Blatant Theft.

For some years now I have been a contributor to a website called morguefile.com . It was started by two brothers in America as a memorial to their parents who were ‘special needs’ teachers. Pictures on the site can be used royalty free for almost any purpose except as stand alone images for sale.

I liked the idea and have put JPGs over when I can, my thought being that when I am gone, there will still be little bits of me floating around all over the world. I am now getting closer to half a million downloads of my work, and hope that by the end of the year I might reach that figure.

Now let me tell you a little tip. If you contribute pictures to a website and wish to know about their use, right click on a picture and then select “Search Google for this image”

Within moments Google will return to you with a reply. Such is the wonder of the ‘net’. It won’t tell you every use but only the ones that are on the internet itself.

I often look like that to see what is going on. Agents on other sites that sell pictures frequently copy over free work from Morguefile as tempters to get folk to dig into the site for work they must pay for. This is fair enough they are nor charging for the free ones. I was amazed though to find on a website called Mineshots.com  that one of their contributors had stolen many of my JPGs and loaded them there as his own work. As far as I am concerned this is downright theft and that contributor is a liar.

I have made comments on his page but can find no way to contact the site owners, there is no Email address link. All I can do is to put comments on any of my pictures that the thief has posted as his own. Like the following one that alerted me in the first place. I have now by looking through his pages found almost 20 stolen pictures and I am less than a quarter way through. The picture used as the header on this blog, was one of them.

http://mineshots.com/Users-galleries/Marcco-Tomosius/Other-nice-photos/DSC09087.JPG-23160p.html

To other contributors to any photo site I would say – examine this man's work pages and see if he has stolen from you as well..

This has now been settled by the owner of the website. The offender has been kicked off of the site and all his - and other folks - pictures removed.

Make that thirteen & a half

Whilst filling in an odd moment by browsing via Google I came upon a suggested use for one of my pictures.

A firm had put together a series of proposed book covers for sale.

One of them used a picture posted on Morguefile.com of the New Blind Yeo that I had taken when the sunrise was particularly red. 

It is always a favourite spot for me as the light continually changes from one moment to the next. I learnt that if I took a picture then went to manual mode and varied the exposure I could create mood pix. Something I have not done so far this year.   I must try to get out early before folk are about and see what I can do.

Almost overlooked.

Coming back from shopping as I stepped out of the car I looked down as always to make sure of my footing. The stump of the old fence post pushing above the car park surface can catch the unwary.

A scatter of green leaves and little yellow blobs caught my eye. When I had had the original hard drive breakdown I had lost the content - in March 2011 - of my JPG folder of over 10,000 images. I was bemoaning my loss to a friend and said, in general, that because I had re-formatted my hard drive I had lost the lot.

They said "Don't be daft you can rescue them as long as the re-loading of your Windows driver didn't over-write them"

I pointed out that the charge was quite a bit for each file but they told me of this Australian firm run by a John Hunter, that sold a programme called GetData.

This permitted me to recover many of my lost JPG's The only problem was whilst it was easy to rename my Steam train pix from their loco number, my flower pic collection were similarly designated Lostfile 948732579 etc. with a sequence of numbers. It was just too long a job to hunt back through my book pictures to re-name them

Now needless to say, I have 2 auxiliary 500 GB drives mounted on Novatech caddies, on which I keep my files and the only stuff on my C drive is programme files.  However !

One series I had lost was the pictures of Black Medick

It was only now that I fully realised I had never re-photographed it. Tiny and unobtrusive I had walked past it for 4 years and never noticed it until then. 

About 4 or 5 mm in size it is easily overlooked. The name Medick comes not from association with medicine but from the eastern Mediterranean and was named originally by the Greeks linking it to the Medes

Although very similar to the Hop Trefoil; Black Medick, Medicago lupulina, is distinguished from that by the tiny 'spike' on the end of the leaf as shows in pictures 3 & 4.  

Now back in the fold again it makes me wonder how many of my other images are lost or over-looked.  

Un-lucky thirteen?

Just discovered that my pic of Kinlet Hall taken on the West Somerset Railway has been used for 2 book covers. Counting another steam loco at the same time it makes no less than thirteen book covers using my photos from Morguefile.

How can I say that thirteen is not lucky

Found at last !

When I came back from the Arnhem Pilgrimage last autumn I brought with me several seeds from plants in the park of the Golden Tulip Hotel in Dorwerth.

Just before I went on holiday I had a problem with the fridge that meant cutting the electric off. One of the first jobs I needed to do when I came home, was to get hold of another fridge.

I decided to use the veg box from the old one and filled it with compost to plant the seeds. In the spring I was a little surprised to see some plants growing but thought I would leave them just to find out what was coming up. One of the plants looked very much as if it would turn out to be a Willowherb or one of the Geranium family. I searched in vain in a couple of my books and then found it in my trusty Octopus. However I checked on Google because the Octopus had been in error previously with the Latin names of plants. 

Sure enough it was Hoary Willowherb, Epilobium Parviflorum,
That's what I thought; however it turned out to be 
 Hoary Willowherb, Epilobium tetragonum,
Growing quite happily as I kept it watered well.

