You probably should read the TreeBuzz thread regarding the intotrees/mtarborist 2011 Treephoto Competition before you continue here. The world must be full of cynics - I'm well into my second half century, so being cynical goes with the territory but it's surprising to see such vitriol from a bunch of (one would expect) relatively young, tree climbing arborists.
The concept behind the 2011 Treephoto Competition is quite simple (or at least this is how Joe and Jeremie explained it to Treetools).
Treetools has shot thousands of tree climbing/tree work photographs. No doubt plenty of them have been 'borrowed' by others. Trying to enforce copyright is 'like herding cats' (again, thanks Blinky). In most cases we are happy for people to use the shots, the only exception is competition retailers using our product photographs (the reason is obvious, and most retailers aren't cheeky enough to do that anyway).
Getting the right photograph usually takes a lot of skill, time and hard work and we recognize this fact - that's why Treetools was only to happy to assist Joe and Jeremie with the Treephoto project when asked.
So, if you do intend entering the 2011 Treephoto Competition please rest assured Treetools has no intention of using your photograph without permission or compensation and we are confident that applies to the other Treephoto sponsors as well.
Thanks 'Blinky' for summing up the usage rights issue - hopefully that is an end to the matter! Now start submitting those photographs.