I got this email:

Hi David,
I saw your beautiful pictures on the Pbase and I wonder if I could use them to make slides and ohotos for exhibition.
We are a non-profit, cultural, Turkish-Belgian association sole aim is to show people that their backyard is not the end of the world and that there are so many nice places around them.
Hoping to hear favourably from you
Best regards.
Richard.

What do you think of this? How should I respond? I am not sure what I should do...

I don't see how it can hurt you (unless you planned on selling your pics). Post some samples of your pics here.

No, I don't plan on selling my pics, that is not why take pictures. I would have to send the original files for the pictures but, after thinking about it, I don't really see how this would hurt me either.

Here are some samples, since you asked for it:
http://www.pbase.com/doady/image/48259493/original.jpg

http://www.pbase.com/doady/image/49943911/original.jpg

http://www.pbase.com/doady/image/50013411/original.jpg

http://www.pbase.com/doady/image/50947221/original.jpg

http://www.pbase.com/doady/image/50947222/original.jpg

http://www.pbase.com/doady/image/50947207/original.jpg

http://www.pbase.com/doady/image/48098843/original.jpg

http://www.pbase.com/doady/image/44721721/original.jpg

My pics are all found here:
http://www.pbase.com/doady

Not particularly good photos, I guess. I suppose he only wants to use them cuz he needs pictures of other cities.

They might want them for financial gain... resale. Or they could follow up with more personal questions such as addresses and contact information. Just be careful.

...sole aim is to show people that their backyard is not the end of the world...

Huh? Like showing some depressed people that the world is still wonderful even when the sky is falling around them?

They might want them for financial gain... resale. Or they could follow up with more personal questions such as addresses and contact information. Just be careful.

Yup, sound advice there.
Should check on that Turkish Belgian association to find out more about their activities.

I've heard of similar-sounding things that have turned out to be massive scams. This sounds a bit dodgy. Be careful.

From experience, check out their email addy and see if it relates to a website. If they're non profit, allow them use of your images (that's if you wish), but insist they give full credit to you. If they're commercial, just ignore them. :cheers:

Thanks the advice guys. I am worried about the things you guys pointed out too. The name of this organization is Turkbel, and the guy's email address ends in ".be", which I assume is Belgium. I got this response from him:

Hi David;
Thank you very much for your promt reply.
What I need from you if you agree is CDs with all the photos that you are willing to share with us. The subject does not matter as we separate the pictures per theme and make up the sets accordingly. A set of slides is between 300 and 400 slides and I need high resolution pictures as we are projecting on a screen 2 x 2 mts and this requires high resolution if we want to keep up the high quality of your work.
As I stated in my first e-mail, we are a non profit organisation that I have founded recently I am trying to find sponsors that will support our
expansion.
Up to now we were giving slide shows and exhibitions of pictures from the material of our photo club but as our stock is diminishing I decided to go international and show the work of foreign artists.
We are for the time being projecting the slides in the cafeterias of the Social Welfare Centres of the city of Gent but requests are now coming for different social associations for shàows. Afew days ago I had a request from a school teachers who wanted to use our slides for her classes.
This covers our activities put in a nutshell. If you have any more questions please feel free to ask
Best regards
Richard.


What you think? Does it sound legit?

you should get full credit for the pictures. make sure they publicly credit you, so that you know they aren't ripping you off. also, i would put my initials or name or something somewhere in a corner. i wouldn't make them very big, so the picture wouldn't be ruined, but if you hid your initials or name somewhere on the picture, you could track them.

I don't know it sounds dubious. Especially the entire "we don't care about the subject matter" idea. Also, does he just sign the name "Robert", or did you remove his last name for his privacy? If he's serious and actually represents some organization he should give you his last name.

Actually, his full name is in his email address and beside the titles of the emails themselves in my inbox.

What does Toronto/Montreal have to do with Turkish-Belgian streetlife?

Funny how he said the subject doesn't matter. Surely for an exhibition the subject and context would be the most important thing. If you are going to give him images get some legal advice first.

It sounds as though he's compliling a stock image collection to sell.

It sounds as though he's compliling a stock image collection to sell.

That was my first thought as well.

i always let people use my photos its no big deal. its not like they can print and sell them or something because the photos are not in their original size and the prints would look aweful.

They are asking for high resolution image files burned on CD. You can only lose here, there is no gain whatsoever or getting any public praise.

Okay, thanks again for the input everyone. I probably will not let him use it cuz there is really no way of verifying the truth of what he says. I don't mind people using the pictures I post on the internet (otherwise, they wouldn't be there in the first place) but I have decide that the original files should be accessible to me only.

The best way to find out if he is real, imo, is for you to ask for his number, or give your phone number, or both, and get to speak to him personally, that will give you some peace of mind.

What I think is that he is sincere, but your pics will end up being hung in some school library or classrom, etc, along with a few other peoples' that he has contacted, nothing as big as he claims, since he seems to be very flexible about the quality.

btw, I like your b/w photo of the 2 buildings!

Sounds awfully fishy to me. :runaway:

If this "Richard" and his ridiculous sounding non-profit organization were legit, he'd write his last name and the name of his organization, even in an email. I'd advise hands off. Not a single pixel! :D