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PRESS RELEASES 32
March 1, 2007
Getty Acquires Michael Ochs Archives
Getty Images, Inc. has announced the latest addition to its entertainment offering with the acquisition of The Michael Ochs Archives, a renowned collection of music and entertainment imagery spanning the 1940s to the 1990s. Customers will now have easy access to high-quality photographs of musicians captured at live performances, private shoots and special events as well as images of entertainment personalities featured in films, television programs and social documentaries.
Founded in the mid-1970s by Michael Ochs, brother of legendary folk singer
Phil Ochs, the collection was compiled from a range of sources, such as
celebrity photographers, artist estates, music labels, publishers, and even
the garages of retired recording executives. This body of compelling imagery
has been captured by a solid roster of famed talent, including:
-- James Kriegsmann, house photographer for the Cotton Club in the 1940s,
who shot some of the first photos of Frank Sinatra and Simon &
Garfunkel
-- Don Paulsen, whose backstage access at the Apollo Theatre in the late
1960s enabled him to shoot an impressive lineup of the great Motown
stars
-- Earl Leaf, who shot Marilyn Monroe throughout her career and later
covered a wide array of musicians, ranging from Elvis Presley to Bruce
Springsteen
In addition to an extensive selection of iconic visuals, the archive contains many rare and unpublished works, delivering a unique perspective on 20th century pop culture. "Music enthusiasts, in particular, will be thrilled by the addition of this unique collection, which is arguably the best of its kind in the world," said Matthew Butson, vice president of Getty Images' Hulton Archive, the world's largest collection of photography and illustrative materials with over 40 million images dating from 1860. "We are delighted to bring on board Michael Ochs and his team, whose knowledge, expertise and passion for all things musical is unparalleled."
Over the past three decades, imagery from The Michael Ochs Archives has provided cultural context to a variety of entertainment and communication outlets, such as:
-- Music -- most CD re-issues, including virtually all of those from Rhino and Bear Family
-- Television -- "ABC News," "American Idol," "The Sopranos"
-- Films - "Dream Girls," "Walk the Line," "Ray"
-- Publications -- "He's a Rebel" Phil Spector biography, "Johnny Cash:
-- The Biography," "Louis Armstrong's New Orleans"
-- Advertisements -- Hennessy, GAP, Kenneth Cole
Approximately 15,000 digitized works from The Michael Ochs Archives will be available beginning this April at http://www.gettyimages.com/, with approximately 60,000 more to be added on a rolling basis throughout 2007. Further streamlining the licensing process, Getty Images will manage all associated rights and clearances.
"My goal with the collection has been to share this important piece of pop culture on a large scale while protecting its integrity," said Michael Ochs. "Getty Images is uniquely equipped to preserve this imagery and make it easily accessible to the world."
Getty Images is currently digitizing high-quality content from The Michael Ochs Archives.
Dreamstime.com Offers Professional Insight in New Community Blog
Dreamstime.com, one of the most hands-on, intermutual micro stock agencies in the industry, is pleased to introduce its newest interactive, educational sector. Recognized as a community agency, Dreamstime.com continues its commitment to its community to offer an innovative, informative, comprehensive and insightful active blog from its newest team authority, Ellen Boughn, Dreamstime.com Content Director.
The thirty-year photography expert will offer her keen yet straight forward insight on a number of topics pertinent to the stock photography industry as well as general information of creative nature to its contributors. The blog topics will be submitted from an entirely communicative perspective in laymen's terms for all of the Dreamstime.com community and visitors to comprehend. Blog discussions will offer guidance and a 1-2-3 education in specified areas such as exploring and targeting photography markets, effective keywording, image quality control, saleable photo subjects, tips on close-up vs. scenic shots, color trends, the use of props, and general directive to deliver the best quality/creative/saleable image for a specified print project (magazine and book covers). [http://www.dreamstime.com/Boughn_blog]
"The objective of the blog is to provide ideas and directive from a professional perspective to offer contributors a quick-study education-which will in turn allow them to become better photographers to submit images of the best quality and sale-ability for improved industry use overall," said Boughn.
Ellen's contribution will effectively improve the Dreamstime.com image of "keeping the pace" in the aggressive stock photography industry while encouraging Dreamstime.com contributors to stay ahead of the rest-making Dreamstime.com the "best" in stock photography agencies.
