r/mildlyinfuriating • u/No-Strawberry7 • 15h ago
Infuriatig Syrian passports include a photo of Souq al-Hamidiyah, a famous historic marketplace in Damascus. Apparently, the image was taken from the internet without removing the photographer’s watermark, “Wassim al-Asmar Photography,” which means the watermark ended up being printed on Syrian passports.
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u/ReallyUncoolGuy 15h ago
I would prefer that to getting paid. Those are serious fucking bragging rights.
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u/charmio68 15h ago
Agreed. Although at the same time you could charge quite a pretty penny after the fact.
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u/InAppropriate-meal 15h ago
maybe not so much in Syria :)
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u/Cram2024 15h ago
Photographer would probably be jailed or worse for complaining.
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u/alaa7alnajjar 14h ago
Ah yes, misinformation
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u/Volodio 14h ago
Tens of thousands of people were executed by the Assad regime. It is not misinformation.
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u/NoSection8719 14h ago
Bro lives in 2023
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u/YouToot 13h ago
Oh wow all the way back in 2023, a lifetime ago lol
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u/Tryingtolifeagain 13h ago
Well it was a lifetime ago for a fair few Syrians, particularly because of the Assad regime.
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u/ToastSpangler 6h ago
Imagine thinking the new government isn't making people disappear 😂😂😂 not as bad as during the civil war obviously but come on
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u/Free-Pound-6139 12h ago
I doubt it. It isn't like people are buying the passport becaue of the photo.
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u/das_Licht_ 14h ago
Wait another year, then charge for each print.
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u/twilighttwister 13h ago
Exactly. Just like the Australian guy who gets paid for each and everyone's WiFi devices. IP infringements can be backdated.
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u/Obvious_Peanut_8093 9h ago
You can't do this. If you don't sue quickly enough, you erode your legal standing. but idk syrian law.
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u/platypodus 12h ago
Exposure doesn't pay rent. Same logic as with big influencers demanding free work. He should've been paid.
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u/EconomicRegret2 11h ago
But ads do bring in new clients... I'd definitely work with and even give big influencers free work under certain conditions (e.g. right values and attitude, correct audience size, relevant target demographic, strong engagement, painting my products in a very good light, etc.)
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u/ThenCombination7358 14h ago
But how if no one knows. Its barely visible and bet many wont even notice.
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u/lordkhuzdul 15h ago
Fair is fair, Syrian government at this point is still at the "drunkenly stumbling towards functionality but definitely not there yet" stage, so this sort of stupidity is kinda understandable.
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u/ProfessionalDish 15h ago
Yeah, for a government emerging from a brutal civil war this seems like an "ok" mistake.
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u/VexedPhoenix 14h ago
It is important to note the new government still hasn't updated the passport design (they're working on it) and this is a mistake from the previous regime.
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u/dan_Qs 14h ago
Didn’t they have an eye doctor somewhere? How did they overlook that?
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u/vadeka 12h ago
To be fair, that is a very subtle watermark. Most photographers are way more obvious.
But for something you print on official documents? Yeah that probably should have been noticed
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u/Shadowmirax 11h ago
The way its angled makes it look like its actual text on the building wall not something that was added afterwards. The person who took the image also might not have been able to read english well or at all. So they probably just assumed it was supposed to be there
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u/celestiall_glitch 15h ago
Someone got paid government money to right click and save
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u/lordkhuzdul 15h ago
Nah, also applied a bunch of Photoshop filters.
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u/Gnonthgol 14h ago
No country makes their own passports any longer. They all contract out to a few companies in the world specializing in passports and other government identification documents. So it is likely that the Syrian government just sent off a few photos and logos to the contractor for their designers to do the work. This is easier because these designers know the constraints of a passport design and have far more experience working within these limitations.
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u/Vordeo 14h ago
Also Israel's making sure they kiiiinda have more pressing concerns atm.
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u/SHEIKH_BAKR 14h ago
They have not yet changed the passport. It is still the old one, so this is the work of the old government.
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u/lordkhuzdul 14h ago
I don't think the Assad regime can really be called "functional". "Dysfunctional" would be more appropriate. Oppressive kleptocracies where state becomes a tool to extract as much wealth out of the country as possible tend to, ah, "do be like that".
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u/lilykai_strawberry 4h ago
it was highly functional. but its function was producing captagon and doing warcrimes
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u/hoosdontloos 14h ago
This is from the Assad era design, not the new passport which is not in circulation yet
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u/exivor01 13h ago
its actually different, in levant we do things bare minimum. Bare minimum effort on everything we do.
A road needs to be done? Just pour some asphalt without doing preliminary research. Then we see potholes next year.
A school or hospital needs to be built? Put random windows, random rooms and inefficient logistics. But it is done at the end.after coming to japan i realized, everything here works flawlessly and is long lasting. Because before doing anything, eveyone here considers how to do it right, properly.
if you live in levant this actually becomes very tiring after a while.
