news site or something, so it’s not always easy to say where the picture came from.
If a photographer ever contacted me and asked me to remove their image from my site, I would be very happy to do so. I’m certainly not out to offend anyone.
You have obviously thought out your position, so apologies for my ill temper.
I mostly disagree with you though. It’s fine if you don’t mind giving your work away, but not fair to assume that other photographers feel the same. I doubt the photographer would agree to you using his work, and Getty would certainly object.
I watermark my work when I put it on the web in the knowledge that people might take it. It’s not free because I’m getting PR in return. You could say the say think about people sharing music. But I don’t think that applies in this case, Getty credit or not.
Interesting debate. I am going to link to this post from my blog and perhaps other photographers and bloggers will have something to add.
Apology accepted. And nice post on your site, by the way (http://tonymcnicol.com/2009/01/15/when-is-stealing-photos-ok/).
I’d also like to add, for the record, that I would LOVE to take all my own pictures. And, if at all possible, I do use my own photos in most of my posts. But sometimes it’s hard to get the right picture. I don’t have a good camera, and I’m far from being a professional. Perhaps that’s something I can aim to be one day.
But for now, I’m afraid the internet is there, like an endless free candy store… Yum!
Posting your stuff on the Internet is kinda like taking a picture of a street artist’s painting while passing by. It’s probably not illegal as it’s out there in the public and not in a gallery.
I understand both perspectives. That being said I’d have to side with Me just by virtue of what would be required to enforce Tony’s idea of the law. The amount of snooping required to enforce picture’s rights on the Internet would infringe on so many of our rights that i say it’s not worth it.
To Tony who is thinking about his livelihood at this point, I’d say you were naive in thinking that what you post into the public arena would not get reproduced somewhere. If I were you I would not post anything that I did not want getting viewed in exchange for monetary compensation.
Nice comparison, Dudeman.
This debate has made me curious… I wonder what other bloggers do. Say, for example, that you are writing a blog, just for fun, not trying to make any money, and you want to write about your love for a certain movie star. Do you have to seek out that movie star personally and get a photo of them yourself, or is it ok to use Google Images to find a suitable pic that someone else has taken? I certainly wouldn’t hesitate in searching online for a pic to ‘steal’, as it’s not likely I’m ever going to snap the movie star in person…
“Theft” is the wrong word to use (and emotive), although I understand why RIAA et al. use it.
What we’re talking about is copyright infringement. At most Getty lost a potential sale of a low-res image, and not even that as HG wouldn’t have used it if money was involved.
The counter analogy to the bentou theft would be to break into Getty and steal the negatives.
I’m all in favour of a creator benefiting from their work. Unfortunately as yet media hasn’t caught up with the realities of the Internet. My favourite is a newspaper site (that would probably get upset with people using their images commercially) using YouTube embedded links to an entire TV program (not uploaded by the makers).
Essentially the copyright holder is only going to pursue infringement if it’s financially a good proposition. National Newspaper uses unlicensed content Vs obscure personal blog using an image; which are they more likely to pursue?
The Internet is a wild and wooly place. I know once I post anything, on a blog, to mixi, to a BBS, I’ve more or less given up control over it. People can and do take stuff from my site. I used to be annoyed at leechers. (At least host it yourself) but life’s too short. I did get a huge spike in my stats once when someone posted a picture of mine on 2ch.
It’s a shame that Tony feels he has to deface his low-res images with copyright notices in order to protect his sales for print licenses.
I might have spammed Tony’s comment under my play nice rule. If it bothers you so much you’ll get more support by controlling your temper and nicely pointing out that the bloggers practise isn’t good and why. Although the web is a big place to police.
In the specific realm of blogging I’d try to use my own images. Failing that I’d try to seek out non-copyright work. On Flickr I found nearly 300 images searching for “Japan Coming of Age” that are under Creative Commons. I kindof like Danny Choo’s
(The son of Jimmy Choo who dresses as a Star Wars Stormtrooper on the streets of Tokyo)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/dannychoo/3192257481/
If I really want to show people a specific picture on the web, I’d use a text link to where it can be found. For instance Mainichi Shibun’s photo articles. The drawback is the links expire but most blog posts have very little shelf-life anyhow for the minuscule amount of people who’d regularly read what I have to say.
Anyhow it’s a shame the comments have diverged away from the topic.
It does look like fun. I can’t really remember group rights of passage like that from my own life. (Beyond Ireland’s imported custom of a debs ball. I didn’t go. The movie versions don’t look like fun either!)
Celebrations like this are probably part of the reason why Japan has strong social cohesion. If I lived in Japan when I turned 20 would I have gone… hard to know.
Thanks for the thoughtful comment, Robert, and thanks also for bringing us back to the topic of ‘coming of age’. Actually, since I wrote this post, I discovered that one of my students did in fact turn 20 and have her ceremony this year. And she looked stunning in the pictures I saw on her Facebook profile!
It does look like fun. I’d love to have had something like this when I turned 18!
I love this time of year, its’ so colorful with all the girls wearing their lovely kimonos
http://www.japansugoi.com/wordpress/japanese-coming-of-age-seijin-no-hi/