What’s Cookin’ ?

Tags

besan, besan recipes, chilla, crepes, dosa, dosa with stir fry vegetables, food, food from india, food photography, fusion food, gram flour, Indian crepes, Indian food, Indian pancakes, oats, oats recipes, pancakes, Quaker Oats, Quaker Oats recipes, stir fry vegetables

And it turns to be besan ( Gram Flour) and oats Dosa/Chilla (Indian pancake) with stir fry vegetables. 

© All Righs Reserved Ravi Dhingra 

Copyright Violation Conversations

Tags

Copyright, copyright laws, Copyright Violation, intellectual property rights, ipr, makki di roti sarson da saag, unauthorised use of photograph, violation of copyright

Copyright Violation conversations:

#1
After exchange of pleasantries.
Copyright Violator (CV) : I am the head of marketing and I have decided to talk directly to you instead of going through my team. Mr. D (MD) , you are a brilliant photographer, just love your photographs, this photograph is just too good, feel like picking the food out of plate.
MD: Thank you
CV: Can we sort out this issue amicably, in a friendly manner?
MD: why not? And how do propose to resolve?
CV: Mr. D , we are a big company, we are into real estate , we are into hospitality, we have food business as well. There will be many business opportunities for you.
MD: I understand but can we resolve this issue first?
CV: Mr. D , we are a big company, we are into real estate , we are into hospitality, we have food business as well. We get a lot of photography done, you can be on our panel and do regular assignments for us.
MD: hmm. Sounds interesting. But can you afford me? I charge ₹xxx per day plus cost of food stylist plus digital processing charges.
CV: silence
MD: Let’s be friends and start doing business together.
CV: this is too much , right now we pay 1/5th of what you have quoted.
MD: I have seen your website & observed the quality of photographs.You also have an image of same food but you decided to choose my photograph for publication.
CV: I know but we can not pay what you are asking for.
MD: No problem, let’s try to resolve this issue for the time being, you pay ₹xxx as compensation for unauthorised usage. 50% to me & 50% to a charity referred by me.
CV: silence for a while…

This is too much. See Mr. D , we are a large company and we are in real estate and you know how real estate companies work , we have a strong legal team who will take up the matter.
MD : Are you threatening me? I am on the right side of law & you are on the wrong side here. I am sure your legal team understands Law. I do not have any problem if you want me to take legal recourse.
CV: a long silence.

I am just an employee here, let me speak to the owners of the company and get back to you.
MD: take your time. Bye.
#2
Email exchange.
Copyright Violator (CV): Dear Mr. Ravi Dhingra(MD),
With regard to your claims regarding the copyright of a photograph, I would like to mention that the photo has no copyright or watermark. We have not done anything which is against the law.
Please find below the link from which the photograph was taken:
http://www.nripulse.com/punjabi-delight-sarson-da-saag
It clearly shows that there is no watermark on the photograph or any other related copyright information. I am also attaching the screenshots for your easy reference.
Please also note that such type of defaming words for an organisation like us are not appreciated.
MD: Dear Mr CV
1. Thank you for you mail and thank you for accepting that you have used the photograph, makes my task easier.
2. I hope you consulted your legal team before offering an immature & loosely worded explanation for the usage of photograph. There are millions of images available on the web and none of these are “orphan”, these are owned by the creators or the licensed users. There is no way you can use any of these images without permission from either the creator or the licence holder(whether copyright sign is there or not).
3. Thank you for sharing the link from where you have downloaded the image. Unfortunately for you, this site has also used the photograph without my knowledge and permission and I will be initiating the process of taking action against them. You have used a “stolen” image which does not absolve you from the act of violation of copyright. Even on the screenshot you have shared ,it is explicitly mentioned that “the images may be subject to copyright”. Just in case you have the necessary permission from the website from where you have downloaded the image, kindly share the same.
4. Attaching the screenshot of the website where the original photograph is posted and you can see that the image was take on 15th December 2004 and it also mentions about copyright. As far as ownership of this photograph is concerned I have ample proofs, the camera metadata , Exif information, High resolution version, series of similar images taken at the same time etc. I don’t foresee any problem in proving that I am the rightful owner of this photograph.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/ravifoodphotos/2367784113/in/photostream/
5. Sharing a link to my blog which I wrote sometime back about copyright violation. This will also be interesting reading for you as it broadly explains the legalities and proposed action which I will be taking your organisation.
https://ravidhingra.wordpress.com/2015/05/13/copyright-or-right-to-copy/
6. It is upto you to decide the future course of action, whether you want to resolve now by paying compensation for the unauthorised usage or you want to go the legal way.
Looking forward to an early and simple resolution of this matter.
All the best
#RaviDvsGoliath
PS: the photograph has been removed on the website referred by CV after I sent them intimation of copyright violation

#3

Dear Mr. D,

Can you please share the proof of ownership so that we can review?
Also, as discussed, if you could share a proposal for photoshoot for our business centres.

Thanks,
CV

Dear CV

Attaching the following screenshots for your reference:

1. Thumbnails of high resolution photographs. As you can see, there are 3 variants of the same food item. The file extension is .tif which means that these are high resolution photographs which no one else will have other than me.

2. My Flickr profile page & the page where photograph was uploaded by me. I joined flickr in 2008 and as per the camera information displayed, the photograph was taken on 15th December 2004. No one else will create an account in my name, even if someone else does it,I will not be able to sign in but here you can clearly see,I am signed in.

