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Graham

Living Flies...???

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A couple of days ago I found out that at least two of my realistic fly photographs were published

(without my knowledge or permission) in a book called Atlas of Creation.

 

One of the flies is a realistic October Caddis, and the person who erased the background likely did it manually, carefully erasing around the legs, and hook!

LOL... I wonder, if that person wondered, what type of body appendage it was...lol...

 

IPB Image

 

Here's a small version of the original photo...

 

IPB Image

 

 

And my red spider is in the book as well. I clearly recall the evening I sat at my vise tying this spider, because I was not trying to tye a replica of a real bug, instead just had fun trying to create a mean and menacing critter, with the abdomen of a wasp, eight hairy legs, red eys, big mouth pincers, etc.. I had fun that night and I felt more like an artist creator than a realistic tyer. This is the same spider I sent to England for a photo shoot for House of Hardy... I had thought about framing it next to one of the full page ads that have been used in Europe for over a year, but now I'll likely buy a bigger frame and center the spider between the ad and the page(s) from the book...

 

IPB Image

 

Small version of the original photo....

 

IPB Image

 

I've had a lot of e-mails this week from scientists around the world telling me about this weeks discovery that some of the purportedly real insects contained in the Atlas of Creation are my flies...

 

Nobody mentioned the size 22 midge in the spiders pincers.....

 

Graham

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Have you investigated if you can sue these guys??????????? :devil:

 

The money would come in handy for more toys!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :rolleyes:

 

 

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nice flies Graham.your flies and tying skills have been inspirational.Have you ever tied a grass shrimp?

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Nice to see that our hobby is spreading out, but somehow very funny that they had the guts to put them in the book without permission. :ph34r:

What if you were one of the persons that would drag the to court for it? ;)

Could be an expensive thing for them. :devil:

 

But aren't we flyfishers and tyers a bunch of nice people? :lol: :D

 

/Henrik

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Thanks guys, I will contact the author.

 

The best way for me to sum this up is to paste a copy of an e-mail I recieved a few days ago....

 

 

Dear Mr Owen,

 

The probability is fairly high that you have already been E-Mailed with respect to this subject, but just in case it is new to you, you might like to be informed that some of your photographs of realistic representations of insects and other creatures used as fishing lures have appeared in a most unlikely source.

 

The source in question is a book entitled Atlas of Creation, an expensively-produced but intellectually worthless tome published by a Turkish man under the pseudonym of Harun Yahya - he is also known as Adnan Oktar, and has a thoroughly disreputable history. Basically, he uses his wealth to send copies of his book around the world to whoever will bother to read them, in a desperate attempt to try and establish that the collected endeavours of the world's scientists with respect to evolutionary biology have all been wrong (insert "rolleyes" smiley here) and that everything was just magically "poofed" into existence by whatever supernatural entity tickles this individual's erogenous zones.

 

In this book, Oktar purports to demonstrate, by the egregious juxtaposition of various creatures (in some cases creatures that don't even belong to the same taxonomic Order) from the fossil record and the extant living lineages, that these creatures haven't changed, and therefore evolution never happened. But that is beside the point. The point is, several of his illustrations of purportedly "living" creatures are, in fact, DIRECT COPIES of your fishing lure photographs lifted unaltered from the Web.

 

Now although Oktar isn't actually making any money from this, indeed he's spending a small fortune of his own on the enterprise for no return because he hands these books out for free to biologists across the world (who usually smile knowingly upon receiving a copy), but the fact remains that he is using material of yours in his work, for purposes other than originally intended, and consequently it might be worth your while investigating whether or not there is a prima facie case for a suit on the basis of breach of your copyright. After all, this is YOUR hard work that Oktar is misusing, and it has to be said misusing in a pretty amateurish fashion, because the photographs of so-called "living" creatures he presents, in some cases, STILL HAVE VISIBLE HOOKS EMERGING FROM THEM. While you may find this briefly amusing as many of us just alerted via the blogosphere do, you may also find it worth your while finding a professional lawyer among your fishing fraternity who would be willing to act on your behalf with respect to what is, even to a non-lawyer such as myself, a fairly manifest breach of your copyright.

