Practically any report having anything to do with multimedia includes
a mention of MediaStorm, a company that rightfully describes itself as
“widely recognized for quality editorial production and as leaders in
multimedia storytelling.” In addition to producing award-winning cinematic narratives and consulting for the
world’s largest nonprofits and media companies, the company also has a
training offering—and its next Methodology Workshop registration closes
at the end of the month.
Unemployment in the United States may be affecting freelance
photographers in some not so obvious ways. While many photographers and
designers have either lost their jobs or are under employed what we
often forget is that those who still have viable businesses may now be
competing with the unemployed as they produce new images as a way or
earning a little extra cash.
So localization as a marketing concept is not so new. For instance, in
the American retail space—think big supermarkets—“buy local” went
hyper-popular a couple of years ago, with big brands like Hannaford and
ShopRite touting their support for local farms and produce. “Support
your local business” has been around for a while as well. Now more than
ever, image buyers are seeking images that resonate with particular
communities and locations—but what does it really mean to the stock
producer?
Dallas Morning News publisher Jim Moroney III recently sent his
staff a memo that said: “We’re no longer a newspaper company. We’re a
news media company. The newspaper is just one way we package and
distribute the content we publish.”
Under a new agreement, Intellectual Ventures will exclusively sublicense Digimarc technology patents—for a $36 initial license-issue fee and 20% of further profits.
Photographers whose business it is to produce stock images that are
designed for use in textbooks should IMMEDIATELY look for another line
of work. For years the major textbook publisher -- not fly by night
organizations -- have been paying fees based on minimal press runs.
Then, with no regard whatsoever for the written contracts they executed
with the sellers, they have made extensive additional uses of the images
without making any attempt to compensate the image creators in any way
for the use that exceeded the original license agreement. These
additional uses have resulted in millions of dollars of extra revenue
for the publishers. Such actions were not occasional oversights, but
policy.
This is the first of five articles where Dan Bailey discusses his 15 year odyssey in photography, from being an amateur to making a living taking pictures. He starts out by outlining a number of things you need to consider before deciding to jump from amateur to pro. In future he'll discuss Getting The Gear and Expertise, Marketing and Self Promotion and other aspects of the Business of Photography.