Creative Industry Briefs . . .

Stock Asylum Staff Reports

PhotoShelter Launches New Website and Blog . . .
Mar. 13, 2008

PhotoShelter said on this date that it has launched an improved website and ended the beta period for The PhotoShelter Collection, the company's stock photography image library. PhotoShelter also launched a new blog called "Shoot! The Blog.

The improved website features a new visual identity created by Cinco Design Office of Portland, OR. It includes improved navigation, lightboxes, access to advanced search features, tutorials and batch actions.

The new blog will be moderated by Rachel Hulin. It will offer news, analysis, features and open discussions about all aspects of the photography industry. Hulin has been a photographer and served as a photo editor at Rolling Stone online and Nerve.com.

For the PhotoShelter website, click here.

ASMP Proposes Changes to Orphan Works . . .
Mar. 13, 2008

Even before a new orphan works bill is introduced in the U.S. Congress, the American Society of Media Photographers (ASMP) has proposed some changes. The organization's General Counsel Victor Perlman was to testify today before the House Subcommittee on Courts, the Internet and Intellectual Property about the orphan works issue. Perlman was to suggest that any new law be limited to:

"1. Uses by individuals for non-revenue producing personal or community purposes, including uses on websites that do not generate revenues for the individuals using the orphan works;

"2. Uses in works of non-fiction, such as books, articles or documentary films or videos;

"3. Uses by non-profit educational institutions, libraries, museums or archives qualified for treatment under §501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code as amended in exhibits, including website displays, and for uses that produce revenues and that are ancillary to exhibits."

"In a nutshell, we see little financial harm to creators from the non-profit and non-fiction uses of orphaned images," ASMP said in a communication to its members. "At the same time, we want to make sure that commercial users of images and illustrations would not be able to use an orphan works defense as a free pass to profit from infringements."

The organization said it also will push for a low-cost alternate form of dispute resolution for copyright cases. ASMP noted that the costs of bringing a copyright case denies many photographers access to the courts.

For the ASMP website, click here.

Jupiter Delays Quarterly Report . . .
Mar. 12, 2008

Jupitermedia, parent company of Jupiterimages, said on this date that it will delay reporting 2007 fourth quarter results until after the stock market closes March 17. CEO Alan Meckler will host a conference call at 10:30 a.m. eastern time March 18. The earnings release and call had been scheduled for this date.

U.S. participants can listen to Meckler by calling 888.765.5580 five minutes before the scheduled time. International participants should call 913.312.1397. The confirmation code is 613 0534.

For the Jupitermedia website, click here.

Corbis Named Sponsor of "Pollies" . . .
Mar. 11, 2008

Corbis has been named the official image sponsor of the 17th annual Pollie Awards and Conference this week in Santa Monica, CA. The Pollies are handed out by the American Association of Political Consultants, the largest trade organization of public affairs professionals and political consultants.

Corbis, which has launched a U.S. election political microsite for the current election, is offering AAPC members a 20 percent discount on still and motion imagery during the 2008 U.S. election.

For the Corbis political microsite, click here.

Stock Xchange Signs Agreement with Age Fotostock . . .
Mar. 11, 2008

Singapore-based Stock Xchange will distribute imagery from age fotostock in Singapore under a new non-exclusive agreement with age, which has offices in Barcelona, Madrid and New York City.

Under the arrangement, Stock Xchange, which licenses images to advertising clients, will also join the THP Photo Services Platform, with access to about 500,000 age fotostock images and 96,000 pixtal royalty-free images.

For the age fotostock website, click here.

Fotolia Adds Moodboard Photos . . .
Mar. 11, 2008

Fotolia, a supplier of micropayment stock photography, will add 6,000 moodboard images to its new Infinite Collection of midstock images, which licenses royalty-free images for $15 to $90.

The Infinite collection includes images represented by well-known distributors. The images may not have been licensed for less than Fotolia's pricing.

For the Fotolia website, click here.

Registration Opens for BAPLA Picture Buyers' Fair . . .
Mar. 6, 2008

The British Association of Picture Libraries and Agencies (BAPLA) is now accepting registrations for the 2008 Picture Buyers' Fair in London May 7 to 8.

The organization that represents image libraries in the United Kingdom expects more than 120 exhibitors, including some 25 new participants. The show is designed to bring image buyers and sellers together. A seminar program is included.

For the BAPLA website, click here.

Paramount Pictures Offers Footage Through Thought Equity . . .
Mar. 6, 2008

Thought Equity Motion and Paramount Pictures have announced a deal under which footage from Paramount will available for licensing from the Denver-based stock footage library.

The arrangement includes footage from thousands of films and television episodes made by Paramount. Besides the Paramount collection Thought Equity also represents footage from NBC, National Geographic, Sony Pictures, HBO and NCAA Sports.

For the Thought Equity website, click here.

GoGo Images Launches Multi-Cultural Collection . . .
Mar. 5, 2008

Seattle-based GoGo Images now offers a multi-cultural image collection with images of Latin, Asian, Indian, African-American, Middle Eastern and gay and lesbian people.

Many of the royalty-free images come from collections like UpperCut RF, Radius, PictureIndia, Bluemoon Stock, and Big Cheese. Images from GoGo's own collection also are included.

For the GoGo website, click here.

