Design Pics Inc. Acquires First Light

By Jim Pickerell | 335 Words | Posted 12/20/2011 | Comments
Design Pics Inc., has acquired of First Light Associated Photographers Ltd., a Canadian based photo agency. The agency was originally founded in 1984 by Pierre Guevremont, Ron Watts and Brian Milne. First Light has been based in Toronto. Design Pics is located in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.

Pond5: 900,000 Stock Video Clips And Counting

By Jim Pickerell | 249 Words | Posted 12/20/2011 | Comments
In 2011 Pond5’s collection grew to over 900,000 and is expected to reach 1 million by early 2012.  Currently this is largest collection of video clips on the web.  In addition, the site offers 7.6 million still photos, 677,000 illustrations, and one of the deepest audio collections in the world, with more than 200,000 sound effects and 100,000 music tracks. Pond5 also has a small collection of customizable After Effects templates.

Tobias Names SVP Commercial Products At Corbis

By Jim Pickerell | 184 Words | Posted 12/20/2011 | Comments
Corbis Images has named Edie Tobias as Senior Vice President of Commercial Products. Based in Los Angeles, Tobias will be responsible for leading the Commercial product group and growing the Corbis and Veer businesses globally.

Licensing Images In Today’s Market

By Jim Pickerell | 1627 Words | Posted 12/19/2011 | Comments (1)
I’m regularly contacted by photographers, some with excellent portfolios, wanting to know how they can license rights to their images in today’s market. Recently, I was contacted by a nature and wildlife photographer whose work was excellent. This photographer regularly conducts Photo Workshops where he teaches others how to take great scenic and wildlife pictures. Here’s what I told him.

Design Pics Inc. Acquires Pacific Stock

By Jim Pickerell | 252 Words | Posted 12/15/2011 | Comments
Design Pics Inc., headquartered in Edmonton, Canada announces the acquisition of Pacific Stock, a Hawaii based photo agency. The agency was originally founded in 1987 by Barbara Brundage.

Editorial Microstock

By Jim Pickerell | 461 Words | Posted 12/15/2011 | Comments (1)
Microstock sites are usually thought of as places to go to find generic commercial images, not editorial coverage. But, recently several microstock sites have started accepting unreleased, editorial images. Dreamstime has provided links to images related to some of the major events its contributors covered in 2011.

Yuri Arcurs' Photographer Bootcamp

By Jim Pickerell | 169 Words | Posted 12/14/2011 | Comments
One-hundred-thirty aspiring commercial photographers from all over the world will descend on Cape Town, South Africa on 3 January 2012 to participate in the Yuri Arcurs International Commercial Photography Academy Bootcamp.

Does Print Have A Future: Statistics

By Jim Pickerell | 792 Words | Posted 12/13/2011 | Comments (2)
Some argue that there will always be plenty of print publications and demand for images to be used in print. This story provides some statistics on the Magazine industry, Printing Industry, Newspapers and the Internet that provide a depressing picture of where the demand for still photography is headed.

Permanently Imbed Metadata

By Jim Pickerell | 448 Words | Posted 12/13/2011 | Comments
A picture may be worth 1,000 words, but permanently attached descriptions are worth a lot more as photos travel through the digital world. A campaign has been launched calling for the embedding of descriptive and rights information in digital media and retaining it during the whole life cycle.

Long Term Usage Licenses: A Fairer System

By Jim Pickerell | 592 Words | Posted 12/12/2011 | Comments (2)
It has been pointed out that publishers need to license rights for long terms (25 years and more) because it is so difficult for them to track down image owners in order to license reuses years after the initial license. This is particularly true as a result of agency consolidations and agencies going out of business. I recognize the problem, but there is a simple solution that would be easier for the book publishers to administer and much fairer for image creators.

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