Last week's Overseas Press Club of America awards placed Getty Images' achievements as a news organization on par with those of The New York Times. Former foreign correspondent, current United Nations representative for CARE International and OPC board member Kathleen Hunt singled out the two companies for their dedication to quality international journalism.
There is general agreement that the industry's No. 1 problem is oversupply, but what can be done about it? It appears the three majors are in the process of cutting supply by editing tighter and taking less from both individual photographers and small, specialized production companies. New production companies find it next to impossible to get accepted by the three major distributors that combined represent close to 70% of commercial sales industry wide. Without selling through at least one of them, it is next to impossible to generate enough sales from other distributors to support a production operation.
TheDataArchive, a London-based information-technology company, has relaunched the Web site of its wholly owned stock-licensing subsidiary, Construction Photography. In addition to a new look, the site utilizes the latest version of the company's digital asset-management technology.
Corbis has launched a set of new tools that target interactive-ad creatives. Among these is a pricing plan that allows high-end royalty-free images from dozens of producers to be licensed for $15 to $95. While price reductions for online image uses have been sweeping the industry over several months, this is the first public announcement of a cost as low as $15 from a major player.
Nature Picture Library (NPL) has acquired Bluegreen Pictures, a library specializing in sailing, boating, marine wildlife and landscapes photographs. Bluegreen was established by Karren May on the Isle of Wight and represents some of the top names in yachting photography.
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company (HMH) is asking image providers to agree to an addendum to current and new agreements that limits HMH's liability in the event more copies of a book are sold, or more online uses are made, than were initially authorized. It is expected that other publishers will follow suit.
Tom Wear, director of photography and editorial services at Digital Railroad, has released a list of "most wanted" images, identified by repeated requests from Digital Railroad Marketplace buyers.