PhotoShelter Personal Archives Can Import Images from Flickr . . .
Mar. 5, 2008

PhotoShelter announced on this date that it now provides a tool which photographers can use to upload images from a Flickr Pro account to their PhotoShelter Personal Archive.

To transfer copies of images, PhotoShelter users log onto their personal archive and use a menu option to upload chosen images.

For the PhotoShelter website, click here.

Danita Delimont Named a 2008 Fellow of NANPA . . .
Mar. 5, 2008

Danita Delimont, owner of the stock agency that bears her name, has been named a 2008 Fellow of the North American Nature Photographers Association (NANPA) in recognition of 28 year contribution to the professional nature photography industry.

Delimont is an active member of the photographic community who has served has served as national president of the American Society of Picture Professionals (ASPP). She currently is co-president of of ASPP's West Coast Chapter and plays an active role in the Picture Archive Council of America.

For the Danita Delimont Stock Agency website, click here.

Digital Railroad Appoints New Chief Financial Officer . . .
Mar. 3, 2008

Digital Railroad announced on this date that Thomas A. Grina has been named chief financial officer of the company that provides technology connecting creators and buyers of stock imagery.

The company said Grina has 20 years experience leading financial organizations in the telecom and software industries. At Digital Railroad, he will oversee finance, account management and business and operating strategy. He previously has worked at Digeo, Inc.; Advanced Telecom Group Advanced Radio Telecom and Dial Page, Inc.

For the Digital Railroad website, click here.

Ian Martin and Lorena Ross Win Getty Editorial Grants . . .
Feb. 29, 2008

California photographer Ian Martin and Brooklyn shooter Lorena Ros are the first two winners of 2008 editorial grants from Getty Images. Both will receive $20,000 and support from Getty photo editors to pursue their winning projects.

Ros' project, called "Silent Witness" will probe the impact and prevalence of childhood sexual abuse. She will photograph, conduct audio interviews and collect supporting narratives by and about 30 U.S. sexual abuse survivors.

Martin will use his money for a project called "Hidden Minority: South Africa's White Poor," which will look at the problem of white poverty in South Africa. Martin's subjects often live on less than $40 a month.

For the Getty Images website, click here.

Alamy Terminated Contributor Over Model Releases . . .
Feb. 27, 2008

British Stock photography distributor Alamy reported this date that it has terminated its contract with a contributor who falsely stated that an image had a model release. The action came after the unnamed contributor admitted he knew the image was not released. All of the contributor's images were removed from the Alamy collection.

"We are seeking to gain more of a foothold in the commercial market where there is greater sensitivity to the need for releases," said Alan Capel, the company's head of content. "By providing the new annotation tools we are giving contributors the opportunity to make their images available to this market if they meet the necessary requirements."

“We take breaches of the contributor agreement very seriously but we also want to stress that, by providing correct release information, you are protecting yourselves against any legal action,” Capel added.

The problem came to light when a person in the photo contacted Alamy, complaining he had not signed a release.

For the Alamy website, click here.

Getty Images Files 8-K with Details about its Acquisition . . .
Feb. 27, 2008

Getty Images has filed paperwork with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission concerning its proposed acquisition by Hellman & Friedman, a private equity company. The document is filled with a huge number of basic legal provisions, but one fact stands out.

Under certain circumstances, Getty could opt out of the deal if a better suitor is found.

For the entire filing, click here. For a summary, click here.

BAPLA Welcomes Non-Members at its Picture Buyers' Fair . . .
Feb. 27, 2008

The British Association of Picture Libraries and Agencies (BAPLA) has announced that it will welcome all image distributors at its Picture Buyers' Fair May 7 to 8 in London. Until now, participation had been limited to the organizations members.

More than 2,200 image buyers attended the fair in 2007, the organization said. Some 115 exhibitors have already confirmed their participation in this year's event.

For the BAPLA website, click here.

PLUS Coalition New Board Members . . .
Feb. 20, 2008

The Picture Licensing Universal System (PLUS) Coalition has expanded its board of directors to include David S. Ferriero, a director of the New York Public Libraries; Clement Mok, a designer and consultant and former creative director at Apple Computer; Scott Brownstein, a former chief technical officer at Applied Graphics Technologies; and Dustin Wees, director of metadata and cataloging at ArtStor. Alan Newman, chief of the division of imaging and visual services at the National Gallery of Art also recently joined the board.

For the PLUS website, click here.

Getty Adds Popperfoto Collection . . .
Feb. 20, 2008

Getty Images has uploaded over 100,000 images from the Popperfoto and Bob Thomas Sports Photography collections to the Getty Images website.

Started in 1934, the Popperfoto Collection is one of Europe's oldest and largest independently-owned image libraries. It includes more than 14 million images dating back 150 years. The entire collection, which includes the Bob Thomas Sports Photography library, will be represented by Getty Images exclusively.

For the Getty Images website, click here.

Image Source Nominated for Fast Growth Award . . .
Feb. 20, 2008

Royalty-free photography producer Image Source has been nominated as one of four finalists at the Fast Growth Business Awards 2008 in the International Business of the Year category. It is the second year Image Source has been nominated for the award.

"Award nominees had to demonstrate quantifiable evidence of growth and success, improved market share, customer satisfaction and a continued program of product or service development, as well as how valuable international sales are for the business and how they dealt with red tape, legal, cultural and language constraints," the company said in a prepared release. The winner will be announced March 12.

