I photographed this parrot during a ten-day press trip through Guatemala several years ago. I believe it was taken near the Mayan pyramids of Tikal, or possibly around Lake Flores – both unforgettable places with an extraordinary mix of history, color and wildlife.

Anyway, I mention this because I recently licensed a completely different parrot image, taken on Maui, Hawaii, to a researcher in the Electrical Engineering Division at the Department of Engineering, University of Cambridge, UK.

Having my photography spread across the internet is, unfortunately, a necessary evil. Over the years, many of my images have been used without permission or proper licensing, often in commercial contexts.

On a few occasions, after threatening legal action, I have been fairly compensated and I should arguably probably spend more time tracking where and how my work is being used or misused.

But as a lawyer friend once told me a long, long time ago, I am probably better off being creative than chasing infringements.

At this stage of my life, creating new images and having honest people license or buy them matters far more than spending my time as an image-rights detective. I know there are services that do this, but you still need to put in a lot of effort to figure out who is in the right and who is stealing.