CuboImages Adapts Cooliris

By Julia Dudnik Stern | 219 Words | Posted 5/11/2009 | Comments
Milan-based CuboImages has become the first independent agency to integrate the Cooliris technology into its Web site.

Swedish Image Association BLF Launches Buyer Event

By Julia Dudnik Stern | 52 Words | Posted 5/8/2009 | Comments

Getty Images, iStockphoto Have Trouble Integrating Jupiterimages Web Sites

By Julia Dudnik Stern | 559 Words | Posted 5/8/2009 | Comments
This week saw Getty Images' first public move to integrate the recently acquired Photos.com and Jupiterimages Unlimited into the proverbial bigger picture. The plan was to augment the inventories of the two Web sites with some iStockphoto content. Despite iStock's atypically great relationship with its community and seemingly reasonable contributor terms, contributors' vehement anti-subscription and anti-Getty Images feelings almost immediately derailed the plan, at least for the moment.

iStock Co-Founder Lor Joins Fotolia

By Julia Dudnik Stern | 39 Words | Posted 5/7/2009 | Comments

Pond5 Reports Collection Growth, Unveils New Buyer Offer

By Julia Dudnik Stern | 122 Words | Posted 5/7/2009 | Comments
Young New York and Geneva-based stock-footage marketplace Pond5 has reached 150,000 broadcast quality, royalty-free HD and SD clips. It has also added a free weekly HD stock clip offer.

PACA 2009 "Best Practices" Symposium: Sea Change

By Shannon Fagan | 968 Words | Posted 5/7/2009 | Comments
New York City-based photographer and president of the Stock Artists Alliance Shannon Fagan reviews last month’s conference of the Picture Archive Council of America, concluding that this year is unlike any other to date in the history of stock photography.

To Twitter or Not?

By Julia Dudnik Stern | 495 Words | Posted 5/6/2009 | Comments (3)
Stock libraries have been moving to adopt social-networking technologies and Web sites. Microstock agencies, for whom the online community is an integral part of the business model, have naturally been the early adopters, integrating social-networking features into their own Web sites and using Facebook and similar services. Traditional agencies appear to be following a similar path; however, this adoption appears to be guided more by fad and novelty than tangible evidence of potential business benefits.

Leading iStock Contributors See Sales Decline in April

By Jim Pickerell | 279 Words | Posted 5/6/2009 | Comments
Leading iStockphoto contributors saw their sales drop by almost 9% in April compared to March, according to our analysis of the numbers available through iStockcharts. To some extent, this might be explained by a loss of one business day to Easter.

Masterfile's Search Engine Honored at Webby Awards

By Julia Dudnik Stern | 51 Words | Posted 5/5/2009 | Comments

Getty Images Scores Over 60 Awards

By Julia Dudnik Stern | 251 Words | Posted 5/5/2009 | Comments
This year, Getty Images photographers and editors have earned more than 60 awards and honors for editorial imagery and multimedia productions. These include the Overseas Press Club's Robert Capa Gold Medal Award and Picture of the Year International's Magazine Photographer of the Year Award.

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.