For the Image Source website, click here.

Getty Signs Partnership Agreement with Augusta National Golf Club . . .
Feb. 15, 2008

Getty Images announced that it has signed an imagery partnership agreement with Augusta National Golf Club. The Augusta collection includes imagery from many Masters Tournaments. Portraits of Augusta National founders Clifford Robert and Bobby Jones are in the collection that can be seen on the Getty Images website.

Also included are photos of major professional golfers like Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus and Ben Hogan. Getty said employees have spent several months scanning, captioning and digitizing thousands of images from the Augusta collection.

For the Getty Images website, click here.

PhotoAlto Opens New York Office . . .
Feb. 14, 2008

PhotoAlto, a stock distributor founded in Paris, says it will open an office on 15th Street in New York City. Marci Gershel, who has 17 years experience in the stock photo industry, will act as the company's liaison with creatives in the New York area.

For the PhotoAlto website, click here.

Zymmetrical Announces Expanded Search Options . . .
Feb. 14, 2008

Zymmetrical, a company that offers micropayment and midstock-priced photos, video, fonts and graphics, has announced the launch of an expanded search feature.

Image buyers can now find images with blank or clutter-free areas for logo and text through a new "Freerange" option. The Freerange search can be combined with a color filter that lets users find images with a desired color.

For the Zymmetrical website, click here.

SnapVillage Starts Advertising . . .
Feb. 14, 2008

Snapvillage, Corbis' micropayment stock photo website, announced that it is launching its first advertising effort with media ads, direct marketing and search engine marketing.

The division said it is seeing significant growth in purchases with sales having increased ten percent in the past two weeks since the website opened to customers outside North America.

"SnapVillage customers to date include graphic designers, small businesses, web developers, publishers as well as creative individuals working on creative projects for clubs, associations, schools and loved ones," the division said in a prepared release.

For the SnapVillage website, click here.

PhotoShelter Hires Two Key Executives . .  .
Feb. 12, 2008

PhotoShelter, a new stock photography distributor that boasts 20,000 professional and amateur contributors, has hired Andrew Fingerman as vice president of marketing, and Genevieve Harley as director of sales.

Fingerman, who until recently was a senior product manager at American Express, will oversee brand strategy, marketing communications and customer acquisition campaigns. Harley, who worked for Getty Images during the last five years, will lead a team of executives responsible for providing support to image buyers.

PhotoShelter has committed to spending $1 million to promote the stock photo collection that pays contributors a 70 percent commission on each sale.

For the PhotoShelter website, click here.

Icon Sports Media Launches New Website . .  .
Feb. 11, 2008

Icon Sports Media has unveiled a new website with over one million images of more than 100 sports worldwide. The new site uses Spitfire Photo's proprietary image distribution and search technology.

The new site offers a news feed style homepage and individual sports sections.

For the Icon website, click here. For Sptifire Photos, click here.

Automated Keywords from Keywording.com . .  .
Feb. 7, 2008

Keywording.com says it has developed a process that turns captions into keywords. Though the Portland, OR, company does not claim the automated process is as thorough as human keywording, it says this is a good way to get stock photos and other images into search engines quickly and inexpensively.

Prices start at $0.50 per image. Keywording.com says the process was originally created to help contributors meet the requirements of Alamy's new keywording approach, which is more complicated that many traditional keywording schemes.

For the Keywording.com website, click here.

Alamy Adds Huntstock Lifestyle Collection . .  .
Feb. 7, 2008

It was announced on this date that Huntstock, which is owned and operated by industry veterans Pat and Mark Hunt, will upload its lifestyle collection to Alamy's web site.

The Boston image production company offers photos in business, sports, family life, baby boomers and New England scenics.

For the Alamy website, click here.

Jupiterimages Now Offers $49 Web Resolution Images . .  .
Feb. 7, 2008

Without much fanfare, Jupiterimages has matched Getty Images' $49 price for web resolution royalty-free images.

"It may be small, but our new RF web resolution file size is perfectly formed and ideal for use online," reads an announcement on the company's home page.

Like Getty, Jupiter is offering 500 kilobyte files for the new, lower price. A horizontal image of normal proportions would be about the width of this column.

A check of the Corbis website revealed that the Seattle company has yet to follow the lead of its cross-town rival. Corbis' smallest royalty-free images are 640 kilobytes. Though a few are priced at $45 or $55 for the lowest resolution, many sported base-level prices of $95.

For the Jupiterimages website, click here.

Corbis Adds Five New Collections . .  .
Feb. 5, 2008

Corbis announced on this date that it has added five new image collections to its rights-managed and royalty-free libraries.

The company said it now represents work from Cultura, a royalty-free collection with a European perspective; Hemis, a travel collection; Document Iran, imagery from Iran; Jon Arnold RF, travel photography; and 81A Productions, classic royalty-free imagery from Photolibrary.

For the Corbis website, click here.

Dreamstime to License Editorial Photos . .  .
Feb. 5, 2008

Micropayment stock photography distributor Dreamstime, says it now accepts images without model or property releases for distribution to editorial clients.

The company said it will accept unreleased images of current-events, news, and social/cultural scenes.

For the Dreamstime website, click here.

Getty Report Warns of "Greenwashing" . .  .
Feb. 5, 2008

Getty Images has released the second edition of its MAP report. The $750 edition explores the rush by advertisers to associate themselves with environmental issues.

