How to feel about stolen work?

     Every once and a while I will come across a picture on Pinterest that looks like mine, and it is, but posted by another account. I will then go to that account and find out that they have 10million+ monthly viewers on Pinterest. I get upset because I have nowhere near as many, and those people could have saved that same exact picture from me, the person who posted the pin first. Or at least that's what I would think could've happened.

Some of my most stolen pins

I am not sure how to feel about this. Yes, I get upset at first, but really is it a big deal? Honestly speaking, all I did was take a picture, edit, and post. Also, Pinterest does not pay creators anymore, so it's not like anyone can profit off my photos through the app alone. I guess it is just a feeling of disappointment, that the most successful account's content isn't even their own.

Still, I am a hypocrite. I would be lying if I said a lot of my photos were not inspired by other photos I have seen on Pinterest. Afterall, Pinterest is a place to get ideas and make them your own. Still, I wouldn't try to post someone else's photo as my own. (except the two hair inspo pics from celebrities that I wanted to include in my hair inspo board but they were screenshots from a video because the image didn't exist on Pinterest). 

I start to think about all the pins I have saved that were posted by an account who stole the picture, and there is likely no way of  knowing that. Pinterest is a place of stolen pictures and art. Not to mention how AI has taken over the app, and how many of my photos are now tagged as "AI" although they are real photos. Once something is uploaded to Pinterest, it is no longer yours, it is Pinterest's'. 

So to wrap this up, I will get over my sadness of my photos being posted by other accounts. Especially since it happens all the time, to so many people. Although I get no credit, the image does get lots of exposer. I even saw one of my photos in an Instagram post for retro tech and I got excited that they included my image in their slide show! I have even seen some in small blog post! Even if I will never be able to know if they found the image from my account directly, or from an account that "stole" my image, it doesn't matter. I know it's my photo, and it's cool that many people like it!

Let me know what you guys think, and how you would feel. Have you ever seen these photos? 

Powering down,

-Digita1grl