There is an actual good reason I put (c) Susie Kearley on mine - I agree that 'photo by author' is a bit stupid. Mine is to tell people that I own the copyright and to assert that fact to anyone who thinks they might just copy it and assume it's in the 'public domain' because they cannot tell the difference between things that are online and therefore made public, and things that are copyright free. Also, it's how I found out some of my stories had been plagiarised and got them taken down - they'd copied the copyright symbols too. 🤣 So that's one reason - in answer to the question. As for asserting that you didn't steal it, as a former editor who was offered photos that had been lifted from the web and not attributed at all, I can sympathise with editors who'd like a declaration that you didn't. But I do take your point. It's amateurish - but then so are a lot of the writers on here.