With more than 10,000 current contributors from novice, semi-pro and professional photographers, Dreamstime.com is fast approaching platinum status with nearly 1 million photos available.
Image Source Makes Fast Growth Award Shortlist
Image Source has been named as one of four finalists at the Fast Growth Business Awards 2007 in the International Business of the Year category.
Organized by Crimson Business in conjunction with Growing Business magazine, the awards are headline sponsored by T-Mobile. Both Crimson Business and T-Mobile are committed to recognizing and rewarding great businesses and the people running them.
"We're delighted to have been chosen as a finalist in the Fast Growth Business Awards 2007", said Duncan Grossart, Image Source joint CEO. "We've had an outstanding 2006 and smashed all our growth targets. Being a finalist in these awards is recognition of our achievements." He added, "As the only photography company to be nominated in any category, we're proud that we can show the stock photography industry is in great health."
The short-listing judges were overwhelmed by the quality and quantity of entries. Ian Wallis, editor of Growing Business magazine and Growingbusiness.co.uk comments:
"With almost 350 entries across 14 categories, the competition was fierce. The four finalists for International Business of the Year demonstrated great plans for future development as well as a substantial year on year turnover and profit, growing market share and a strong brand."
Winners of the awards will be announced at a prestigious awards ceremony at the London Marriott Grosvenor Square on 29 March 2007. The black tie event, presented by Adrianne Lawler of Sky News, will be an evening to remember. 14 businesses will win their categories and one business will be crowned the T-Mobile Fast Growth Business of the Year.
Photononstop Has Successful Year
Photononstop has reported that in 2006 it increased global turnover by 20% and its Export department showed a 60% increase. In addition, they have added new distributors and new photographers.
The company has 600,000 RM and RF images on-line from 300 photographers and around 30 collections. Other French collections will be added to www.photononstop.com in the near future on. Photononstop focuses on providing images with the "French Touch" and their website allows creative people to get the essentials of French photography in one shot. Photononstop has also produced a new collection of 22 CD of Royalty Free images under the brand "ONOKY".
A21 Appoints VP Sales And Marketing
The A21 Group, owners of Superstock and ArtSelect, among other brands, have appointed Bruce Slywka to the position of Vice President of Sales and Marketing, reporting directly to CEO John Ferguson. In this newly created position at A21, Slywka will lead the company's worldwide sales and marketing efforts for both the stock photo licensing and online consumer art and framing divisions.
Slywka brings significant executive experience managing global sales and marketing efforts for leading technology companies. Most recently, he served as Vice President, Worldwide Sales at Knowledge Adventure, a leading educational software firm. Prior to Knowledge Adventure, he was Vice President, Sales, at Vivendi Universal Games, a $240 million a year business. Slywka also had success in domestic and international sales and marketing at technology leader Broderbund Software.
"We are confident that Bruce's ability to develop effective sales infrastructures, strengthen brands, and create effective marketing campaigns will enable him to lead our global revenue growth efforts," commented Fereguson.
VPD Relocates And Hires Staff
The Virtual Picture Desk has relocated to larger creative offices in Chicago and London. Due to the continued increase in the number of our clients and business they have also hired additional staff and consultants, and are pleased to announce a number of senior management appointments.
Kim Tidwell has joined our Chicago Office as Project Director and is responsible for the co-ordination of client programs and the management of specific projects. Kim was formerly with Lonely Planet, Discovery Channel, Getty Images and Tony Stone. Kim's email address is KTidwell@VPDCorp.com;
Matt Pope will manage the new London office in the city center as our European Content Manager. He will continue overseeing the development of our UK and European clients' content. Matt was formerly with AOL, Photonica and Images Colour Library. Matt's email address is MPope@VPDCorp.com;
Alex Sinclair, based in the New York City office, has been promoted to New Business Development Manager. Alex was formerly our Research Manager and was previously with Mazer and ImageState. Alex's email address is ASinclair@VPDCorp.com;
The details for the new offices and contact information are as follows:
The Virtual Picture Desk - North America
Studio 21, Tree Studios
4 East Ohio Street
Chicago, Illinois 60611 USA
Tel. (001) 312 896 3414
Mobile. (001) 917 209 0867
The Virtual Picture Desk - Europe
Unit 507, Clerkenwell Studios
31 Clerkenwell Close
London EC1R OAT United Kingdom
Tel.(44) (0) 207 014 3405
Mobile (44) (0) 7961 094182
The Virtual Picture Desk (VPD) provides management and consulting services for the picture licensing industry and manages the global syndication for the distribution and representation of photo collections, production houses and picture agencies on behalf of its clients. Services include the editing and conditioning of content for global and international licensing, development of distribution networks and the sale and acquisition of picture collections.