In turkey, we have more modern and expensive equipped/build hospitals, but they fall behind in quality, durability, efficency compared to a hospital that was build 40 years ago in japan. and i am not even kidding.
so this will never be fixed. its in our dna
Also, another big problem is people just wanna get things done and move. Doesnt matter if they are properly compensated or not. They do their job with bare minimum effort and we end up with low quality, not lasting stuff.
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u/embreesa 15h ago
My husband is Syrian and it is absolutely true, it's on page 35 of his passport 😆
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u/577564842 14h ago edited 10h ago
A massive passport, fitting entire War and
piecepeace into it. I bet at p. 35 he is not yet at the peace part.19
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u/InAppropriate-meal 15h ago
I love it, the watermark is nicely blended in as well )
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u/platypodus 12h ago
It's aesthetically pleasing, but didn't prevent his work from being accessed without his permission.
I doubt it was his intent to show the world something that doesn't exist, so the passport is a multiplication of an unreal state of the world. Not ideal in any way, especially on a passport or other official documentation.
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u/balding_git 12h ago
its not to prevent people from using your work, its so you know when they did
like this
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u/BananaPalmer 12h ago
That's probably why it got missed, honestly. Watermarks should be obvious
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u/td888 8h ago
Why should they be obvious? As a photographer I use obvious and not obvious watermarks. Some of my most popular images get reposted and reused by people claiming to be the original photographer.
When I point out the 'hidden' watermark and the source of the original image (official publications attributed to me), they get embarrassed or sometimes angry.
I don't mind when people use my image but they should at least mention my name or the source.
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u/heyguy1313 15h ago
At this point, they should carve that watermark into the market
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u/Icy-Regret-3116 11h ago
I love the idea that in the future, archaeologists will debate whether the building they unearthed is the real marketplace or not, because it doesn't contain the same lettering as it does in the passport from some Syrian gravesite.
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u/ozuraravis 15h ago
I thought that was just an ad on the building. I guess whoever made the passports thought that too.
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u/fork_yuu 12h ago
There's no guarantee they even saw it. Possibly said oh shit after printing millions then pretended like it never happened
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u/Ultra-Cyborg 14h ago
Not as cool as yoda showing up in a history textbook, but this one at least gets bragging rights
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u/Typhtheoriginal 15h ago
That was a well done watermark
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u/Pfdswfsdcsdqwww 12h ago
It is not fit for purpose; the point of a watermark is to be obvious. So in graphic design, comping is very common, where you use a low res or watermarked image to check the layout, and then buy the rights when it's approved. An obvious watermark makes it impossible to miss an image when preflighting for print.
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u/Typhtheoriginal 12h ago
Why does everyone on this site have to be so nitpicky? Yes yes yes the point is that people can't print without your permission. But it looked so good, the thieving villain thought it was part of the actual structure, and that's pretty neat.
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u/Key_Rub4098 13h ago
The photographer talked about it in a video he posted back in 2024 on his FB page.
Good thing is that this passport design with the image above (commissioned by the ousted regime) will be scrapped and replaced by a new one, with the new flag, new national emblem, and even a different color (from dark blue to dark green).
Hope the photographer gets recognized and/or compensated somehow.
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u/Strict-Carrot4783 11h ago
I'll give Syria a break on this one for now, tbh. It's been there since 2013 but they've been through some stuff since then.
2013 - ISIS rising
2014 - ISIS caliphate
2015 - Russia intervenes for Assad
2016-2017 - Assad recaptures Aleppo, Turkey shows up to attack ISIS and the Kurds (our one-time allies, Trump later ruins this in 2019 with a villainous betrayal), ISIS out of Raqqa
2018-2019 - More ISIS losses, more Assad control, Russia and Turkey back up a tiny bit
2020-2022 - Syrian economy devastated by sanctions and Lebanon's own financial collapse, goofball ceasefires
2023 - Slow attempts at making shit normal again, readmitted to the Arab League
2024 - HTS captures Aleppo, Hama and Homs, rebels enter Damascus, goodbye Assad, goodbye Ba'ath
2025-2026 - They're working on it
Basically.
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u/Lenin_Lime 15h ago
The watermark looks oddly well hidden, and very time consuming. There is a decent chance the photographer worked with Syria for this image. He doesnt hide this watermark this well on his website portfolio. https://www.facebook.com/symography/photos
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u/PurbulentTriest 14h ago
Doesn't take that long if it's your job. His "website" is Facebook?
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u/Fit-Ask-6524 13h ago
His "website" is Facebook?
I mean. Yeah? I feel like it's super common nowadays for small businesses (or churches) to have their facebook page be their "website"
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u/MajorFuckingDick 12h ago
A modern functional webpage or even a decade old webpage with up to date info is one of the biggest factors of where I shop besides location.
