It should come as no surprise to you that I sometimes really screw up.................

So a few years ago, when I was still going thorugh a lot of things with my Dad's death and in a relationship that was draining my soul I stupidly published a blog post about working for free.  All I can say is that I was really deeply depressed at the time and........

......I was wrong.

Completely.
Utterly.
Wrong.

I was very down, and didn't even know it and allowed 1,000 + of my photos to be sucked into Wikimedia and used around the world for free.

At the time I figured that it would be better that they are out in the world than languishing on my harddrive. And clearly if they were good enough someone would want to pay me for a high resolution version.

That never happened. Not even once.

Now I understand though that some of the photos from the Endangered Breeds Show are being used to educate and that of course is fine.. but I've also seen them used on everything from phone cases to probably prints..

Needless to say I completely regret not at least pruning the photos or limiting which ones could be used.  In my defense, severe depression really hampered any clear thinking.

Recently this photo of American Pharoah getting a bath in April 2015 (BEFORE THE DERBY):

Was stolen from my flickr and used without my permission and compensation by a blogger on Equus Magazine. I never received an apology from her, in fact she was indignant about me even having a problem with her taking it. :"well you got credit. It's good exposure"

Donating your time and talent should be done on a limited basis and only on a cause you really believe in(my cause is Our mims and Equine rescue now). This is a good rule of thumb:  If the person or company that wants to use your work for free, is being paid you should be paid too. Period.

Happy Breeders cup day!  I'll leave you with some more thoroughbred photos I've taken! :)