Above you see my photograph of Ludmilla Petrushevskaya that is found on Wikimedia Commons used by the Miami Herald in a December 22, 2009 story by Lori Kozlowski that was recycled from the Los Angeles Times.  Nowhere on the article is the work attributed to me.

Now, I’ve written before about my own views regarding attribution and there are really only three categories where it does not bother me if someone does not give me the credit for my own hard work:

1. I am asked;
2. An artist is using the work, and attribution would interfere with their creative vision; and
3. For a non-commercial entity’s use.

All others should give credit where credit is due, and particularly a member of the mainstream media that has advertisements plastered all around it.

For those of us who work in the Creative Commons–I retired from it in 2009–one of the few benefits is credit for our hard work.  The Herald robbed me of that small satisfaction in this case, and I imagine I’m not the only one.

Boo, hiss, Miami Herald, for taking the hard work of others without giving them the credit.  It violates the copyright terms that are clearly spelled out where you found the image.

If you would like to see my other photos of Petrushevskaya, one of Russia’s foremost literary authors, click here.

Ludmilla Petrushevskaya traveled far to New York City to discuss her work There Once Lived a Woman Who Killer Her Neighbor’s Baby. Only a few nights ago Snob Magazine hosted her at Russian Samovar on West 54th, where she sang cabaret songs as people downed vodka.  Tonight the setting was McNally Jackon, which played host to the Russian literary star reading, with Keith Gessen providing translation. From Wikipedia:

Lyudmila Stefanovna Petrushevskaya (Russian: Людмила Стефановна Петрушевская) (born May 26, 1938) is a Russian writer, novelist and playwright. Petrushevskaya is regarded as one of Russia’s most talented contemporary writers, whose writing combines postmodernist trends with the psychological insights and parodist touches reminiscent of writers such as Anton Chekhov. Over the last few decades, Ludmilla Petrushevskaya has been one of the most admired and acclaimed contemporary writers at work in Eastern Europe: The Times called her “one of the finest living Russian writers”.

Below is my photographic essay of Petrushevskaya.

The images on this post are licensed Creative Commons 3.0 attribution; any re-use is permitted but please link back to this post with credit.