"Photographed outside Madawaska, Aroostook County, Maine, across the St. John River from Edmunston, New Brunswick, Canada," one caption said. Yeah, it's been all over the place, most recently at the Urban Legends Reference Pages at www.snopes.com. Is it a real photograph, or one of those faked photos, like the one of the shark attacking a helicopter hovering over San Francisco Bay?
The photograph is real, but as any local could tell you, the McDonald's is the Homer Mickey D's at the corner of Lake Street and the Sterling Highway. Scott Cunningham, the owner of the Homer, Soldotna and Kenai McDonald's restaurants, said he heard a tourist took the photograph. That's not true, either. Not only is the photograph local, but so is the photographer, Steve Kaufman.
In February, the Urban Legends Reference Pages said it could not determine the veracity of the photograph. "But nothing about the photo or its accompanying text is implausible," the Web page said, noting Madawaska does have a McDonald's. "Perhaps the fast food chain's recent introduction of McSalads was the attraction in this case."
Sharp-eyed lower peninsula residents questioned the photo's alleged provenance, like former Homer resident Trapper Markelz, who wrote about it on his blog, www.tjmweb.com. Late last month, the Urban Legends Reference Pages updated its Web page, acknowledging Kaufman took the photograph at the Homer McDonald's.
Cunningham — who bought the Homer McDonald's in 1992 — said he was glad the misconception got cleared up.
"As the owner of the store, and a former Homer resident, I'd be mad if we were misrepresented," he said.
Kaufman said he took the photograph about 1987, during a particularly bad winter when a lot of moose had come into town and people had been illegally feeding moose — a practice he doesn't approve of by the way, he said.
A professional photographer, Kaufman markets his work through photography agencies such as Corbis, at www.corbis.com. The McMoose photograph was published last year in National Wildlife magazine and also reprinted in "Moose Views," a humorous collection of moose photographs published by Alaska Northwest Publishing in 2004.
"I was aware it had been floating around because people contacted me. I'm sure people have been scanning it from the magazine," he said. "Unfortunately, many people who see things on the Web think it's free."
How someone described the photo as being taken in Madawaska is anyone's guess, but it's why Kaufman's photograph became an urban legend. David and Barbara Mikkelson, who run the Urban Legends Reference Pages, weren't available for an interview. On their Web site, they write, "A tale is considered to be an urban legend if it circulates widely, is told and retold with differing details (or exists in multiple versions) and is said to be true."
Cunningham said he's received numerous e-mails of the photo from either customers or other owners of McDonald's restaurants in the Pacific Northwest.
"Everybody has their own little punch line," he said.
The McMoose photograph's circulation on the Web did get Kaufman a reprint sale. When photographer and editor Jeff Schultz saw it on the Web, he tracked down Kaufman and asked to use it in the "Moose Views" collection. Although its Web fame did get him a reprint, Kaufman said he'd rather not have his photograph be distributed widely and without his permission.
"When it goes around too many times, not many people want to buy it from you," he said. "I kind of police things like this."
He said in one case, a man in Tok copied Kaufman's photographs from postcards and made T-shirts. Kaufman sued him, and in the settlement, the guy lost all his scanners and had to pay a $1,000 per image copyright infringement.
"Most people are pretty good," he said. "They realize it's somebody else's property. If you want to use it, you should get permission."
Sometimes Kaufman gets requests from artists who have painted pictures using his photographs as an art reference. When the artists want to enter competitions, usually they have to sign a disclaimer that the work is original or they have permission. He usually grants permission in return for a payment.
With his wife, watercolor artist Marybee Kaufman, he has lived in Homer since 1981. His work has been featured in National Geographic, Audubon, Smithsonian and BBC Wildlife. With his father, Yogi Kaufman, he has produced five "coffee table" books, "Untamed Alaska," "Untamed Alaska Tenth Anniversary Edition," and three books about submarines, "Silent Chase: Submarines of the US Navy," "Sharks of Steel" and "City at Sea."
The Urban Legends Reference Pages also protects its copyright, and on its Web page notes that it charges a $250 reprint fee for unauthorized use of material — something that caught Kaufman's eye. Though the Web site corrected the McMoose story and gives proper credit for Kaufman's photograph, he said they haven't contacted him about reprint rights.
Michael Armstrong can be reached at michael.armstrong@homernews.com.
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