All images on SharpPhoto.com and found in my shopping cart are copyright and property of Ed Sharp Photography - SharpPhoto.com.

Please don't steal images from me. I use every safeguard available to protect my images from being illegally downloaded, but unfortunately some tech savvy people even manage to bypass the copyright protections and steal images, right from my web site. Some make copies of the prints they buy and give copies away to friends. In both cases you are breaking the law and in both cases you are hurting my business.

I am not some big faceless corporation, I am a small business struggling to make it in a very competitive market. My existence depends on your integrity.
I Photograph with a passion an give everything I have to capture your Event. I work very hard shooting and I upload the photos I shoot the same day. I have been told countless times how cool it is to be able to go home after a game or event and log on to see photos from the day. 
You can even send Free E Cards to your friends.
Very cool services and I provide all that for FREE.

In most cases the only way I make any money from an event is when you buy prints from me. If you steal images it is no different than stealing from a local merchant. Would you walk into your neighborhood hardware store and steal a hammer? I would hope not, and I also would hope you would give me the same consideration. In this modern day of Youtube and file sharing, some people consider the internet as one big free for all and have adopted the idea that it is OK to take photos from photographers, and may even take pride in being able to do so. 

The sad reality is that violation of copyright law is not a victimless crime and I know this first hand, I am often the victim.  Weather you go to my web site and print low res prints on your home printer or you are computer genius that can find any way to take whatever you want from the web, both are stealing. 
People can rationalize it all they want, but the end result is the same.
It not only hurts me as the photographer, but you stand to loose a valuable service for your Event. Next time you come home from an event and want to find the photos that "SharpPhoto.com guy" took, I hope I am still here to show them to you. The events I photograph in the future will be based in part by the sales from the previous year for that event. If you like the job I did shooting your Event and would like to see me come back, buying a print or two would be a great way to show it.

Thanks for listening, I know for some this will fall on deaf ears.
Hopefully some will take this to heart.
My business's existence depends on it.
 

Ed Sharp
www.SharpPhoto.com