News Analysis

Random Thoughts 62

By Jim Pickerell | 1961 Words | Posted 4/11/2003 | Comments
This issue has stories on: Copyright Protection at Workbookstock, Getty's New RF Pricing Structure, Management Changes At Image Source, Fix Joins Brand X, AGE Distributed Website Architecture and more.

Tom Grill on RF vs RM

By Jim Pickerell | 5814 Words | Posted 4/11/2003 | Comments
Tom Grill, one of the stock industries most financially successful photographers, says he is earning as much from RF as from RM and that photographers can be successful doing either. Grill left Comstock two years ago to start his own production company. Read this long dialog between Jim Pickerell and Grill.

Scanlon On Royalty Free

By Jim Pickerell | 2871 Words | Posted 3/22/2003 | Comments
In preparing Story 543 on Royalty Free, I asked companies that produce RF several questions. The response from Henry Scanlon at Comstock was insightful and much more than I had asked for, or expected. Henry is always entertaining and this article provides important perspectives that are worth considering.

Journey Into RF

By Jim Pickerell | 1335 Words | Posted 3/22/2003 | Comments
Klaus Tiedge is a German photographer, living in Capetown, South Africa, who started producing RM stock images of people, lifestyle and beauty subjects about 8 years ago. Two-and-a-half years ago he began shooting RF for ImageSource. This story outlines his experiences.

Marketing Channels

By Jim Pickerell | 1491 Words | Posted 3/22/2003 | Comments
Most companies that produce RF are trying to maximize the number of marketing outlets for their images. Comstock, on the other hand, appears to be alone in focusing on promoting brand and not making its images available through other sites. I asked Henry Scanlon to outline the logic for that position.

RF In Your Future?

By Jim Pickerell | 4013 Words | Posted 3/22/2003 | Comments
Many photographers are still adamantly opposed to producing Royalty Free stock. It's time to re-think that position. This story outlines reasons why most stock photographers should be looking to produce at least some RF, if they want to advance their careers in stock.

Subjects In Demand

By Jim Pickerell | 2391 Words | Posted 3/22/2003 | Comments
I'm frequently asked, ''What's in demand? What sells?'' This story tries to answer that question by examining the subject matter of 2747 RF discs that are produced by 11 RF companies. It provides breakdowns of the various subject categories that over 200,000 RF images fall into.

Greenberg Wins

By Jim Pickerell | 1089 Words | Posted 3/8/2003 | Comments
On March 5, 2003 in the U.S. District Court in Miami a jury awarded Jerry Greenberg the maximum allowed by law of $100,000 per infringement for four infringements ($400,000) in the damages portion of his case against National Geographic Society for the unauthorized use of his images in the CD-ROM entitled ''108 Years of National Geographic on CD-ROM.'' The 8-person jury also found that the infringement was ''willful,'' which usually adds legal fees to the damages award.

Random Thoughts 61

By Jim Pickerell | 1190 Words | Posted 3/3/2003 | Comments
This story contains short items on: Legal Action On Payment Problems, Zefa Opens Production Office In New York, Ad Sales May Drop During War, Losing Our History, Bridgeman Launches New Site, and Small Business Trends.

March 2003 Selling Stock

By Jim Pickerell | 3844 Words | Posted 3/1/2003 | Comments
This issue contains stories on: 2003 Survey Results, Veer Adds Mananged Rights, Getty Reports 2002 Profit, Alamy Sales Commissions, Specialization, Liquidlibrary.com, Grey Worldwide Demands, Botanica Brand Launched, Court Decison On Lost Images, Textbook Statistics, Image State 2002 Results, Workbookstock Sales Up, Digital Caputre and more.

2003 Stock Photographer Survey Results

By Jim Pickerell | 1567 Words | Posted 2/14/2003 | Comments
172 photographers responded to Selling Stock's income trends survey for the years 2000 through 2002. The combined gross income for 2002 was $24,244,557 with an average income of $140,956. Stock income was 67% of total income. Income in 2002 was 14% below 2000 levels.