VPD's clients are based in the USA, Canada, the UK, Continental Europe, South Africa and Japan. Our clients' distributors include Getty Images, Corbis, Jupiter Images and Amana as well as representatives and agents throughout the world.
The Virtual Picture Desk was founded in 2000 by George Sinclair who previously held senior executive positions at Getty Images and Corbis, after 25 years in the publishing industry in Europe and North America.
Getty Announces Winners Of Editorial Grants For 2007
Getty Images announced today that Magnum photographer Christopher Anderson from New York and Ziyah Gafic, a Getty Images contributor from Sarajevo, Bosnia, will receive grants that enable them to pursue their photojournalism projects.
Now in its third year, the grant program attracted a record 153 entries from
photojournalists in 26 countries. Their anonymous project proposals and
portfolios were reviewed in New York on January 18, 2007, by three judges:
MaryAnne Golon, Director of Photography, TIME (New York)
Rebecca McClelland, Deputy Picture Editor, Sunday Times Magazine (London)
Jean-Francois Leroy, Director General, Visa Pour L'Image (Perpignan,
France)
In addition to $20,000 in funding, each grant recipient will receive
collaborative editorial support from Getty Images' photo editors as they
execute their projects in the coming months.
Ziyah Gafic proposes to use his grant to complete his series of photo essays
titled "Troubled Islam -- Short Stories From Troubled Societies."
"My aim is to capture the quiet loneliness and determination of people trying
to carry on with their lives," he said, "when the very fabric of their
community, rituals and social life has been torn apart."
The series documents the aftermath of war and violence in the daily life of
Muslim communities in Europe, Africa and Asia, in a post 9/11 context. The
grant enables Gafic to complete his ninth and final essay on Lebanon,
recording the impact of recent hostilities as people return and
reconstruction begins in a place where Muslims and non-Muslims can still
coexist, despite their damaged relations and continuous foreign interference.
Christopher Anderson plans to focus on a project titled "The Bolivarian Revolution -- Venezuela and Bolivia at a Crossroads." He will focus on the new socialist revolution in Latin America -- a change fueled by oil, leftist nationalism, authoritarian populism and indigenous identity, yet ignored by Western media. But rather than highlighting the concrete manifestation of events, Anderson will strive to convey the humanity behind this loaded word, Revolution, and to brush an emotional portrait of a time and place.
"Oil and politics make Latin America relevant today, but I am shocked to discover that there is no interest or financial support from the magazines to cover these subjects," said Anderson. "I argue that Latin America does matter, and that this is a particularly interesting time to invest in documenting life there. My hope is that this grant will make that possible."
Judge Jean-Francois Leroy commented: "Being part of the jury for the Getty
Images Grant for Editorial Photography was really interesting. To be able to
go through more than 150 files is always fascinating. Very quickly, after the
first round, the strongest, most serious and thoughtful projects and the best
organized portfolios were easily identified and the choice of the three
judges, working together, was reduced to a dozen, without any hesitation.
It was exciting to recognize some portfolios from established
photojournalists, even though they were anonymous, as well as to see the work
from newcomers to the field. Agreement on the two winners was quite unanimous,
even obvious! In very different ways, both met the grants program goal and
criteria and I'm very glad with our two winners. They really were the best."
Aidan Sullivan, vice president, Photo Assignments North America for Getty
Images said, "Photojournalism brings to life the most pressing and engaging
global issues, whether political, social or environmental. In an increasingly
difficult time to raise funding for this work, we at Getty Images are
committed to helping these talented, dedicated photographers produce these
important projects."
More about the grants program, the judges, the winners, their projects and
portfolio work can be viewed at http://www.gettyimages.com/editorial-grants .