In 2006 Noam Galai took a few photos of himself and uploaded them to his Flickr account. He got a few comments from people who liked it but nothing more. Then one day a friend asked him why didn’t he tell them that he was making t-shirts of his photo. At first he didn’t believe them then he saw one for himself. He went online and did a reverse image search using TinEye and was shocked at how prolific his image had become, all without his permission. It is even being used as a symbol of protest in Iran.

The people at Fstoppers are responsible for this great video entitled “The Stolen Scream”, it details his story, and how he has become an anonymous and uncredited global icon. Ironicaly he tried to sell the photo to Getty Images, and they told him there was no market for it.

In the Video Galai says that National Geographic are the only company who paid him for his photo. He also says the photo has been used in 40 countries and is still counting. A cautionary tale to say the least.

The Stolen Scream: A Story About Noam Galai from FStoppers on Vimeo.