Articles by Author

PhotoAlto Upgrades Website

By Jim Pickerell | 134 Words | Posted 9/30/2010 | Comments

PhotoAlto has announced that it has just completed a year long project in which the company re-designed and rebuilt is website incorporating only the latest search and web technology. Visitors will immediately note streamlined stylistic and design changes, and will be presented with an enhanced choice of search features, quicker browsing speeds, a simplified thumbnail display, and an all around increased ease of use and intuitiveness to the website.

Scammers Prey On Unsuspecting Photographers

By Jim Pickerell | 973 Words | Posted 9/29/2010 | Comments (1)

Photographers marketing their images through online web sites should be alert to common art scams that seem to be growing in frequency. This is particularly true for those trying to sell physical works of art (fine art prints).

Going Pro: Rise Of The Amateur

By Jim Pickerell | 1044 Words | Posted 9/28/2010 | Comments (2)

Many professional photographers are disturbed by the changes taking place in their careers. Photographers who dream of earning their living taking pictures will, at the very least, find that goal much harder to achieve than it was for their predecessors. Amateurs have taken over an increasing share of the business. And their share will continue to grow. The shift from professional control of the market to significant amateur involvement is irreversible and will accelerate. That doesn’t mean that no one will be able to earn a living as a still photographer. But many fewer will do it successfully than was the case in the past. There is no way to predict the amount of the market amateurs will finally control, but it will be significant.

iSyndica Closes Its Doors

By Jim Pickerell | 160 Words | Posted 9/28/2010 | Comments

iSyndica, the automation service that allows photo and video producers to batch-upload content to multiple stock-selling and photo-sharing Web sites, has announced that it will be closing its doors as of October 10, 2010. Effective immediately, contributors will no longer be able to place orders for credits or storage, or change their subscriptions.

ASPP Selects Barbara Smetzer as 2010 Picture Professional of the Year

By Julia Dudnik Stern | 123 Words | Posted 9/27/2010 | Comments

Photolibrary Relaunches Web site, Opens Paris Office

By Julia Dudnik Stern | 72 Words | Posted 9/27/2010 | Comments (1)

New Group Proposes iPad Photo Use Fees to Publishers

By Jim Pickerell | 757 Words | Posted 9/27/2010 | Comments

As we move forward in the digital publication age, a group of celebrity photo agencies has untied into the Editorial Photo Agency Guild, which is leading the way in attempting to establish some pricing principles for the use of photos in iPad applications. The need for a unified approach in bargaining became apparent when People magazine announced its plans to launch an iPad application and provide it free to print subscribers.

Going Pro: Video

By Jim Pickerell | 2071 Words | Posted 9/24/2010 | Comments

In theory, there should be major growth in demand for video in the near future. However, people have been making that prediction for more than a decade, and it still doesn’t seem to be happening. In fact, videographers who were among leading sellers of video clips a decade ago are now reporting that their sales are down 50% from what they were just three or four years ago. It is unclear whether this decline only applies to a select few or if revenues are down across the board. At the same time, it is apparent that video as an industry is growing, offering still photographers an opportunity to transition or at least diversify.

Corbis Trends Reports Return to Predict Shift from Tech to Touch

By Julia Dudnik Stern | 280 Words | Posted 9/23/2010 | Comments

Corbis has released The Human Touch, a creative trends report that highlights a new balance between the convenience of technology and personal interaction. The trend builds on the techno-backlash observed by researchers for several years.

Is Average RPI a Useful Measure?

By Jim Pickerell | 730 Words | Posted 9/23/2010 | Comments (2)

The average annual income or a large group of photographers is pretty meaningless. It depends greatly on how many images a photographer has in a collection, generally how productive he is, the kind of imagery he shoots, whether his work is represented by a single agency or many agencies, which agencies in particular, and probably a number of other factors.

About Michael Masterson

Michael Masterson has a broad range of experience in marketing, business development, strategic planning, contact negotiations and recruiting in the photography, graphic design and publishing industries. In addition to his long experience at the Workbook and Workbookstock, Masterson owned and was creative director of his own graphic design firm for several years.

Masterson has been a speaker or panelist at industry events such as Seybold, PhotoPlus Expo, Visual Connections and the Picture Archive Council of America (PACA) national conference. He is currently the national president of the American Society of Picture Professionals (ASPP). He also serves on the board of the Silver Lake Neighborhood Council in his Los Angeles community. He chaired the marketing committee for the Los Angeles Conservancy, a historic preservation advocacy group, for many years.

He currently heads Masterson Consulting, working on projects ranging from business development for creative companies and sourcing talent for them to promoting and marketing industry events as well as providing resume and professional profile services for job-seekers. He can be reached at zvpunryqznfgrefba@tznvy.pbz.