The last two days I spent hours searching for the photographer of a beautiful image that is being used all over the web since 2008. I could not find the photographer or any mention of copyright.
Who made this image?
What to do?
I decided to use the image and explain that the information could not be located. Since the image has been used in so many places over the last four years, whatever copyright there was has certainly been diluted. However, the photographer obviously did plan and exactly execute the shot. S/he may have paid models. In some cases models have rights even if they are not identifiable, i.e. hand and neck commercial models.
How does this happen?
I’m supposing it was ignorance or laziness, though at some point it may have been outright theft. If someone copied a copyrighted image and posted it without attribution and/or represented it as a free-use/commons image: that is theft for sure. Some may do it as content to drive traffic to their site in hopes of advertising revenue or some other financial gain.
Community Citizenship
We are all part of this internet blogging community. Whether readers or writers, we each know things others do not. If attribution is incorrect or missing and you can supply the right information, please do. You will be greatly appreciated on this site!
Remember, some day you may have economic value or professional expertise that may be as easily taken away from you.
As a community, we should at least help acknowledge the work done by others in this community.
We are each unfolding our universe; let’s play together nicely.
Image Information:
Two people holding the sun as it sets over a sea
This image proved impossible to give attribution to. 038_moment.jpg is a file name used for other images also.
I also used this image on http://www.unfoldingseries.com/borderlands/whats-real-and-whats-imagined/
The Unfolding Series of Novels by Jeffrey A. Limpert 
Pingback: What’s Real and What’s Imagined?