 

Incidentally, while I am not a fisherman, I am an amateur entomologist, and I have to say that several of the lures you describe as 'realistic' on your web site truly are works of art in this regard. I take my hat off to your skill, and wonder in addition if you might not consider adding to your income by offering to fashion insect models for museums and other academic institutions to use as display material, as I am sure they would pay handsomely for the service. Last time I checked the figures involved, an anatomically correct model of even a small insect commanded a price tag of some £100 to £200 here in the UK, which at current exchange rates is around $200 to $400 US - that's per individual specimen. I don't know if you charge similar fees to your fishing customers, but it would be worth investigating this alternative source of income if you have not already done so, as well as investigating the possibility of enjoying an expensive foreign holiday courtesy of Mr Oktar's malfeasance with respect to your photographs. :)

 

Yours sincerely,

 

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Graham

 

That email sure puts an other perspective to the fact that he is using your pictures of your flies.

Somehow I could imagine you'ld have no problem with the issue if it was just some minor book without political/religious propaganda. But this books as descriped in the email you got, is a book of religious propaganda, and if it's not in your interest, then sue the living h... out of that man. :devil:

After all, the email states that the man have a small fortune, and why not use that fortune for flytying materials for your bench? :devil:

 

/Hernik

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Hi Henrik,

 

I seem to have a number of photographers, and scientists, insiting that I have to sue the author. But going after the head of an Islamic extemist group, based in Turkey, likely funded with Saudi money sounds complicated to me. I have spoken to a few trial attorneys and I sent an e-mail this morning to the author.

 

Graham

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Hi Graham

 

Offcause it could end in a very bad way, when ever you sue an extreeme ismaistic groups.

 

But still, find out what's behind all this hype, and see if you can reach some kind of settle with them.

Remeber that the türks want to go into the EU, and therefore are very frightened of islamic extremism in there country.

 

Whatever you do, I'm sure you'll have the support from this board.

 

I for sure understand what dilema you are in.

 

Good luck with at least getting payed by them for using / abusing your pictures.

 

And please keep us updated on how the author responds if he does so...

 

/Henrik

 

ps.

Find it kind of fun though, that they are using artificial flies to proove the nature wrong :lol:

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Hi Graham,

Thanks for the good laugh. How stupid can people be to mistake a fly with a hook out of it *ss as a real insect. I guess that is the ultimate compliment for a realistic tyer when a fly gets mistaken as the real thing.

 

Good luck with any further action you take against him.

Garren

 

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It really is sickening when you see people ripping others hard work off for personal gain. The unfortunate thing is this is happening more and more each and every day and not just in Flyfishing/flytying. Look at it as a compliment, the idiot who put those pictures in his book is probably jealous that he cant create something like that himself.

 

We know who the real creator is...kudos to you.. B)

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My father is a pro photargopher and he found a book that had over 50 of his pictures in it, un changed, so he found the pictures and sent them to the company asking for the money, as proof, it was basicly a sale for him.

 

But this is really funny :hyst:

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Graham,

Your work is spectacular, as we all know. I will, however, go on to state that this gentleman needs to be made an example of. I'm sure you have logged onto his web page in reference to his book. The "About the author" section, is well, a photo journal of his wealth and arrogance. Profile pictures of himself in ultra cheesy suits. VSJ (Versache Jeans Co.) and two peice suits sitting in a beautiful remote setting some where out east. The man, apparently, has some money to be spent and, I'm sure, we all sit here wondering if your the first one he's done this to. I wouldn't even find this as a form of flattery, mearly some rich foriegn dude getting rich off of other peoples hard labor. Extremist group or not he's not setting a good example for those who read his books...One of the fundamentals taught to me in school was about copywrighting....I seem to remember this all the way back to my first trip to the library in first grade...Although this isn't words we are refering too it still beckon's the ol phrase "A Picture is worth a thousand words." Either way, I would definately seek legal advice and possibly spend some more of you hard earned money web embossing all of your photo's that you stick on your site. At least this way if someone wanted to steal another picture they would have to go about it the hard way...Paying for it or possibly (my favorite) just plain ol asking for it! Graham, we all appreciate your hard work and keep it up brother! I hope this has it's way of working itself out!

 

Who knows, maybe this idiot will offer up his book as a settlement! If your lucky you'll get it personally autographed. What a moron....I'm done venting for you!

 

~Brett

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What a buffoon.

 

There's the challenge, Graham, tie a realistic buffoon.

 

Seriously, I'm sorry this happened to you. What a story to tell around a campfire.

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