The French news staff of the Corbis brands Sygma, Kipa and Tempsport instituted a work stoppage on January 28th. Additional stories in this Random Thoughts include: Corbis Acquires Sekani, Ad Sales Down in 2001 and Expectations for 2002, Zefa Opens London Office, National Geographic CD-ROM's Missing Some Pictures, Hemera Technologies and TimePix Changes Directions.
Getty Images has announced that they will close the Seattle design studio that produces catalogs and advertising material and move the operation to London. A main emphasis of the Seattle studio had been the design of marketing products for PhotoDisc.
SuperStock has developed a new two-tier online search strategy that will allow them to make many more images available for customer viewing than is the case with most other agencies.
SuperStock has changed their production strategy and closed their three studios in Jacksonville. In the past they had employed between 4 and 6 staff photographers and 3 producers. Now they believe they can get all the images they need from the photographers who work with them on contract.
The French Royalty Free agency, PR Direct has taken control of the bankrupt editorial agency GlobalPhoto. Photographers may receive no royalties for images licensed by GlobalPhoto before the bankruptcy was filed.
Creative Eye, a photographer cooperative, is in financial trouble. Founded in the summer of 2001 as a way to save the MIRA stock photo database originally developed by ASMP, it now is asking photographers to buy Preferred Stock shares at $1,000 each.
This interview with Tony Stone was written by Sarah Saunders and first appeared in Visuell in October 2001. It provides insight into where he thinks the industry should be headed, but he is still not ready to define his new role.
This story looks at some of the issues raised in the Saunders article on Tony Stone (Story 452) and offers some alternative points of view and things to think about.
Stock agencies need to examine new business models as an alternative, or add-on line-of-business to the traditional agency model. The one outlined in this story focuses on handling Editing and Research for customers and providing Negotiation, Collection and Payment services for photographers.
This issue of the printed newsletter has stories on Resolutions For 2002, New Business Model, Photographer Payment Problems At Getty, Where's RF Headed?, Getting Images Seen, Corbis Reorganization Of Sygma, Other French Editorial Agencies With Problems, and Effective Keywording.
Now is a good time to start your planning for 2002. This story offers a few resolutions for photographers and stock agents to consider.