Bolstering my Creative Commons spirit

The "Gatorade Solution", originally uploaded by Zesmerelda.

I've really been down on Creative Commons lately. The attitude that I keep coming up against online is Creative Commons = free. It doesn't. It means that I've reserved my rights -- I expect to be credited, I expect the licensing to travel with the photography, and I do not want my photos used for commercial purposes or put under someone's copyright. Most people don't bother to read the license & it's exhausting trying to correct their misconceptions.

That's why I was jazzed when a Twitter friend told me she used this picture in an internal presentation. She found it in a Creative Commons search on Flickr & was jazzed that she knew both the person in the photo and the person who took it. Win-win.

I find that sort of circumstance exciting. I'm so glad she told me about it because I seldom hear of my photography used correctly & in the spirit of CC. If more people said something kind or demonstrated responsible use, I think it would balance out the folks who run roughshod over the spirit behind the CC movement.

Maybe. At least hearing it keeps me from taking down my entire Flickr catalog.