These emails come with the intent of helping you be a better photographer.

But if you're tired of hearing from me, unsubscribe.

And if you want more photography stuff to read, there's a place on the interwebs where past emails I wrote are stored.

You'll find 'em in the "Newsletter Hub."

Remember, I'd like to know what you want to know about photography.

So, if you have any questions, email me at sam@samdamico.com. 

And for what it's worth, when you send me an email unless someone's lookin' over my shoulder, I'm the only one who sees it.

Imagine unexpectedly seeing a picture you made used in a magazine, advertisement, or anywhere else we can think of.

Would you be ok with that?

What if whoever used it used it in a way you didn't want it used?

Or even if it was, they're now using the picture you made without your permission.

We've gotta think twice before putting our work anywhere or entering contests.

That's because we can lose a substantial part of or all of the copyright to our work.  

Copyrights are also called Intellectual Property Rights.

Our copyright is something we own as soon as we make a picture.

And it's important because copyright ownership is valuable.

And since our copyright ownership is valuable, we wanna keep it.  

Our pictures have value; if used, whoever uses them should ask our permission to use them and pay us for their use.

When someone takes property that's not theirs without permission from the property owner, that's theft.

When it comes to our intellectual property rights to the photographs we create, it's called copyright infringement.

But we have to be careful because some folks out there'll do what they can to take parts of or all of the practical value of our copyrighted work.

For example, here's what we agree to if we display our work on Meta.

"3.3 The permissions you give us

We need certain permissions from you to provide our services:

1. Your content: Some content that you share or upload, such as photos or videos, may be protected by intellectual property laws.

You retain ownership of the intellectual property rights (things like copyright or trademarks) in any such content that you create and share on Facebook and other  you use. Nothing in these Terms takes away the rights you have to your own content. You are free to share your content with anyone else, wherever you want.

However, to provide our services we need you to give us some legal permissions (known as a "license") to use this content. This is solely for the purposes of providing and improving our Products and services as described in Section 1 above.

2. Permission to use content you create and share: Specifically, when you share, post, or upload content that is covered by intellectual property rights on or in connection with our Products, you grant us a non-exclusive, transferable, sub-licensable, royalty-free, and worldwide license to host, use, distribute, modify, run, copy, publicly perform or display, translate, and create derivative works of your content (consistent with your  and  settings). This means, for example, that if you share a photo on Facebook, you give us permission to store, copy, and share it with others (again, consistent with your settings) such as Meta Products or service providers that support those products and services. This license will end when your content is deleted from our systems." (https://www.facebook.com/terms/)

A group is helping educate photographers about how where we display our work can have a not-so-good impact on the ownership of our copyright to the pictures we create.

They've also developed an "Artists Bill Of Rights," a guide promoting a set of ethical standards that artists of any discipline can adopt.

And remember, we do a disservice to ourselves and the whole photography industry when we give away the thing that gives our work value.

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The Photography Basics (Introduction To Photography) class starts soon. 
  
More ways to study and practice photography with me are below.

Call me if you need help determining the best course for you.

I'll help you be a better photographer—study and practice photography with me. 

Currently scheduled classes are below.

Smaller classes mean better learning, so class sizes are limited to 5 participants plus me.

But smaller classes also mean spots fill up quicker, so sign up soon. 

And what if the timing doesn't work for you in any of my scheduled group classes? Private in-person lessons suited to your schedule are always an option.

And remember, we learn and improve by doing, so practice making at least one picture daily.