Industy-Wide Survey

By Jim Pickerell | 856 Words | Posted 2/8/2003 | Comments
An ambitious new survey has been launched that will attempt to finally resolve the question of The Size of the Stock Image Market in the U.S. While sponsored by PACA, an effort will be made to collect data from ALL stock image sellers, regardless of affiliation. TrendWatch will tabulate the data.

Alamy Sales Commissions

By Jim Pickerell | 772 Words | Posted 2/8/2003 | Comments
Alamy is asking photographers to give up an additional percentage of their sales so Alamy can add distributors to their international sales operation. The combined Alamy/Distributor commission is 55%. Photographers are asking will the reductions in percentage ever end?

Random Thoughts 60

By Jim Pickerell | 1870 Words | Posted 2/6/2003 | Comments
This includes short items on: Grey Worldwide Demands Exclusive Rights To ALL Stock Images; StockPhotoRequest.com To Launch In March; TrendWatch Says Specialization Is Key; PictureArts Launches Botanica Brand; Getty Gives Photographers Reuse Revenue and Digital Vision Closes Offices.

Getty Images Reports $21.5 Million Profit In 2002

By Jim Pickerell | 2264 Words | Posted 2/6/2003 | Comments
Getty Images reported 4th quarter 2002 revenue of $117.7 million. Net income for the year was $21.5 million, or $0.39 per diluted share. Total revenue for 2002 was $463 million which exceeded their estimates at the beginning of the year.

DC - More Digital Capture Resources

By Jim Pickerell | 383 Words | Posted 1/22/2003 | Comments
Story 530 offered a few online resources for information about digital capture equipment and techniques. Deborah Davis has provided a much more extensive list of such resources.

Agency Liability For Lost Images Limited

By Jim Pickerell | 938 Words | Posted 1/22/2003 | Comments
A recent New York court decision makes it more difficult for photographers to get compensation if their stock agency loses some of their images. Read the specifics of Adamo v. Corbis as reported by Nancy E. Wolff.

Random Thoughts 59

By Jim Pickerell | 1539 Words | Posted 1/22/2003 | Comments
This includes short items on: Veer Adds Rights Managed Collections, Stock Media Marketing Model, US Book Sales, PictureHouse March Events, Getty To Represent Time Inc. Archives, Stock Image Launches Pixland and more.

DC - Reviewing Market Segments

By Jim Pickerell | 1704 Words | Posted 1/9/2003 | Comments
This story looks at three major segments of the stock photo market and analyzes where digitally created images are likely to have their greatest impact in the near future and why.

Random Thoughts 58

By Jim Pickerell | 897 Words | Posted 1/9/2003 | Comments
This issue contains stories on Sales Growth at Workbookstock, Image State fiscal 2002 Financial Results showing significant losses, a new browser software called Fotoshowpro that will help photographers set up their own searchable web sites, and more.

DC - Reproduction Quality

By Jim Pickerell | 2084 Words | Posted 1/9/2003 | Comments
This story examines the issues related to reproduction of digitally created images and explains why the quality is so much better from files that are much smaller than the accepted standard for drum scans of film. This fact offers some significant creative options.

Digital Capture

By Jim Pickerell | 1112 Words | Posted 1/9/2003 | Comments
This begins a series of stories on the potentials for using digitally created images as stock. I am convinced that it is currently possible to get better reproduction results from digitally created images than from film. Learn why.

LiquidLibrary.com

By Jim Pickerell | 890 Words | Posted 1/9/2003 | Comments
Dynamic Graphics (DGUSA), a division of Creatas, has moved their Clipper and Designers Club Royalty Free brands to an online site called Liquidlibrary.com. Customers get at least 150 images a month for a $125 subscription price.

DC - Digital Capture Resources

By Jim Pickerell | 444 Words | Posted 1/9/2003 | Comments
This story outlines useful online resources for photographers who are trying to get started in digital still photography. It also provides resources for those already be shooting digital who have questions.

DC - Caption and Keyword Information

By Jim Pickerell | 4190 Words | Posted 1/9/2003 | Comments
One major advantage of digital capture is the ability to easily store caption and keyword information with the image and to use this info to locate, track and market images. This story discusses workflow issues related to this process.