I can't understand anyone who would pass judgement on the photographer. You might think it's a bit scummy to be taking secret photos from under a truck, but I'd argue MTB media has created and stoked excitement for exactly this kind of content by publishing countless stories and photos of prototypes seen at races, factories, trailheads etc. Some stories even encouraged by brands in order to get people excited ahead of a new release, and even then written with the air of revealing some secret. To expect the public to understand and respect an industry insider unwritten code when it comes to these stories is not realistic.
John Q. Public reads PB or Vital and every day sees his community getting excited over secret photos of prototypes; of course he is going to take and post one when he sees the opportunity. I don't even see an issue with him "wanting to be paid for the next one". I get the feeling he is just being cheeky there, but professional photographers and journalists presumably get paid while making similar contributions. At most, you could say it would have been a decent thing to introduce himself before taking the photos. Maybe, but not doing a decent thing is not the same as doing an indecent thing, and you'd have to be pretty naive to expect the public to behave at a standard of always doing the decent thing.
Companies that value their secrecy need to have measures in place to protect it. Media outlets need to be clear and consistent in what they will or will not allow public to post, and in how they handle photos of prototypes in general across all brands. Some comments above me suspect that if it were a Specialized or Trek, PB would not have brought the photo to the front page out of respect or fear of retaliation, but because Devinci is a smaller brand they ran with it. I doubt that's completely true, but if so that would be pretty depressing and would throw journalistic credibility out the window. I get the stench of this kind of brand-directed journalism (as opposed to consumer driven) from PB so often that it's hard to care about most of what I see there. NSMB is top-notch in my books as articles are obviously written with the end user in mind, and journalists' personality and preferences shine through even when they don't align with current trends.
Bottom line is the industry exists because of consumer interest. The industry needs to adapt and react to the consumers' desires and behaviour in order to serve them as best they can, not the other way around.
March 2, 2021, 2:04 p.m. - BadNudes
I can't understand anyone who would pass judgement on the photographer. You might think it's a bit scummy to be taking secret photos from under a truck, but I'd argue MTB media has created and stoked excitement for exactly this kind of content by publishing countless stories and photos of prototypes seen at races, factories, trailheads etc. Some stories even encouraged by brands in order to get people excited ahead of a new release, and even then written with the air of revealing some secret. To expect the public to understand and respect an industry insider unwritten code when it comes to these stories is not realistic. John Q. Public reads PB or Vital and every day sees his community getting excited over secret photos of prototypes; of course he is going to take and post one when he sees the opportunity. I don't even see an issue with him "wanting to be paid for the next one". I get the feeling he is just being cheeky there, but professional photographers and journalists presumably get paid while making similar contributions. At most, you could say it would have been a decent thing to introduce himself before taking the photos. Maybe, but not doing a decent thing is not the same as doing an indecent thing, and you'd have to be pretty naive to expect the public to behave at a standard of always doing the decent thing. Companies that value their secrecy need to have measures in place to protect it. Media outlets need to be clear and consistent in what they will or will not allow public to post, and in how they handle photos of prototypes in general across all brands. Some comments above me suspect that if it were a Specialized or Trek, PB would not have brought the photo to the front page out of respect or fear of retaliation, but because Devinci is a smaller brand they ran with it. I doubt that's completely true, but if so that would be pretty depressing and would throw journalistic credibility out the window. I get the stench of this kind of brand-directed journalism (as opposed to consumer driven) from PB so often that it's hard to care about most of what I see there. NSMB is top-notch in my books as articles are obviously written with the end user in mind, and journalists' personality and preferences shine through even when they don't align with current trends. Bottom line is the industry exists because of consumer interest. The industry needs to adapt and react to the consumers' desires and behaviour in order to serve them as best they can, not the other way around.