Outside Magazine: A Driver’s “Reckless Joyride” Damaged the Eureka Dunes in Death Valley

January 15, 2025  |  Death Valley National Park, California

Because of my long connection to and expertise on Death Valley National Park, I am often contacted by media to provide information on happenings and incidents in the park. On Monday, January 13, the National Park Service revealed that a motorist (aka asshole) had illegally driven onto Eureka Dunes sometime in late December or early January. Outside Magazine released an article on this topic on January 15, 2025, and quotes from yours truly are found within.

My thoughts on this incident are insufficient to be rewarded with a blog post, but other photographers may learn something from my experience. Which is, closely guard your photographs and your rights. Do not let desire or desperation for a photo credit to allow you or your images to be taken advantage of. I was asked by Outside if I had a hero photo of Eureka Dunes - of course I do. However, you won't find one of mine in the article. I was told up front what Outside was willing to pay (meager, if using Fotoquote as a guide), so I then asked for their contract.

Almost immediately, I was stopped by shocking language: "Licensor hereby grants Outside a perpetual, irrevocable, royalty-free, worldwide, transferable, and sublicensable right and license to use and exploit the materials set forth on Schedule 1 (the “Content”), including the right and license to publish, reproduce, cache, store on its servers, perform, display, digitize, syndicate, disseminate, transmit, broadcast, distribute, translate, create derivative works of, edit, translate, modify, reformat, encode, market, advertise, promote, and archive, in any digital media format, whether now known or hereafter developed."

My advice to all photographers, in perpetuity: never grant a perpetual, irrevocable, royalty-free, worldwide, transferable, and sublicensable right to your images, especially not for a couple of hundred dollars. This is the literal definition of surrendering your rights. It's also the literal definition of sucker. Sure, the industry and photo licensing has greatly changed. But you don't have to participate in it's demise. And you certainly should never place yourself on the losing end of a deal. They are your images. Value them, and set a fair rate for your expertise and work.

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