The report warns against "greenwashing," which is defined as "the careless, uninspiring use of environmental visual clichés." It also quotes a Yankelovich Research report that indicates consumers want authenticity and will rally against false advertising claims about the environment.

“When it comes to the visual language of the environment, we are in danger of killing it as a meaningful symbol with visual cliché,” said Lewis Blackwell, Creative Advisor at Getty Images.

To learn more about the report, click here.

Ableimages Launches Rights-Managed Collection . .  .
Feb. 5, 2008

Ableimages has announced the launch of its new rights-managed collection.

"Our goal is to create a body of rights managed content containing globally relevant concepts, promoting sustainability, environmental issues, recycling, alternative energy, organic farming and eco-friendly lifestyles," the company said in a prepared release.

The British firm said it believes there is room for growth in rights-managed imagery.

For more on ableimages, click here.

Masterfile Names OnAsia as Distributor in Thailand . .  .
Jan. 29, 2008

OnAsia has been named Masterfile's exclusive subdistributor in Thailand. The move is part of the Toronto company's new strategy in Southeast Asia, said Masterfile Vice President Tomas Speight.

Masterfile said Thai clients will for the first time have direct access with local customer service. Until now, service in Thailand has been handled from Singapore.

For the Masterfile website, click here.

ASMP and Fine Art Center will Offer Photo Exhibit . .  .
Jan. 29, 2008

The American Society of Media Photographers (ASMP) and The Center for Fine Art Photography, have announced they will collaborate on an exhibition of work by ASMP members.

Deadline for entries is March 4. The show runs from June 6 to July 3 at The Center for Fine Art Photography in Fort Collins, CO.

There is a $35 entry fee for the first three images. Members of both ASMP and the center can submit the first three images for $20. Additional images can be submitted for $10 each.

For more information, click here.

Image Source Wins Employer Award . .  .
Jan. 28, 2008

Image Source, a major supplier of royalty-free stock photography, has been named one of the United Kingdom's best employers by CRF, an independent organization involved in worldwide business research.

"It's wonderful to be recognized as one of Britain's top employers," said Chief Executive Christina Vaughn in a prepared statement.

The CRF recognition follows the company's recent inclusion in the "Ones to Watch" section of the Best Companies Guide, 2007, which is a guide to top UK companies. The guide is compiled using feedback directly from employees.

For the Image Source website, click here.

SnapVillage Goes Worldwide . .  .
Jan. 23, 2008

Corbis' SnapVillage micropayment and midstock web site is now out of its beta testing phase and available to customers worldwide, the company said on this date.

However, the site with 160,000 low-priced images remains an English language only site. The company said SnapVillage is adding about 10,000 images each week.

For SnapVillage, click here.

Newscom Offers Broadcast Quality Video from Reuters . .  .
Jan. 22, 2008

Newscom announced on this date that it now offers broadcast quality video from Reuters, making Reuters the first major news agency with this kind of offer in the United States.

With more than 13,000 current and archived video segments now available in various categories from breaking news to human interest, the Reuters collection provides stories from Europe, Asia, Africa, the Middle East and the Americas.

Reuters video is available in MPEG2/full broadcast quality, Real, Flash and Windows Media formats.

For Newscom's Reuters Resource Center, click here.

Ellen Herbert is Senior Director of Creative Content at Jupiterimages . .  .
Jan. 22, 2008

Jupiterimages announced on this date that Ellen Herbert has been promoted to senior director of creative content. Though the press release did not specifically mention Herbert's predecessor, Edie Tobias, former vice president of creative content at Jupiterimages, recently left the company to manage the Corbis entertainment division.

Herbert has held numerous stock industry and photography editing positions at various companies. Most recently, she led the creative effort for Jupiter's FoodPix division.

For the Jupiterimages website. Click here.

Fotolia Micropayment Collection Reaches Three Million Images . .  .
Jan. 22, 2008

Micropayment stock photography distributor Fotolia says its image collection reached three million images with the addition of a photo of balloons and ribbon by Marek Kosmal, a Polish amateur shooter.

The image is listed as number "5858267." Kosmal has submitted 2201 images to Fotolia and has licensed 1,800 images.

For the Fotolia website, click here.

Blend Adds Rights-Ready to its Website . .  .
Jan. 17, 2008

Blend Images says it now offers rights-ready photographs from its own web site.

The company that specializes in multi-ethnic stock photography noted that its rights-ready collection is also available from Getty Images.

"Our rights-ready imagery has always sold well, so it was clear to us that clients seem taken by the clarity of structure and ease of use with the rights-ready licensing model,” said Blend Chief Executive Rick Becker-Leckrone.

For the Blend website. Click here.

German "Midstock" Company Offers English Website . .  .
Jan. 17, 2008

PantherMedia, a supplier of low-end royalty-free stock photography, has announced the launch of an English language web site. The Munich-based company founded in 2004 says it has 500,000 images from 15,000 photographers. Prices range from $10.59 to $74.79, including taxes.

Commercial image buyers should be careful about checking model releases information on this site. A tour of the website revealed several images that looked like standard royalty-free commercial photos, but were marked as having no releases.

PantherMedia will search its files for customers. If no appropriate image is found, the company will also broadcast a request to photographers.

For the PantherMedia website. Click here.

