So What's Next?

It's come down to this.  I take pictures because I love to.  I find joy looking at things from different angles & perspectives.  I challenge myself to find interesting views.  It is a passion of mine.  All this is done for pure love.  I make no money off this - I don't even try to; I just know it is a true love & passion. 

Seriously, this photo is marked as the one with the obnoxious watermark.  Does it come down to having to do this?  I hope not.  It ruins the joy of taking photos & sharing your perspective.

I started watermarking my photos a few months ago from mostly paranoia.  I don't have a huge blog following nor flickr, but I regularly post because I love to share my adventures.  I share with family & friends near & far.  I share with strangers I meet & later befriend because of similar loves.  At first I had a few instances here & there.  With the last set I just found, it puts the number of photos lifted from me at a couple of hand fulls & that's a bit too many.
 

Original posts of photos here & here

It breaks my heart that people would be so selfish to take others photos/artwork without attribution/permission/credit.  It breaks my heart that people do not know it is wrong to take things from the internet because it's out there.  It hurts me right now that I have to write this post.  I was so upset this morning that I was completely distracted getting ready & driving to work.  (I almost made it to work without deodorant & make up - thank goodness for the gym bag.)  Granted I made it to work just fine & split my pants - it added a giggle to my morning & put things into perspective.  It's not the worst thing that has happened to me, but I am upset.

My husband told me to report it & move on.  I've done step 1, step 2 will be difficult.  It's that passion thing.