Photographer makes bin-teresting discovery

“I'm happy they're using my work in my home town, but I just wish they put my name on it.”

A Cork photographer has described how joy quickly turned to frustration after spotting his uncredited photograph on solar bins all over Cork city.

While walking through town last month, Michael Finn noticed a photograph he had taken of Shandon Tower printed on the side of a solar powered compactor bin, of which there are 54 throughout the city, all using the same photograph.

The bins, provided by Big Belly Bins trading as Future Street, were installed last autumn and can hold up to 8 times more waste than the standard 120 litre street bins.

They have been hailed as a great addition to Cork city.

Mr Finn, who lives abroad for much of the year, was home on holidays when he noticed that his photo had been used on the bins without his knowledge or permission.

“It was a shock, I was taken aback," he told the Cork Independent.

“I was kind of happy about it at the beginning and then I thought - they never even asked me,” he added.

The Greenmount native, who is a professional photographer, said he believes the photograph must have been taken from his Instagram account as he did not have it on any stock websites or for sale online.

He said: “I came around the corner of the South Mall and clocked it straight away and I knew it was my picture, I could tell because I took it, I edited it, I knew the colours, the angles.

“I looked for my name straight away and there was nothing, it didn't have any name or my site or any of that stuff.”

Mr Finn said he still has the original file with all of the metadata to prove he is the owner of the photograph.

After sending numerous emails to Cork City Council, Mr Finn received a response on Monday stating the council had not been involved in the design of the bins or the choice of the photograph. The council told Mr Finn this was carried out by Big Belly Bins/Future Street.

The Cork Independent reached out to Big Belly Bins who responded promptly and issued an apology to Mr Finn and said they were under the impression that the photograph had been sourced in good faith from Discover Ireland.

Big Belly Bins said they would pay Mr Finn for use of his photograph and credit him on all of their social media pages.

A spokesperson for Future Street said: “As the bins are provided by us rather than the council, there seems to have been a breakdown in communication. We’ve now been in touch with Michael and licensed the photograph for all commercial and printing use.”