3. File information- details of camera, camera settings,creator & date of creation. I still have the camera which was used to capture this image.

These are good enough for proving my ownership of the photograph.

As far as proposal for Photo Shoot is concerned, we will discuss that after this issue is resolved. Let’s keep the two things separate.

Looking forward to an early resolution.

All the best

MD

 

Food Photography

Tags

Classic Imaging, food, food photography, Food Photography Lighting, Food Photography made easy, Food Photography setup, Food Photography tips, Food Photography tutorial, food styling, learn food photography, Lighting for Food Photography, photography tips, plate to pixel, Ravi Dhingra, tips on food photography

The curious case of things falling off the crack

Tags

Chhole Bhature, Copyright, Copyright Violation, nearfox, nearfoxdelhi, stealing photographs, violation, violation of copyright

The curious case of things falling off the rack.
This is the most interesting response I have ever received to the Copyright violation notice.

So near yet so far ..

Der Alte

Indian Superfoods

Tags

book review, chiki sarkar, eat local, foid, food trends, health, healthy food, Indian Superfoods, juggernaut books, lose weight, nutrition, rujuta diwekar, stay healthy, super foods, superfoods

Indian Superfoods-Rujuta Diwekar

Just finished reading this book which I received in the afternoon.

Busts many myths about the food we eat and we avoid,things as simple as ghee,rice and sugar. Talks about food practices prevailing for centuries but are getting overshadowed by nutrition and diet fads which are updated  after every few years. Soya Bean was once considered the superfood especially for vegetarians, currently Olive Oil is the most healthiest option when it comes to fat. Theories about Cholestrol have  undergone a major change in recent times. The gullible people are  taken for a ride by the people associated with food, health and nutrition business. 

Food trends like fashion have been changing  and this book insists on sticking to the traditional and classic which is evergreen. Every region has local foods which are most suitable for the local population but because of so called ‘nutrition and health researches’ these are often ignored and food habits are changed for the bad. 

‘ Future foods are local foods-and people in the developing world would give up eating the local food because it’s less prestigious to eat them’   an excerpt.
A nicely written book in plain and simple language, concepts well explained with scientific facts. Highly recommended for everyone associated with food, nutrition, health, fitness which almost cover all. It is high time to change the way we eat.

Bruschetta

Tags

breakfast, Bruschetta, capsicum, colourful, delicious, english mustard, food photography, food porn, food styling, foodgasm, healthy, healthy food, home baked bread, homebaked, mustard, red pepper, salsa, yellow pepper, yum

Simple pleasures

Tags

Coffee, Coffee Shop, coffee talk, dharamshala, happiness, inspirational quote, mcleodganj, over a cup of coffee, poster, quote of the day, simple pleasures, simple pleasures of life, travel, travel photography

Holi- not just about colours

Tags

festival, festival food, festivals of india, food from india, gujia, gujiya, Holi, holi food, homemade, homemade food, kaanji, kachauri, kanji, Marigold, snacks, vrindavan holi

  
   
   
Holi for me is not about colour, it is all about the spirit of the festival . Don’t play holi but look forward to the Gujiya & Kanji combination. Happens only this time of the year when it is not too hot and not too cold,a perfect weather. 

Purni-blast from the past

Tags

food, food from North West Frontier Province, food from NWFP, food from undivided India, food photography, iphone photography, kachauri, moth kachauri, multani moth kachauri, nostalgic food, poorni, poorni kachauri, purni, purni kachauri, snacks, Undivided India

  
It is not kachauri,it is called Purni or Poorni,originating from NWFP (North West Frontier Province) in the undivided India. The stuffing inside is spicy boiled ‘Dhuli Moong Daal’ . It much more softer and much less chewy than the regular kachauri. The crust made out of ‘maida‘ is crispy but the filling inside melts in the mouth. Very few outlets run by people who moved after partition used to sell this but no longer.

Khatta Pickle-Something sweet,sour and bitter about it

Tags

ajwain, chutney, citrus fruit, cooking in India, crunchy, fat free, flavours of India, food, food photography, healthy, healthy food, iphone photography, khatta, local fruit of Himachal Pradesh, marmalade, pickle, recipe, recipe for pickle, sour, sweet and sour, tangy, zero oil cooking

   
 
The locals in Himachal Pradesh call it Khatta which translated in English means sour. A citrus fruit,size of an orange found in abundance in the hills, is too sour to eat directly and also the skin is too thick to bite into.

But a pickle made out of this works wonders for this fruit. Cut into small pieces mixed with sugar,salt,red chillies and most importantly ajwain (Carom) and left in sun in a glass jar for a month brings out a perfect sweet and sour taste,almost like chutney. And since the skin is thick and slightly bitter, it adds a bit of crunch and another flavour similar to orange marmalade.

Steamed rice,yellow dal and Khatta pickle make a perfect meal for a lazy afternoon in summers. 

Simply delicious.

Recipe: cut 4 khatta into small pieces and put them in a glass jar.

Add 2 tablespoons salt,10 tablespoons sugar, 1 teaspoon red chillies and 2 teaspoons ajwain.

Keep the jar in sunlight for around a month (Winter  & Spring,time will reduce in Summer).

Shake the jar daily. 

© All Rights Reserved Ravi Dhingra