When I take a photo most of the time I have a good idea where it’s going to appear and how it’s to be presented. Every now and again there is a picture that surprises you like the one below that has appeared in music magazines and websites across the planet for a long time. It was part of another shoot with Peter Hook and the Light of which none of the other pics from the same gig has ever been published. 

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I have a program running called “Pixtrakk” that looks for duplicated pictures from my website across the internet. Almost every month I get hits from this picture of Hooky from another news or music site using this image.  

Now, I’m sure you are thinking that, wow Craige you must be raking it in, but I’m afraid I agreed to a one-off payment for this picture in advance from Hookys team. This means that multiple uses are not covered by multiple payments.  

The main reason this image gained the promotion it got was because of Peter Hooks promotional machine, so as a lowly photographer in Manchester I can’t complain. It would have been nice to have had a name check on all those publications but that’s why I’m writing a BLOG article to try and retrieve some credit.  

Photography is a fantastic mistress cruel and very rarely kind, but when she is generous it’s a pure pleasure to be part of the process. Photographs are similar to children, you first create them, you help them grow and develop and then you send them into the world. Sometimes with a debt attached but most of the time with a willingness that they succeed in the world.

I am sure some of my images will be published long after I die, I hope that someone makes more money than I did.   

Regards 

Craige Barker (Photographer)