Toronto-based ad-supported image site Fotoglif expands into licensing creative stock photography.
Young Photographers Alliance gains new sponsors, momentum.
Jim Erickson breaks all the stock photography rules and yet is one of the world's most successful sellers of stock images. Pick any strategy that everyone agrees is the key to success in stock, and Erickson is probably doing the opposite.
PicScout has announced a strategic shift from a single source product company focused on finding unauthorized image uses to a services company based upon the PicScout Image Index Registry Connection. One of its initial services will be a product called ImageExchange, which provides a connection between image users and licensors. ImageExchange makes it possible for potential users to easily identify the creator of an image and instantly connect with someone who is authorized to license rights to use it.
Growing European stock-footage business Framepool now represents content by the Austrian Broadcasting Corporation Österreichischer Rundfunk and Agence France-Presse.
According to the latest information from Corbis, eco-consciousness has become so mainstream as to flavor every decision.
For most of this year I have been tracking the number of downloads for 117 of the 150 most productive contributors on iStock. (I have been unable to identify the other 33 in the top 150.) Total downloads of the 117 during the last seven months represent about 17% of all iStock contributor downloads. Sixty-five of the 117 contributors have seen a slight decline in average downloads-per-month since March.
PicApp just went a step beyond releasing a plugin for the world's most popular blogging platform. The company has announced that Automattic, the company behind WordPress, is integrating PicApp's embed code on WordPress.com.
An Atlantic City billboard that uses an image shot by Jon Feingersh illustrates a discouraging trend in stock-photo pricing. Feingersh produced the image two years ago, as part of a $35,000 Venezuela shoot. A decade ago, The Stock Market probably would have licensed one of Feingersh's images for billboard use at between $4,000 and $5,000; the photographer would have received 50% of the sale. Today, however...
The Picture Archive Council of America has released a statement claiming that many book publishers use images in ways that exceed the scope of licensing agreements. The organization says that a number of its members have reported instances of print runs exceeding the initial license terms by the millions, largely due to poor record-keeping on behalf of book publishers.
We all can agree with Kelly Thompson's sentiment that technology and new business models have a huge impact on this industry. Microstock, however, is not really a new technology but a new way to sell royalty-free images cheaper--a repackaging of sorts.
With the ever-increasing supply of travel images, declining prices and a fixed amount of attention in the consumer universe, what are the best options for travel photographers to create uncommon value?
In stock photography--as in life--change is the only constant. It goes without saying that technology and innovation have a huge impact on all of us. At the end of the day, technology and innovation perpetuate our ability to lead better, longer and healthier lives. But acceptance of new technology and change does not always come easy. While some new technologies can peacefully coexist with their older siblings for decades, others-like the internal combustion engine, the light bulb or the cotton gin-quickly and completely make obsolete the technologies they were intended to replace.
Commercial stock photography, in order to strive, has to offer an emotionally meaningful solution to potential clients.
This year's Picturehouse NY will offer new digital seminars.
In the Internet age, creator rights are under attack and in peril.
On October 31, 2009 the Encarta Web site will be discontinued. Microsoft stopped selling Encarta products in June. Now the place for reference information is Wikipedia.org.