Rest assured, your picture will be published in the book *if* you agree to
pay the $59 to buy a copy. I wouldn't count on any actual prize money until
you actually put it in the bank. There a lots of variations on this scam
but they pretty much all depend on people wanting to see their
name/picture/whatever published in a book that they can put on their coffee
table to impress their friends with. Somebody may actually win some cash,
but the real effort is to get you to part with your $59.00. Not long ago,
there was a strip in Dilbert with a similar plot.
Len
---
> -----Original Message-----
> From: aimcompute [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
> Sent: Friday, April 13, 2001 12:24 PM
> To: Pentax Discuss
> Subject: Scam or Sham?
>
>
> I received a letter in the mail yesterday from picture.com.
> Apparently (I
> don't remember) I entered a photo in an on-line photo
> contest. OK after
> returning to the site, I remember. The letter came in an
> envelope with a
> window, through which I could see a thumbnail of my photo,
> Takhlakh Venus.
> So it got my attention.
>
> http://pug.komkon.org/99oct/TakhlakhVenus.htm
>
> The form letter is pleased to announce that the photo was
> selected as a
> semi-finalist in the nature category of the International Open Amateur
> Photography Contest, there is an excellent chance of winning
> "over 114 cash
> or gift prizes - including the $1000 Grand Prize - you may
> even win the
> $10,000 Annual Grand Prize!". You should have seen my
> 10-year old's face
> light up when he said "You're going to win $10,000?". He's
> trying to save
> $35.00 and figures it will take him about 5 more weeks. :-)
>
> They wish to publish the photo in a book entitled "Frozen
> Highlights" which
> is a classic coffee-table quality book, hardbound, with 750
> "timeless images
> in full color." The book is only $69.95 if I wish to purchase
> one at the
> pre-publication price, $59.95 each if I purchase 2, plus
> $8.00 shipping
> each.
>
> I need to reply, giving them permission to publish the photo,
> and am under
> no obligation to purchase the book.
>
> Copyright remains mine.
>
> Here's what bothers me about this:
>
> 1) If my photo was to be in the book, I naturally think I
> deserve a free
> copy, don't you? I haven't been paid anything for the photo
> and there's no
> guarantee that I will. After the two prizes listed above,
> the next level is
> $35.00... $25.00 and so on.
>
> 2) The book is 8 x 11, and from the looks of it there is 6
> images per page.
> So the size of my picture that was "selected... because of its unique
> perspective and artistic vision" will end up being 2 - 3
> inches. Big whee!
>
> 3) How "professional" of an approach can this be? They are
> publishing my
> picture in a coffee-table book and are using a low-quality
> .jpg file as the
> image source? That bothers me more than anything else. You
> would think
> they would at least ask for a dup of the slide.
>
> The idea of winning a large cash prize intrigues me. The
> idea of having my
> photo published in such a way, possibly alongside other photos of
> questionable quality, turns me off big time, and, I think
> would degrade my
> work, not elevate it.
>
> Tom C.
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