Layoffs at WpN Follow Strategy Change . .  .
Jan. 15, 2008

Citing stagnant demand and high technology and labor costs, WpN has announced it will focus its resources on photo assignments rather than image distribution.

the company that provides mostly editorial imagery said there will be some layoffs. However some editors will be added to manage assignments for editorial, feature, portrait, lifestyle, corporate and public relations assignments.

The WpN daily photo feed will end Feb. 1, the company said.

"In the face of stagnant demand, and given the high labor and technology costs of providing quality stories on a daily basis alongside much larger competitors, it is not economically viable to continue to produce a daily photo feed," said Chief Executive Brian Miler. "Assignments, while also a high-touch, labor-intensive business, are an area where we have clearly distinguished ourselves and can continue to be successful."

For the WpN website. Click here.

It was Just One of Those Blips . .  .
Jan. 15, 2008

Getty Images investors may have been encouraged by a nine percent jump in the company's stock price last week (click here for previous brief), but the rise proved to be just a blip.

Five days later, Getty stock plummeted $2.67 a share to a new five-year low of $23.19. Some 721,100 shares changed hands on this date, considerably more than the company's 484,000 daily average. The 10.32 percent drop came on a day when the Dow fell 2.17 percent.

For the Getty Images website. Click here.

Masterfile Sends Out 2008 Diary . .  .
Jan. 15, 2008

Masterfile has sent its clients around the world a diary for 2008. The bound volume offers a year's worth of Masterfile images.

The diary is published in a landscape format. It was developed at Masterfile's European headquarters.

For the Masterfile website. Click here.

Getty Share Price Takes a Jump . .  .
Jan. 10, 2008

The price of a share of Getty Images stock took a leap of more than nine percent on this date. The price of a single share of Getty stock cost $26.74 at the end of the trading day, an increase of $2.29.

There appeared to be no specific news about Getty that could account for the jump, but the Wall Street Journal Wednesday published a feature article entitled "Getty Bolsters Its Web Presence." The article may have convinced some investors that the company is worth another look, especially since Getty shares have fallen considerably during the last year.

For the Getty Images website. Click here. To read the Wall Street Journal article, Click here. (Hint: Non subscribers can read the entire article by going to Google News and typing in "Getty Images Photography." Click here for Google News.)

Masterfile Appoints Director of Client Services . .  .
Jan. 10, 2008

Masterfile announced on this date that Lisa Dempsey has been appointed director of client services for the United States and Canada. She will act as an interface between the company's sales and business development teams. She also will be responsible for client acquisition and the development of new sales strategies.

In the past, Dempsey has worked for Sekani/Corbis Motion and Getty Images, where she was manager of film sales. She also was chief executive at First Light.

For the Masterfile website. Click here.

Ad Agencies Optimistic in Latest Survey . .  .
Jan. 8, 2008

Thirty-seven percent of advertising agencies surveyed by The Industry Measure were optimistic about business conditions of the the next six months.

The Industry Measure's "Business Optimisim Index" is now at 97.95, a decline of about ten points from last year, but still higher than two years ago and just slightly lower than three years ago when it was just over 100.

The company that looks at trends in the graphics commuications industry, also said 77 percent of design and production firms cited cross-media campaigns as the top sales opportunity, the highest number ever.

The Industry Measure's annual 231-page forecast of the creative media is available for $999 from the company's website. Click here.

Mary Evans Represents Illustrated London News Library . .  .
Jan. 3, 2008

The Mary Evans Picture Library, which licenses historical images, has announced it is now managing The Illustrated London News Picture Library.

Launched by Herbert Ingram in 1842, The Illustrated London News was the world's first illustrated newspaper. The company's picture library now includes imagery from eight publications.

For the Mary Evans Picture Library website, click here.

THP Will Host Nearly Six Million Images by Year's End . .  .
Dec. 20, 2007

THP Photo Services, a program that provides hosting and marketing services for 60 image distributors, says that since July it has added 650,000 images from 129 brands, including 20 new brands. By the end of this year, the service of age fotostock expects to have nearly six million images online from a total of 250 brands.

The service has recently added imagery from Arabian Eye, NativeStock Pictures, The Mexican Collection, Red Cover, and DeAgostini Editore. THP stands for Technical Hositing Platform.

For the THP website, click here.

Muench Studio Offers Print Workshop in April . .  .
Dec. 20, 2007

Muench Photography Studio is offering a two-day print workshop April 19 to 20 in Goleta, CA.

The workshop will cover topics necessary for producing quality prints for sale or personal use, including monitor calibration, inkjet printer capabilities and printing media.

To learn more, click here.

The Creative Digital Darkroom Available from O'Reilly . .  .
Dec. 20, 2007

O'Reilly Media has announced the availability of a new book authored by Katrin Eismann and Sean Duggan, both educators and art photographers.

The Creative Digital Darkroom translates traditional darkroom skills into digital solutions using Photoshop and Lightroom software from Adobe. It discusses important creative concepts, tools and techniques for producing high-quality images, and techniques for both black and white and color photography, the publishing company said.

O'Rielly said the volume is much more than "quick tips and gimmicky effects of many of today's books." It is available from O'Rielly for $49.99.

To learn more about the book, click here.

Sounds and Pictures from Image Source . .  .
Dec. 17, 2007

Image Source is providing a new interactive CD and web tools that use sounds, dialogue and audio effects to describe images in its collection.