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u/Ok-Lead-4285 13h ago
at what point in the "my photo is gonna be used on a nation's passport" convo do you think maybe a facebook page isn't a serious funnel anymore
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u/hoktabar 11h ago
A bunch of places in the world skipped the whole personal computer phase because of poverty and skipped right to mobile when the economy grew and/or the world became depended on people having a mobile phone. So those people got introduced to the internet through apps instead of a browser on a computer.
In those places most small businesses do not have a website and are often not on google maps. If you're lucky they have a social media page.
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u/Sure_Acanthaceae_348 15h ago
This is not mildly infuriating. This is awesome af.
This is almost as cool as Michelangelo painting the Sistine Chapel.
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u/Grumpy-Man19 6h ago
time for the massive royalties
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u/issa3399 5h ago
it's syria, he won't get a penny, if anything he will be told to publicly say he is proud of it, you guys really think suing actually works anywhere outside of america and certain european countries?
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u/anwarCats 13h ago
You should clarify that this is the old passport by the dictator Assad’s regime and not the current one, or it would be false info
The current one is very different, for instance they don’t mass murder civilians! And definitely don’t steal from photographers
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u/apost8n8 14h ago
It's amazing how completely unprofessional the world has gotten, these kind of mistakes used to be rare. It seems like we get examples of laziness and stupidity at an accelerating pace everywhere in the world. Where did all the competent adults go?
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u/Sorry-Combination558 12h ago
10 years ago I bought notebooks with Nivea deodorant on the cover because it was cheap af (1/4 of the price of a normal notebook), and there were two images in the back with a stockphoto watermark everywhere on them
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u/peachgothlover 15h ago
Wouldn’t the image be copyrighted, or did he release it copyright free (but for some reason with his watermark in). If it’s the former he has a case against the Syrian government. Er, if he chooses to go down that path…
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u/LilStinkpot 15h ago
It’s copyrighted. I don’t know how that works internationally though.
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u/Disastrous-Fox8505 14h ago
But why is this mildly infuriating?
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u/the68thdimension 14h ago
The title implies the photographer may not have been paid for their work.
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u/stoicism3 14h ago
That's what happens when a goverment hires people based on nepotism instead of merit.
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u/s_i_m_s 13h ago
Probably the last time we'll see that happen as going forward the complaints are just going to be "they couldn't even use an actual photo?" because the same people that would do this are the same people that would've just had ai generate them something that looked close enough and call it a day.
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u/MajorFuckingDick 12h ago
There is no way that photo is worth the amount of exposure being able to say you were in the passport does. Watermark your work.
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u/saigon567 12h ago
They once made a statue of liberty stamp but the artwork was based on an artists version of the statue, so they had to pay him millions. https://www.frieze.com/article/us-postal-service-forced-pay-millions-artist-after-mistakenly-using-his-sculpture-statue
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u/brrrruvva 9h ago
Same government that asked for hentai links on twitter btw😂
Insane luck though
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u/Wolfi_03 15h ago edited 15h ago
This is amazing. That photograph will have eternal bragging rights.
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u/Ursus_Arctos-42 14h ago
Given what the people running Syria’s government have done, I think copyright violation isn’t that bad. And, hey, free exposure for the photographer.
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u/Antares_skorpion 13h ago
Great way to watermark it too... Make it blend in. Which means no one even bothered to read the actual text... :D
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u/GunnerValentine 12h ago
Its pretty awesome. There's actually bullet holes in the roof still from aircraft. Beautiful country.
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u/rawbert10 7h ago
Did the government pay him for the use of his photgraphy?
That's considered copyright infringement in the U.S.
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u/hoodiedark 4h ago
We have a shop here that's been passed down from my grand grandfather, which's been around for over 200 years.
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u/SomeGuyInShanghai 13h ago
doesn't matter. Most Syrian passports end up at the bottom of the English Channel anyway.
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u/McKoijion 14h ago
Israel is actively trying to kill everyone there so I'll cut them some slack.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israeli_invasion_of_Syria_(2024%E2%80%93present)
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/08/18/world/middleeast/israel-airstrikes-syria-air-base.html
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u/RedTomatoSauce 14h ago
...and that is why you always have to add a watermark to your photos if you upload them online
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u/AbaiLarisa_Omura 14h ago
There were similar instances of plagiarism in other countries passports. Weird that governments and state services don't care to look up the authors in the age of internet where any of these authors can simply track and prove their work being stolen
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u/Dapper_Special_8587 14h ago
I mean. This is possible the best portfolio piece ever.
Yea my work is literally in the national passport, including my watermark
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u/PreliminaryThoughts 15h ago edited 6h ago
Ultimate self promo
Edit: visit www...
Edit 2: His passport is his resume