Final Cut X and Additional Hard Drives

Hey just a quick note - if you use Final Cut X and remote hard drives, if you have any folders inside it that say DCIM or AVCHD, you won't see your plugged in drive in the event library.  Put _ before each of these straight-from-camera image folders (example: _DCIM) and your drive will appear again.  Don't do this in front of every file, because if you do, FCP won't "see" your events or projects folder.  I spent quite a bit of time learning this, no reason for you to do the same!

STOLEN IDENTITIES

By now you're probably read about this in the news:

Meagan Kunert did quite a number on professional photography recently.  With big news on how easily one can impersonate other photographers (by simply taking the images off of others and putting them in her own website) as well as words from the blog posts of others, there's yet another worry to add to the list of the unsuspecting client: the impersonator.

Up to now, I'd only been aware of photographers venturing out to important events unarmed with knowledge, yet full of confidence from websites and seminars inspiring inexperienced photographers to jump into shooting professionally.  So not only are photographers claiming to be what they're not - they're claiming to be who they're not.

I'd like to inform everybody how serious this can be.  Nine years ago, I sued a photographer because she used the name of my company and one of my images on the internet, took my studio name and used it on a website.  Because copyright and trademark infringement are federally policed, my lawsuit wound up in Federal Court.  A jury of nine took about a week to award me $240,000 in damages.

You can see for yourself by googling, "teresa halton gary fong trial" and then scrolling to the link that says, 'FEDERAL JURY TRIAL'.  

On the day of the order, I got a check for the full amount because she was insured by her business policy.  I wonder if Meagan Kunert has insurance?   Because the people who were damaged by her actions could form a multi-plaintiff lawsuit and sue her in federal court.  I'm not a lawyer, but my opinion is I'm certain they would win, and win big.

I think it should happen - because my situation was a huge warning to others who thought this might be a good idea, and nobody did it for years - until it was too old news.  At least call a lawyer.

Mine took my case on contingency, because he was certain we would win.

"...we've attempted to pay them back as much money as we can but unfortunately we are going bankrupt

Wedding Photography can devastate you financially.  In asking for horror stories from wedding photographers, somebody shared with me how they photographed a wedding for $500, and half of the photos didn't turn out (accidental reformat of one of the cards) so the couple sued them and got $37,000!!!  (they lost their home and their retirement accounts).  

Here is another story from the UK published in the Daily Mail.  The couple published their terrible photographs online, and the paper interviewed the wedding photographer, who had gone bankrupt refunding money to dissatisfied couples.

If you aren't well trained and experienced at wedding photography, you can shoot weddings at high risk.  But be warned - this type of publicity is making couples more bold at suing their wedding photographers.

You may think you're just going out and shooting somebody's wedding for a modest cost, but if somebody trips over your bag at a reception and gets injured, and you don't have an LLC or Corporation, and you don't have liability insurance - you could lose everything you have.  

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