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Photo stealing scandals often occur when a professional or amateur photographer has their images stolen and used without permission. However, for award-winning Australian based photographer, Lisa Saad, these roles were reversed.
After numerous organizations conducted a careful review of some of Saad’s most well-respected pieces, she ended up being labeled as a photo thief caught red-handed! How did someone known for winning numerous awards end up losing it all and being shamed in the world of photography?
Image recognition software and common sense make it clear that some of the images in her work were not her own. Here are all the details, along with how you can avoid this sort of fiasco happening to you.
To visit Lisa Saad’s website, nothing would seem amiss. She is clearly a talented photographer stemming out of Melbourne, Australia. However, in 2019, photographers began accusing her of co-opting their work and changing it in Photoshop.
This first happened when Marcel van Balken, a Dutch architectural photographer, accused Saad of using aspects of a photo illustration he created based on a modern train station. When he realized the alleged connection between Saad’s Australian Institute of Professional Photography (AIPP) award-winning piece and his own, he contacted Saad.
He requested that she send him the RAW file she had used when editing the work. He indicated to “Stop Stealing Photos”, which initially reported his experience, that Saad sent him an odd sounding rebuttal of his allegations and a PNG file instead, which he found linked to another photographer’s work.
When questioned initially, Saad asked that she did not want to comment elaborately and asked that online coverage be postponed, while AIPP was reviewing the situation. However, her award was revoked by AIPP. Next, on February 14, her past awards were rescinded by Wedding and Portrait Photographer International (WPPI).
Much of the problem occurred as Saad had used stock photographs by other photographers. Even when this was allowed by their copyright and free use, doing so was against the policy of the competition’s rules. She had to take and create all images used herself, to qualify.
Following that decision, The Societies of Photographers followed suit and disqualified all of Saad’s photographs, membership, and fellowship distinction on February 18. This continued with the Australian Institute of Professional Photography (AIPP) on February 21 and Australian Photography Awards (APA) on the same day. On February 28th, came the New Zealand Institute of Professional Photography (NZIPP) announcement that they had revoked Saad’s awards and banned her.
Berify can help you protect your photography work and catch these image thieves red handed!
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