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Online photography community 500px has alerted one of its most prominent users, Polish photo artist Michal Karcz, that his work is no longer welcome on the platform. According to a post Karcz published on Facebook, 500px warned the artist that ‘non-photographic content’ on his account is now in violation of the company’s Terms of Service.
The decision to ban Karcz’s digital artwork highlights a major change in policy for 500px, which historically not only welcomed Karcz’s work, but also repeatedly praised it with multiple ‘Editor’s Choice’ and ‘Year’s Best’ designations. According to Karcz’s Facebook post, his work on 500px has received more than 7 million views, 168k ‘Affections,’ and his account has nearly 35,000 followers.
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| One of the photo illustrations Karcz shared on his 500px account. Used with permission |
Karcz’s was declared a ‘Photoshop master’ in an article 500px published on its blog to showcase his work. The content blends photography and digital art to present viewers with unique, in some cases other-worldly, images of reality. These same images are now in violation of the 500px guidelines, a representative clarified to Karcz in a second message:
Hi there, Unfortunately photomanipulations based on photography is not photography and our website in the current iteration is evolving into a purely photography website. Not only that, our terms of service require you to be the copyright owner of the images you upload so if you’re editing bits and pieces of other peoples imagery then you’re in violation of that. I personally am a fan of your artwork but unfortunately it doesn’t fit within the conditions of our site at the moment.
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| Another photo illustration Karcz shared on his 500px account. Used with permission. |
Karcz’s 500px account is still live on the service at this time and still features the same ‘non-photographic content.’ It’s unclear whether the account will be deleted, but Karcz’s work remains live on Facebook and his personal website.
Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)