Dark side: community StockPhotos - warning

I joined this community a while ago and thought it would be a good place to be.
Great photos shared and some photos are rewarded very well. Of course a part of them is unique and deserve it but... There's also a darkside of the community StockPhotos.

The upvotes?

It isn't @steemcurator01 or one of the other big whales who upvote quality. It's a very small group that is rewarded and most of these photos are stolen from the internet. These photos are not owned by the one who posted them. This also means you can not use them without asking the photographer first.

It feels as if the community StockPhotos is a money laundry. A handful of users are very fat whales. They post a photo, rarely with text, never mention the owner, never upvote other community members and live in San Fransisco and Seoul at the same time.

Great photos

Some photos did attrack my attention so I asked: Are you the photographer mauro battistelli

And left the link of a site https://biyanjianmo.tuchong.com/17076825/

To my surprise this time I did receive an answer: I did not say I made this photo ok, it's from #hasselblad 2021

I don't feel comfortable in a community where people steal and earn with the hard work of someone else. I noticed many little fishes fall for it. They upvote. I know #steemit once had great photographers, creative people showing their work but this is not the community to be.

Goodbye to those I met there. I wish you luck with your own great photos.

I admit I am fooled by this community too. I hoped for integer people, creative people. Btw If you like to use my photos (photos only no text) feel free to and if you like yours to be used consider an account at pixabay.com.