Art Life Images Launches Rights-Managed iTravelstock

By Julia Dudnik Stern | 80 Words | Posted 10/2/2008 | Comments
Florida distributor has added a rights-managed active-travel offering to its 12-million-image inventory.

Image Supply Continues Rising

By Jim Pickerell | 629 Words | Posted 10/2/2008 | Comments
Many believe the marketplace has an oversupply of images. This raises several concerns for image producers.

Alaska on Fire

By Julia Dudnik Stern | 457 Words | Posted 10/1/2008 | Comments
"We are having fun here," says Jeff Shultz, owner of Anchorage-based Alaska Stock Images, which snagged the cover of this month's issue of Newsweek. Shultz is also having a great month as a photographer: in a career-defining milestone, one of his images will be printed on a U.S. postal stamp commemorating Alaska's 50th anniversary of statehood.

Greenberg vs. National Geographic Continues

By Jim Pickerell | 141 Words | Posted 10/1/2008 | Comments
Jerry Greenberg has once again petitioned the Supreme Court in his long-running battle with the National Geographic Society, which reused his copyrighted images without compensation in a CD-ROM compilation.

ASPP Names Tavin Picture Pro of the Year

By Julia Dudnik Stern | 166 Words | Posted 9/30/2008 | Comments
The American Society of Picture Professionals has named Jerry Tavin its 2008 Picture Professional of the Year. The award honors a current ASPP member’s significant contributions to photography, a singular outstanding achievement or longtime service to the organization and its members.

Corbis Heralds Low-Tech Living

By Julia Dudnik Stern | 169 Words | Posted 9/30/2008 | Comments
According to the latest Corbis IQ Trend Report, devices invented to set us free are now causing techno-backlash as the over-connected struggle to unplug. Corbis says more and more people are deliberately disconnecting with technology and reconnecting with themselves and their surroundings.

Marketers Seek More Creative Risk

By Julia Dudnik Stern | 74 Words | Posted 9/29/2008 | Comments
Marketers say their creative approach is overly safe.

Senate Passes Orphan Works Bill, Industry Groups Urge Action

By Julia Dudnik Stern | 442 Words | Posted 9/29/2008 | Comments
Immediately following the Saturday announcement of The Shawn Bentley Orphan Works Act clearing the United States Senate, ASMP and SAA issued alerts urging their members to oppose the bill’s potential adoption by the House of Representatives.

Pro-Imaging Clears 5, Vetoes 2 Contests

By Julia Dudnik Stern | 67 Words | Posted 9/29/2008 | Comments
U.K. group that campaigns against photography competitions with unfavorable creator terms has evaluated contests by Microsoft, Sony and Lonely Planet—with different results.

Will Microstock Eventually Die?

By Jim Pickerell | 600 Words | Posted 9/26/2008 | Comments (3)
Some wishful thinkers believe photographers will eventually stop supplying new images to microstock, when it becomes clear that the vast majority can never earn enough to justify continued effort.

Metadata Working Group Releases First Specs

By Julia Dudnik Stern | 423 Words | Posted 9/26/2008 | Comments
The Metadata Working Group, a young organization that unites Adobe Systems, Apple, Canon, Microsoft, Nokia and Sony, released its first specification, which provides guidelines that would increase interoperability and preservation of image metadata. The group made the announcement on Thursday at Photokina in Cologne, Germany.

TopFoto Secures Rights to Imperial Iranian Archives

By Julia Dudnik Stern | 86 Words | Posted 9/25/2008 | Comments
London picture agency digitizes imagery of Iran's royalty.

Ad Spending Falls At Steepest Rate Since 2001, Online Display-Ad Growth Disputed

By Joe Mandese | 321 Words | Posted 9/25/2008 | Comments
TNS Media Intelligence uses the phrase "collateral damage" to describe the impact the economy has been having on U.S. ad spending.

