Sources for (Mostly) Creative Commons Licenced Photos

Unsplash came recommended to me when I complained about Flickr as a source for Creative Commons-licensed photos that I could use for various publications both on- and offline.  Complained that there were only 800 or so unions and workers contributing photos to my fave unions group there I mean. 

Some nice stuff there on Unsplash.  See for yourself at https://unsplash.com/

Others recommended it and all these and if I was the newsletter editor for my local curling club or school council or a local union websteward in need of some non-work-related photos I’d find most of them quite handy.  But the truth is that not only Flickr just way bigger but it’s THE spot for union photos.  The only down side to it is a regrettable tendency on the part of union photogs to not make full use of Flickr’s simple-to-use features that get their photos out there.  Flickr makes tags easy and if you haven’t added your photo to at least one multi-union group (the Labour and Trade Unions group being my fave) then you’ve made a mistake and quite possibly wasted your image.

Still, if you can't find what you need with a CC license on Flickr.com, here's a list of other sources:

http://libreshot.com/

http://realisticshots.com/

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Main_Page

http://publicdomainarchive.com/

http://nos.twnsnd.co/

http://littlevisuals.co/

http://images.superfamous.com/

http://www.dotspin.com/the-commons/

https://picjumbo.com/

http://www.gratisography.com/

Labour's Global Photo Album

LabourStart's Union group on the photosharing site Flickr.com (that's right, no 'e') just hit the 400 members mark. That means there are 400 trade unionists around the world with photography as a hobby who are posting their work to our group.

At almost the same time we saw (literally) the 3,701st photo posted to the group, the latest being a shot of Kamal Abu Eita announcing the formation of the Independent General Union of the Real Estate Tax Collectors in Egypt. I’m mentioning this because this photo illustrates (pardon the play on words) the geographical diversity of the subjects of the photos in the group. Unlike much of what’s on Flickr, our group isn’t quite so focussed on the global north.

If you haven’t already visited the group, do so at:

http://flickr.com/groups/union/

Me, Ashamed and Thinking About Permission

An example of how pegging your work with a Creative Commons license can lead to unexpected and perhaps at least potentially unpleasant uses down the road.

http://www.centralamericadata.com/en/article/data/Honduran_maquilas_betting_on_Europe

The photo was taken during a factory inspection in Nicaragua a few years ago.

Equally disturbing but more to my taste ego-wise, the folks at Pellegrino have asked to use some of my photos of an Italian trip a few years ago.

Sigh. Is that a bird? A plane? No, it's my principles flying out the window.