Photo Sales and Reprint Permission

I just love this display from Homestead Gardens in Davidsonville, MD. I took the photo to file in my "ideas to steal" folder. I think this could work with lots of different messages and on various occasions -- from a birthday party to a corporate event to displaying your street address seasonally. The letters are painted on the Ghost pumpkins in this case, but you could carve and light them or use different squash, plant pots, etc. for the words.

Isn't digital photography just fabulous? Ten years ago would I have "wasted" film on something so frivolous? Probably I just would have jotted it in my little notebook and then promptly forgotten all about it.

BTW, if you like this photo or ANY photo you see on this blog, in our Washington Gardener Magazine, Washington Gardener Enewsletter, or on our web site, and want to purchase it. Please contact me at 301.588.6894 or Wgardenermag@aol.com. I have sold a few photos so far just randomly. One to a real estate agent for a postcard promotion. Another to an area calendar.

If the photo in our publication was not taken by me, I'm happy to put you in direct contact with the original photographer. Our main staff shutterbug, Drena J. Galarza, has taken some wonderful shots for us as have Dan Weil and our other freelancers.

Note: Any photo seen in our publications -- on line or in print -- require our reprint permission to use them elsewhere. At a minimum we ask you to credit Washington Gardener and to link back to our web site. Our prices are very reasonable and in many cases we will allow photo use in exchange for non-monetary compensation.

I hear horror stories about stolen images popping up all over the web and I understand that is the nature of the Internet beast. It is one reason I keep our magazine content fully offline. It is also why I post low-res images to this blog and our other online outlets. Almost all the photos you see from us have high-res and alternate versions.

Once I was mortified when someone implied I'd stolen a photo they'd taken. In fact, I had the proof that I had taken it in a local park. It was of a hellebore bloom and his photo was strikingly similar -- as many plant close-ups can be. Still after that incident I'm more scrupulous than ever in crediting and attributing all photos that appear in Washington Gardener publications.