The "Open Your Ears" CD has been mailed to customers. It is part of the "Open Your Eyes" campaign, which also includes a special web site for the company's best customers, a wrapping paper design tool and slide shows.

After listening to the Open Your Ears, audio, users click through to see the related image. Afterwards, customers can enter a memory competition on the Open Your Eyes mini-website.

For the Image Source website, click here.

Getty Announces Group101Spots Winners . .  .
Dec. 13, 2007

Matt Helfgott, Ken Locsmandi, and rosey from Los Angeles; and, David Weinstock, Jeremy Russell, and Otis from New York are winners of the 2007 Group101Spots Director Showcase. The competition sponsored by Getty Images challenges emerging commercial directors to ‘reinvent the reel’ by creating a new reel in six months.

The participants had access to Getty's entire collection as they tried to develop innovative new work, the company said. Getty Images said the goal of the program is to mentor new commercial directors.

To see the reels, click here.

PixelPerfectDigital Offers work from Dreamstime . .  .
Dec. 13 2007

PixelPerfectDigital, a website that offers free stock photography to the design community, will now display photography, graphics, artwork, backgrounds and other materials from micropayment stock photo distributor Dreamstime.

“The objective in our partnership with PixelPerfectDigital is two-fold. One, to assist PPD to expand their overall service to offer a product that they could not otherwise provide, and two, to enable both PPD and Dreamstime to become increasingly visible on the web bringing more value to the users and widening our audience,” said Dreamstime Chief Executive Serban Enache in a prepared statement.

For the PixelPerfectDigital website, click here.

Agricultural Posters from Peter Dean. .  .
Dec. 12, 2007

It is a safe bet that when you think of art posters, images of pigs, cows and sheep do not pop immediately to mind. However, a small poster collection from British photographer may change that, at least in a small way.

Continue reading below

This photo of a tired mother of fourteen piglets is one of six posters being sold by British agriculture photographer Peter Dean. ( © Peter Dean)

Agricultural stock photographer Peter Dean has published a collection of six farm animal images, all of which show that the animals we love to eat do have some personality. Included are photos of a tuckered-out mother pig with 14 piglets (though you can see just eight of them), five cows trying to see over a dry stone fence. and a mother sheep with two lambs all listing to their right.

The posters cost £12.95 ($26.54) each plus postage.

To see all the posters, click here.

Image Source Launches VIP Mini-Website . .  .
Dec. 10, 2007

Image Source, which produces and distributes royalty-free stock photography, has created a special members-only mini-website for the company's best customers.

The "Black Zone" is a part of Image Source's "Open Your Eyes" promotional campaign, the company said.

“The Black Zone is where we can treat and interact with our premium clients,” said Image Source Chief executive Christina Vaughan. “We can offer them exclusive content and features, as well as special offers and gifts.”

The first visitors will receive a custom-designed shoulder bag, the company said.

For the Image Source website, click here.

Newscom Offers Video from Reuters . .  .
Dec. 10 2007

Newscom, which provides images and written news content for the editorial markets, says it now offers video from Reuters.

Coverage includes breaking news as well as human interest, sports and entertainment video from around the world. Up to 60 new stories will be added each day.

For the Newscom website, click here.

Alamy Offers Bigger Thumbnails . .  .
Dec. 10, 2007

British stock photography distributor Alamy announced in its blog today that it has increased the size of its image thumbnails. The new thumbnails are 170 pixels on the long size, which seems to be something of an industry standard.

Getty, Corbis, Veer and others have similarly-sized thumbnails. Science Faction is one of the few companies offering larger thumbnails at 230 pixels on the long side.

For the Alamy website, click here.

Photolibrary Launches UK Subscription Through Index Stock Brand . .  .
Dec. 4, 2007

Photolibrary has launched a new subscription service in the United Kingdom under the Index Stock brand name. Index Open offers a general library of 250,000 images. Subscribers can download up to 30 images a day.

Prices range from £69 per month (about $142) for an annual subscription billed monthly to £699 (about $1440) for an annual subscription paid at the beginning of the subscription period.

The British prices are considerably higher than those in the U.S. where an annual print resolution subscription costs $699. Photolibrary will launch a new U.S. Index Open web site and offer subscriptions in several other territories next year.

For the United Kingdom Index Open website, click here.

Moodboard and PunchStock Offer Low-Priced Images . .  .
Dec. 4, 2007

Moodboard has announced that, for this week only, its Quality Microstock collection will license images of all resolutions for £2 ($4.12). the promotion, which celebrates the company's second birthday, will end at midnight Dec. 10.

Punchstock, a division of Getty Images, now offers a collection of 110,000 images called Valueline. Web resolution images ar $19 while larger digital files cost $49.

For the Moodboard website, click here. For PunchStock, click here.

Wier, Soloway Kick Off Sundance Workshop Season . .  .
Dec. 4, 2007

Nevada Wier, a specialist in adventure and travel photography, and Eddie Soloway, a nature and travel shooter, will kick off this year's session of the Sundance Photographic Workshop May 7 to 11 at the Sundance Resort in Utah.

Wier will offer a session entitled "Photographing on the Move," while Soloway will present a session called "The Natural Eye.

For the Sundance Workshop website, click here.

