Honestly I can't say anything further, especially about any protocol. I was merely suggesting it so that his name is cleared, assuming it needs to be cleared. There's really no solid proof or evidence anyways that indicates any wrong doing. He said he is in tourism, so that kind of explains why his "friend" is literally in every magical city you can think of. It's not just "one" friend, and I get that now. It certainly makes monetizing pictures very easy!
One thing I do know is that the Steemit Welcome page suggests sharing of your own original work, so I've stuck to that since the start. To suggest that his clients send him bundles of amazing photography (it literally is amazing) during their trips so as to get a discount from his tourism/travel agency price is quite the niche. I just hope it's real, because he gave me some good pointers and tips when I was new. All I can really do is take his word for it. Hard to source acquaintances if he has that many clients, and I understand that part as well.
Would be nice to see more context with the pictures, but then again if he wasn't there and the pictures were sent to him it would be hard to do that. At least he puts more than 50 words, so no I can't necessarily say there's any protocol. It just seemed weird.
Some of the pictures appear in other places, which still doesn't prove anything other than perhaps his client also shared them on their social media.
The disclaimer, so to speak, states his friend sent the pictures. Were it me, I'd have a much sexier disclaimer. Something like "I'm in tourism, I'm a travel agent, this is what I do, here's my website or something and I gave my clients discounts in exchange for amazing pictures that I can share here." It would indicate a bigger passion behind my work and how I came across the pictures instead of just a broad statement like "my friend sent me this" cause it makes it seem like he's got one rich friend that happens to go everywhere and lets him monetize his photography. I'm not saying his disclaimer is wrong or not following any protocol, I'm just saying what I would do.
Photography is no joke. Some pictures can sell for big bucks. So it's certainly a touchy subject, but again, I've got no problems and there really isn't any protocol. I don't quite understand it myself, because I share my stuff. My photography. My work. Not someone elses because they gave me permission...except for maybe once, when I wrote an article about a video game and used my friends videos, inwhich case, I sourced him by name as the creator of the videos 100%.
My mom is a photographer and I've considered sharing her work on here through me. Sure, I have permission, but I choose not to because I'd rather share my stuff and not someone elses.
All valid critiques. Especially the bit about using these photos to advertise his/her own travel agency! But, then again, he/she might have to get permission from his/her travel agency, if he/she, is only an employee of said travel agency. Sort of complicating things further. And, does he/she need to get permission for every post that states his/her travel agency in the header!?
I think it's noble to only share your own work, kinda takes the headache out of all the sourcing one might have to do by sharing someone else's work. On Steemit, there are so many plagiarism hawks, it makes is quite risky to share others work anyway.