Alamy to Open U.S. Office, Raise Company Cut of Sales

By Jim Pickerell | 341 Words | Posted 9/25/2008 | Comments (3)
Alamy has announced that it will open a U.S. sales office in early 2009. The company is aiming to grow its business Stateside, particularly in high-value markets, by 30% to 40% per year by establishing a local presence.

GumGum Reps Newscom

By Julia Dudnik Stern | 60 Words | Posted 9/24/2008 | Comments
Newscom content will now be offered via the pay-per-use and ad-supported content-licensing platform GumGum.

Getty Images and Time Inc. to Launch LIFE.com

By Julia Dudnik Stern | 372 Words | Posted 9/24/2008 | Comments
The legendary print title will be resurrected for the fourth time as LIFE.com, jointly owned and operated by Time Inc. and Getty Images. The Web site is scheduled to launch in 2009 with an ambitious goal: "to provide access to the most comprehensive iconic and professional photography collections available anywhere online."

iStockphoto Opens German Office, Hires Frohmann

By Julia Dudnik Stern | 253 Words | Posted 9/23/2008 | Comments
As iStockphoto's newly promoted chief operating officer Kelly Thompson told Selling Stock a month ago, the company has officially announced the opening of its European headquarters in Berlin. Dittmar Frohmann, formerly a regional director at Fotolia, has joined iStockphoto as European director.

Thought Equity Footage Opens Ad Week V

By Julia Dudnik Stern | 266 Words | Posted 9/23/2008 | Comments
Advertising Week V kicked off on Monday evening with an opening concert at New York's Nokia Theatre. The Third Millennium: 2000 -- Present, a short film composed almost entirely of footage provided by Thought Equity Motion, was screened during the evening's festivities.

PicApp Raises $3.2 Million, Retires Flash, Signs Newscom

By Julia Dudnik Stern | 260 Words | Posted 9/22/2008 | Comments
San Francisco-based ad-supported image-licensing platform PicApp has secured $3.2 million in a funding round led by Israeli venture-capital firm Carmel Ventures. The PicScout spin-off, which recently became a separate business venture, has also announced a technological update of its product and a new content partner.

Small, Medium Businesses Maintain Ad Spending

By Julia Dudnik Stern | 141 Words | Posted 9/22/2008 | Comments
According to media researchers at The Kelsey Group, tough economic times are not always accompanied by a reduction in ad dollars.

The Future Of Stock Photography

By Jim Pickerell | 2050 Words | Posted 9/22/2008 | Comments
Photographers still ask me, “Is the Hellman & Friedman’s acquisition of Getty Images good or bad (for photographers)?” As far as I can see whether or not Getty is owned by H&F doesn’t make a whole lot of difference for photographers.

a21 Launches Value Art

By Julia Dudnik Stern | 26 Words | Posted 9/19/2008 | Comments (1)
a21 Group launches another low-budget decorating offering.

Digital Railroad Courts PhotoShelter Refugees, Boasts Big-Ticket Sales

By Julia Dudnik Stern | 430 Words | Posted 9/19/2008 | Comments
Digital Railroad has extended a discount to members of the PhotoShelter Collection, which is scheduled to shut down on Oct. 10. Membership is required to participate in the DRR Marketplace, which this month generated $20,000 in royalties for one contributing stock agency.

Much Ado About Greenberg: Then and Now

By Julia Dudnik Stern | 640 Words | Posted 9/18/2008 | Comments (2)
Though Jill Greenberg is no stranger to political controversy, the reaction to her release of doctored images of presidential candidate John McCain is markedly different from the reception of her last statement-art, the 2006 series "End Time."

Getty's Subscription Plan Angers Photographers

By Jim Pickerell | 619 Words | Posted 9/18/2008 | Comments (2)
There is growing concern among Stock Artist Alliance photographers and many other Getty Images' contributors about the company's Premium Access Subscription strategy. Increasingly, Getty's premium rights-managed and royalty-free images are licensed for fees of less than $10, with the photographer's royalty share a fraction of that.