 

Danita Delimont Co-President of ASPP West . .  .
Dec. 3, 2007

Danita Delimont, owner of the Danita Delimont Stock Agency, has been named co-president of the West Coast Chapter of the American Society of Picture Professionals (ASPP).

Delimont was president of the national organization in 2000 and 2001. She oversaw development of the ASPP Bi-Annual Education Conference during her term. The West Coast Chapter includes Washington, Oregon, California, Idaho, Montana, Utah and Arizona.

For the Danita website, click here.

LatinVisions Unveils New Hispanic Imagery Web Site. .  .
Nov 29, 2007

LatinVisions has unveiled a new web site with new technology developed in conjunction with 20/20 Software. The site offers more than 500,000 images, including photos from Getty Images and a number of Latin American agencies.

The new English language site includes large pop-up versions of images when the cursor is placed over thumbnail images. The company said it also will launch a Spanish language site.

For the English website, click here.

SnapVillage Now Has 125,000 images. .  .
Nov 29, 2007

Corbis' SnapVillage micropayment website says it now offers 125,000 images. The collection is growing by about 10,000 images a week, the company said.

The website, which is still in a testing phase, has added support for imbedded metadata, the company said. It also now offers improved watermarking, search technology and a streamlined registration process. A bulk upload feature will be added soon.

For the SnapVillage website, click here.

Getty Images Ends "Change Me" . .  .
Nov 29, 2007

"Change Me," an interactive art space that let users express ideas for making the world better, has ended at Getty Images, the company announced.

The online feature generated $500,000 for the Friends of the Global Fight Against Aids, Tuberculosis and Malaria, a Washington D C organization that attempts to organize and mobilize decision-makers to put an end to the three diseases.

For the Getty Images website, click here.

Buenos Dias Joins THP Group . .  .
Nov 29, 2007

THP PhotoServices, a division of age fotostock, says Buenos Dias is now using the THP hosting platform, making it the second Austrian stock distributor to sign up for the network. There are 53 THP distributors worldwide.

Buenos Dias, a full service distributor with about 1.5 million images, said using THP lets it concentrate on marketing and licensing images.

For the THP website, click here. For the Buenos Dias site, click here.

Photolibrary Appoints Hill VP for North America Marketing . .  .
Nov 21, 2007

Photolibrary, which owns two North American stock photography brands, has named Andy Hill vice president of sales and marketing for the North American region.

Hill has formerly served as director of sales for Getty Images in New York, director of sales for the Associated Press and vice president of sales for Punchstock and UpperCut Images.

Photolibrary now owns Index Stock Imagery and Monsoon Images, both New York based distributors. The company is launching a new website that currently is in beta testing.

For the Photolibrary website, click here.

Joshua Borough Becomes Photo Editor at Alaska Stock . .  .
Nov 21, 2007

Joshua Borough

Alaska Stock has promoted Joshua Borough to the position of photo editor. Borough will integrate duties from his current position as production and sales coordinator with his new role as photographer liaison, the Anchorage, AK, company said.

Borough has worked for the Anchorage Daily News, the New York Times and Pacific Fishing. He is official photographer for Fur Rendezvous.

He also has photographed throughout Alaska, the lower 48 states, Bolivia, Argentina and Vietnam.

Borough says his goals will be to maintain the quality of the Alaska Stock image library, while expanding the number of images in the collection and the number of contributing photographers.

For the Alaska Stock website, click here.

Dreamstime Now Offers Two Million Images . .  .
Nov 21, 200

Micropayment stock photography distributor Dreamstime says its collection has reached the two million image mark.

The company says it is adding about 10,000 images a day and hosts some four million visitors per month.

For Dreamstime website, click here.

A21 Forges Deal with The Global Arts Group . .  .
Nov 21, 200

The Global Arts Group will distribute prints of images from the SuperStock fine art image collection under a deal with a21, Superstock's corporate parent.

Under the deal, the Global Arts Group will provide reproduction and distribution of some SuperStock fine art images and a print-on-demand service of the same images through a21's ArtSelect subsidiary.

For a21 website, click here.

Knights Templars Calendar Available from Simon Marsden . .  .
Nov 19, 2007

This is the cover of Simon Marsden's new calendar about the Knights Templars. (© Simon Marsden)

Ever since Umberto Eco's 1988 book entitled Foucault's Pendulum –– and certainly since Dan Brown's more recent novel The Da Vinci Code –– the Knights Templars have become the subject of much speculation and a considerable number of historic adventure novels.

Now Simon Marsden, a British photographer who specializes in the occult, has published a 2008 Calendar entitled "The Mysteries of the Knights Templars." Marsden, who offers some of his imagery for stock photography, shot surviving sites associated with the secretive monastic warriors of the middle ages. The castles, abbeys, landscapes and other subjects are photographed in Marsden's unique black & white personal style. The calendar is available from the photographer's website.

For Marsden's site, click here.

Getty Improves its Website . .  .
Nov 19, 2007

Getty Images said on this date that it has improved several features of its new web site. A company spokesperson said the upgrade "makes it easier for visitors to navigate the site and find products quickly."

Better lightbox functionality lets customers move and copy images between lightboxes and arrange images within lightboxes, the company said. And the advanced search now includes a photographer/filmmaker search option in a pulldown menu under the keyword entry field.

