SFGate

Stone & Land, LLC I'm a novice exploring new ways to exploit social media ;) First poll done, pretty cool. A little tricky to get the image in there.

Laara Copley-Smith Garden & Landscape Design I had not thought of downloading of pinterest. is the Architect doing this to store as inspiration, mood board images etc.
I am experimenting with both, yet really I see pinterest as a good way to collate an entire wall of images on say : water & pools, topiary, soft planting ... as you view them collated , you can zip through them quickly.
Houzz has great images yet the wall is viewed requiring more time.

Houzz is more professional
I am certainly novice ... yet I just love imagery that inspires.

Stone & Land, LLC Thanks Laara for the advice, maybe the architect is packing it in and moving away from Pinterestland, (finding a new houzz). The job description was quite vague. Before I made this discussion into a Poll, a Houzzer - Carolina Photo To Go LLC brought up a point about copywrited material, and downloading. What do you think, are images on the web Open Source or Proprietary Material that cannot be used without the express written permission of the NFL? (national football league, they remind you not to "steal" any content after each airing) It's kind of a marketing dilemma. Get your stuff out there and “share” ideas or should I be afraid of BREAKING THE LAW if I show someone else’s imagery to help illustrate for me.

rogerc Regarding a file naming convention... I think you'll spend a lot of time trying to come up with a perfect solution if you let yourself. I'd go with your immediate, first reaction to a photo. Mine for this photo was 'hardscape'.

Stone & Land, LLC Ok cool, thanks rogerc. I think Houzz is helping me "See" things better, such great images, but what you see and what I see can sometimes be different. Language is also a consideration tagging photos, even if its someone english speaking. Laara might call it a "lift" and I'd call it an elevator.

judyg I thought houzz was here to gather together those of us, all over the world, who are interested in design..be it interior or exterior. It is one thing to get inspiration from pictures, generously shared by designers; but most definitely, deceitful, should you use those ideas and present them as your own.

Stone & Land, LLC judyg, I get what your saying but how is any designer or builder supposed to communicate with clients on what they want. Should I design it first, built it, photograph it and own all rights before I can present that image to another client. Most people can't articulate exactly what they want, or they've seen something in some sort of media and they say I want THAT, or a close replica, or THAT "style". I'm used to designing things that are one of a kind because no one has the same yard or property or taste or budget and so on.

I'm not making IPads. If I show you a picture of an IPad and a Google Nexus and suggest you use one, but I don't make them, is that deceitful? I don't take credit for things that I haven't worked on, but I do use images of plants, hardscapes and built items to communicate concepts because I haven't grown, built, or photographed all the things a client might want in their design. Whew! Sorry about the rant, not fully linear or logical but I feel better. I don't know, am I all wrong or lazy or the only designer who uses images to convey a concept?

Laara Copley-Smith Garden & Landscape Design just about all designers will use imagery to convey the vision
we all use books, photographic images ... it is required to deliver ones services to the full , to refine the initial brief by the client, discuss possible materials, concept ideas, finishes etc .
I really do not see how one cannot.

there will always be others who choose to do this without integrity , one just has to let that go & get on with being `Creative`.

astraea I agree with JudyG; the internet has made it all too easy for people to "appropriate" other people's material, to show off as their own. Obviously, once someone gets a contract, they have to produce, but it could certainly give someone an advantage in getting a lot more work, than just showing off their own material.

When I had my deck redone last year, the contractor had a website, but also brought a large portfolio of photos of his projects .. with addresses of each home, and a list of past clients I could speak with individually, and possibly see their homes. Maybe that's "low tech", but certainly gave me a higher level of confidence, that what he showed as his work, was REALLY his work.

Stone & Land, LLC Thanks Laara & astraea, again I'm sorry for the rant. It’s been a struggle as a somewhat newly independent designer to get established, especially in residential work. Over the last couple of years I finally have a couple really nice back yard rehabs installed (so I might get some good after shots), but the way I've set up my business is through contractors who don't have a designer on staff, therefore I don't build and really don't have the contract with the owner or a lot of contact with the client and the ability to photograph built work. The rest of my career was with companies who really "OWN" my work, they pay me a salary, I produce, and hopefully they make a profit from my ideas and work. It was mostly commercial & park district work. I link back to them when I use an image I produced under their employment. Is that enough? I'm promoting those former companies.

I know this has morphed a little from Pinterest but I think Houzz can be a great tool to show an ideaboard to a client or we can collaborate, edit, and "SHARE". You basically give up those ownership rights when you post them on Houzz or anywhere on the internet.

Laara Copley-Smith Garden & Landscape Design Daniel ,
I am sure that the client would allow you to take photographs. One of my projects at present is for a bespoke properties design & build , yet I still have contact with the client as even though I am working for the company the garden is the clients. So it is essential we have contact to discuss the concept, brief , design.

May be you need to look at continuing to work for the main contractors yet part of the agreement is that the Client is involved in you recieving the brief .
This way you build a relationship with the CLIENT .... which gives you the opening to log the progress , design installation & end produce

Also this opens the door to the possiblity to be recommended.

RE: PAST work : whoever you worked for , whether you were full time employed what you designed was still designed by You

If you collate this work you can present it in your portfolia as design works YOu produced whilst working full time for ....... such & such company . You are not taking the ownership from them you are just stating the truth that you designed it . You are not stating you built it . Just whatever your part in the process was.
Every body , or most will say on their resume what they did in the past , it really does not make any differnce you were employed .... it is an integral part of your background, your professional experience .
I think you could do with some THINKING outside of the box

Laara

astraea As a long-time homeowner, I would have been happy to accommodate any subcontractor, or even an individual tradesman, who wanted to photograph his handywork, getting before & after photos if possible. I know a few individuals who confided in me, that they were planning to go out on their own, to have a greater benefit from their own skill & hard work .. and having a portfolio & references is part of that. I guess it would be a big problem, if you work for a larger company, with a policy where employees are not allowed to make direct contact with homeowners.

Interiors International, Inc. I use both.

Stone & Land, LLC I think you have some good ideas Laara, but also reading astraea's comment made me think maybe I'm not ethical in using the work I've done for others. If I had an employee and he was using the security of my employment to then launch on their own, I'd feel a little used. I had a friend who got in some legal trouble supposedly trying to lure clients, the whole non compete clause thing. Somewhat disconcerting.

BTW I noticed when I comment here I see the results of the poll. If you’re new to the discussion, do you see the results or have to vote to see them? It’s the first one I created. I also appreciate all the feedback and would encourage anyone else with an opinion or experience to keep commenting. Thanks - Daniel

Laara Copley-Smith Garden & Landscape Design I feel we have to make decisios on this with integrity & care.
I have been self-employed always in this industry , also in another industry.

I did not see a poll .

PS I did ask a number of clients to give reviews all of which highly recommend my work. However non are members, or signed up to houzz & they wish not to , so they cannot give me a review.

Laara