Another plant was Pearl Wort that I have posted earlier, much simpler to find as it was right in front of me on the first page of the Octopus book. The third one has yet to throw a flower.

 Life size twin blossoms.

 Twice lifesize

 3 times lifesize

3 times life showing the Calyx

In spite of the angled view the ring flash has thrown no heavy shadow, yet still shows an almost three dimensional view. Simply because the light is outside of the lens viewpoint. The power of the flash and the option of cutting it down to as low as 1/8th strength for extreme close-ups allows pictures to be taken with an f32 stop giving maximum depth of field.

The more pix I take of small flowers like this the more I am pleased that I sprung myself to the control unit for the Minolta1200 AF flash.

Even though it cost me an "Arm and biggest part of a Leg" I have seen new ones since advertised at over twice the price I paid for mine and mine included the twin flash fittings as well.
Although I haven't used the twins because the ring flash has given me a balanced light with no shadows. I believe that to be essential when taking flower pix at 2 or 3 times life-size.

Seeds are distributed in the typical Willowherb-Cranesbill style. As the seed pod ripens it turns darker and then dries and splits permitting the pappus  to drift in the wind carrying individual seeds 

I wonder why?

What seems so special about this picture that it has had over 6,500 views on Flickr?

I admit that I like it but don't think it's all that better than a lot of my shots of the moors.

Composition is OK but nothing outstanding, yet for some reason or other just after I posted it on Flickr it 'Took off' with view after view. Made me think it was something gone wrong with the website.

It's so easy to ignore the obvious.

I noticed the Ribwort plantain growing on the lawn. Snipped off a sample and got some shots. 

Ribwort, Plantago lanceolata, AKA Narrow leaved Plantain, 

Only got it just in time, a couple of hours later the contractors were round cutting the grass again. The little bit of rain we've been getting is making it grow quickly.

The leaves are very tattered from previous cropping. They are spreading flat and survive in spite of the machines.

It seems that Culpeper treats Plantain as a regular panacea and this humble little plant was highly regarded.

Government and virtues:—

It is true, Misaldus and others, yea; almost all astrology-physicians, hold this to be an herb of Mars because it cures the diseases of the head and privities,  which are under the houses of Mars  Aries, and Scorpio. The truth is it is under the command of Venus, and cures the head by antipathy to Mars, and the privities by sympathy to Venus; neither-is there hardly a martial disease but cures. 'CM

The juice of Plantain clarified and drank for divers days together, either of itself, or in other drink, prevails wonderfully against all torments or excoriations in the intestines or bowels, helps the distillations of rheum from the head, and stays all manner of fluxes, even women's courses, when they flow too abundantly. It is good to stay spitting of blood and other bleedings at the mouth, or making of foul and bloody water, by reason of reins or bladder, and also stays the too free bleeding of wounds. It is held an especial remedy for those that are troubled with the phthisic, or consumption of the lungs, or ulcers of the lungs, or coughs that come of heat. The decoction or powder of the roots or seeds, is much more binding for all the purposes aforesaid than the leaves. Dioscorides saith, that three roots boiled in wine and taken, helps the tertian agues, and for the quartan agues, (but letting the number pass as fabulous) I conceive the  decoction of  divers roots may be effectual. The herb (but especially the seed)  is held to be  profitable against the dropsy  the falliing  sickness, the yellow   jaundice, and stoppings of the liver and reins. The roots ot pliantain, and Pellitory of Spain, beaten into a powder, and put into the hollow teeth, takes away the pains of them. The clarified juice or distilled water, dropped into the eyes, cools the inflammations in them, and takes away the pain and web and dropped into the ears eases the pains in them, and heals and removes the heat. The same also with the juice of Houseleek is profitable against any inflammations and breakings out of the skin, and against burnings and scaldings by fire and water. The juice or decoction made either of itself, or other things of the like nature, is of much use and good effect for old and hollow ulcers that are hard to be cured, and for cankers and sores in the mouth or privy parts of man or woman; and helps also the pains of the piles in the fundament. The juice mixed with oil of roses, and the temples and forehead anointed therewith, eases the pains of the head proceeding from heat, and helps lunatic and frantic persons very much; as also the biting of serpents, or a mad dog. The same also is profitably applied to all hot gouts in the feet or hands, especially in the beginning. It is also good to be applied where any bone is out of joint, to hinder inflammations, spellings, and pains that presently rise thereupon. The powder of the dried leaves taken in drink, kills worms or the belly; and boiled in wine, kills worms that breed in old and foul ulcers. One part of Plantain water, and two parts of the brine of powdered beef, boiled together and clarified, is a most sure remedy to heal all spreading scabs or itch in the head and body, all manner of tetters, ring-worms, the shingles, and all other running and fretting sores. Briefly, the Plantains are singularly good wound herbs, to heal fresh or old wounds or sores, either inward or out­ward.   V

So there you are, if perchance you should get bitten by a rabid dog, or a poisonous 'Queen snake' as Linus would have it. Dive in quick for your plantain poultice. I doubt it will save you, but it might LOL.