Previously, searchers could simply enter the photographer's name in the regular search box, which, for photographers, had its good and bad points. It was good that a photographer's images could be easily found if the photographer had an unusual name. However, shooters with common names like "Smith," or names like "Shepherd" or "Day" or "Fox," probably had a hard time filtering out images sheep tenders, days (there are over a million images keyworded for "day" on the Getty site) or wild red canines.

For Getty Images, click here.

Pixtal Releases New Royalty-Free CDs . .  .
Nov 19, 2007

Pixtal, a division of age fotostock, has released new CD collections bringing to 15 the number of royalty-free image collections offered this year. More than 1,000 images are included in fifteen CDs published in 2007.

According to the company, the CDs released this year offer a realistic vision of contemporary society, including diversity in ethnicity, gender and age.

For age fotostock, click here.

A21 and Jupitermedia Shares Trading at Recent Lows . .  .
Nov 16, 2007

Shares of two publicly traded stock photography companies ended this week at or very near their recent low points. A21, parent company to Superstock, ended the week at $0.035 per share while Jupitermedia, Jupiterimages' parent, ended at $3.85 a share. Jupitermedia's price was up a little from the week's low of $3.51 on Wednesday, but lower than the stock has traded during the last four years leading up to this week.

Lackluster third quarters from all three publicly traded distributors, including Getty Images, led to the lower share prices. Ironically, Getty got a boost from its quarterly report. Getty shares broke above $30 after the company reported third quarter figures early this month. The share price has stayed above $30 ever since.

A21's share price is now so low that the company's market capitalization is a mere $3.08 million. Though a21 lost $1.4 million in the third quarter, the company's revenues totaled $5.4 million, with $2.8 million coming from stock photo sales. Jupitermedia reported a $535,000 third quarter loss on revenue of $34.8 million. Its market capitalization is $138.4 million.

For a21, click here; for Jupitermedia, click here.

Adobe Releases Updated Lightroom and Camera Raw Software . .  .
Nov 16, 2007

Adobe Systems has announced free upgrades for its Camera Raw and Lightroom software, which adds support for the new Apple Leopard operating system.

Both upgrades also include support for seven additional digital cameras, including Nikon D3, Nikon D300 and Canon 1Ds Mark III.

For the Adobe web site, click here.

Jainco Offers Discounts to APA Members . .  .
Nov 16, 2007

Jainco is offering members of the Advertising Photographers Association (APA) special discounts for scanning, raw processing, retouching, clipping paths and keywording, it was announced this week.

Members will have the option of sending scanning work to any of Jainco's three offices in Solon, Ohio; London, England; or Mumbai, India.

For the Jainco web site, click here. For the APA web site, click here.

'Tis the Season for Awards and Such . .  .
Nov 13, 2007

The Art Directors Club (ADC), a distributor of food photography, and even a micropayment stock photo web site have announced awards programs for the most creative among us.

ADC said the deadline for its 87th Annual Awards program is Jan. 18 for professional categories and Jan. 31 for student entries. Two new professional categories are offered this year.

The Hybrid Award honors "innovative, groundbreaking advertising communications that represent relevant, entertaining, engaging brand experiences and solutions," the organization said. The Design Sphere Award is for a sustained design program for a single client.

StockFood, a stock photo distributor that specializes in food and beverage photography, has announced it will sponsor the new FAB Futures Award for ambitious young talent. The closing date for the FAB Awards is March 15.

Crestock Stock Photos has announced a Photoshop contest. The Microstock distributor will offer a selection of photos to contestants and challenge them to create something exceptional. There will be four rounds of the contest over four weeks. Prizes get better with each week, ending with a Quad Core Mac Pro Computer with Dual 30-inch LCD displays.

For info about the ADC awards, click here; about the FAB Awards, click here; about the Crestock contest, click here.

Internet Creatives Shun Traditional Media . .  .
Nov 13, 2007

The Industry Measure reports that internet creatives believe e-mail marketing, viral marketing and search engine marketing will become more important during the next year. The internet folks are, however, less bullish about print media than other graphic arts marketers.

The company that gathers information about graphic communications markets gently chides the respondents, noting that it is difficult to ignore any media today.

The Industry Measure notes, however, that the attitude of internet creatives "does suggest that Internet creatives are more specialty houses that function as the new media equivalent of print providers, focusing on one or two particular aspects of a campaign as dictated by whoever is in charge of developing the media strategy."

The information comes from the company's report entitled, Internet Design & Development #11 Survey.

For The Industry Measure web site, click here.

Corbis Licenses Rights for Steve McQueen . .  .
Nov 8, 2007

Corbis announced that its rights representation division has licensed the rights to use Steve McQueen in association with a new limited edition "Mustang Bullitt" modeled after the car McQueen drove in what is probably still Hollywood's most famous car chase scene.

The release of the Ford car coincides with the 40th anniversary of the movie Bullitt, during which McQueen's car sped up and down the hills of San Francisco, often leaving the ground.

For the Corbis web site, click here.

A $1,000 Royalty-Free Image Sale from moodboard. .  .
Nov 8, 2007

Moodboard says it sold rights to this royalty-free image for more than $1,000, making this possibly the largest single image royalty-free sale ever. Mike Watson, the company's CEO and founder of Digital Vision, said he always has believed royalty-free prices could be higher. The stock photography distributor offers imagery for prices ranging from $135 to $2,125. For the moodboard web site, click here ( © Mike Watson Images/moodboard).

 

 

For older briefs, click here.