More Creative Industry Briefs . . .

Stock Asylum Staff Reports

 

Digital Railroad Creates Two Partnerships . .  .
May 3, 2007

Digital Railroad has announced partnerships with ADBASE, a mail list service for creative professionals, and Hindsight, a software company that develops business management solutions for photographers and graphic artists.

ADBASE is offering Digital Railroad photographers with access to its list of 32,000 image buyers for a reduced fee. Digital Railroad photographers also will be able to streamline their businesses with Hindsight's license fee calculator, contact management, accounting and marketing tools.

For Digital Railroad, click here.

Glasshouse Offers Royalty-Free . .  .
May 3, 2007

Glasshouse images has announced it will offer royalty-free imagery from high-end collections like PhotoAlto, Zen Shui Johner and fStop.

The company said it will be "cherry-picking" content from these collections to offer a distinctive royalty-free service. Currently, Glass House offers only single-image royalty-free licenses, but says that buyers interested in compact discs should check back in the future.

For Glass House web site, click here.

Corbis Working with Hallmark . .  .
May 3, 2007

Corbis announced that it is helping Hallmark Cards, Inc., clear rights for a collection of cards that features CD-quality recordings of original music and sound clips from famous artists and actors.

The "Say it with Music," movie and TV collections include 250 cards with music from artists like Willie Nelson, the Rolling Stones, Tim McGraw, Smash Mouth and Wang Chung. Some include dialogue and theme music from TV shows like "Napoleon Dynamite," "I Love Lucy," and "Happy Days."

For the Corbis web site, click here.

Micropayment Site Allows Uploads from Flickr . .  .
April 25, 2007

(Editor's note: 123RF said Flickr revoked its privileges within 24 hours of going live with this program. Thus, the program is currently suspended.)

Micropayment web site 123RF has announced that Flickr members can now upload and license their images through the 123rf.com web site using a new integration feature.

"Instead of just having their personal portfolio stored online, Flickr members now have the opportunity to see their masterpieces used in a commercial capacity," 123RF said in a press release. Flickr is a popular online image-sharing community.

For the 123RF web site, click here.

OJO Images to Deliver New Royalty-Free Collection . .  .
April 25, 2007

Stock industry veteran Jonathan Gibson has launched an independent royalty-free business. OJO Images will debut with a new collection of 7,000 wholly-owned images organized into 70 virtual CD titles, the company said.

Gibson has worked with Dynamic Graphics and JupiterImages. He said OJO will focus on high production-value images from quality photographers.

For OJO's web site, click here.

Veer Nominated for Webby . .  .
April 20, 2007

An online application that let users combine elements to create their own visual construction, has been nominated for a Webby. Veer's web-based program entitled "Build Your Own World," was nominated in the "Other Advertising: Game or Application" category.

The Webby Awards received more than 8,000 entries. Winners in more than 100 categories will be announced in early May.

For Veer's web site, click here.

Corbis Announces New Leadership Team . .  .
April 17, 2007

Corbis President Gary Shenk has formed a new leadership team. Shenk, who will become CEO of Corbis July 1, named Ivan Purdie senior vice president of sales; Kate Nickerson, vice president of marketing; Ross Sutherland, chief creative officer; Stephen Gillett, vice president of technology; Adam Brotman, vice president of networks; Steve Lodis, vice president of human resources; Sue McDonald, chief operating officer and chief financial officer; Mark Sherman, senior vice president of creative resources; and Jim Mitchell, senior vice president and general counsel.

All members of the new team are current executives at Corbis. The company did not say what will happen to Dave Bradley, who is currently listed as chief marketing officer and Wil Merritt, who is listed as the current vice president of sales and services.

For the Corbis web site, click here.

Getty to Move 90,000 Images into Rights-Ready Collection . .  .
April 17, 2007

Getty Images announced on this date that it will move some 90,000 images into from its Image Bank collection to the company's new rights-ready library. Getty previously moved images from the Iconica collection into the rights-ready collection. The company said Image Bank images that currently have exclusive licenses will move to the Stone or Taxi rights-managed collections. The transition is expected in mid-May, according to a Getty spokesperson.

The rights-ready collection offers broad image usage rights from a single fee. About 200,000 images are currently in the rights-ready library.

For the Getty Images web site, click here.

PicScout Signs Deal with Jupiterimages . .  .
April 17, 2007

If you have quietly, but illegally, been using a rights-managed image from Jupiterimages, you might want to reconsider. The Darien, CT, stock photo distributor may soon be coming after copyright infringers like you.

Jupiter announced on this date that it has signed an agreement with PicScout, a company that uses cutting-edge technology to search for and find illegal image uses. PicScout says its image recognition technology can find offending image uses even when the images have been altered. With this deal, Jupiter joins other top image distributors who use search services to find infringers.

For the Jupiterimages web site, click here.

Corbis and ADC Announce Social Justice Awards . .  .
April 17, 2007

Corbis and the Art Directors Club (ADC) have announced that the Walker Agency of Switzerland has won the Creativity for Social Justice Award for an Amnesty International campaign entitled "It's Not Happening Here. But it is Happening." At the same time student Jeanne Lee was recognized for her creation entitled "Plant a Seed for a Greener Apple," a school project for Trees New York.

Corbis CEO Steve Davis will present the awards at the ADC 86th Annual Awards Gala May 31. Amnesty International, the subject of the Walker campaign, will receive $20,000 and Lee will receive a $5,000 scholarship.

Masterfile's European Office Announces New Magazine . .  .
April 13, 2007

Masterfile's European headquarters in Düsseldorf, Germany, has announced that it will publish a new magazine aimed at creative professionals. Each edition will tell a story relating to a specific topic. The first edition, planned for release in mid-May, will be about music. Plans call for the magazine to be published at least three times a year.

"As the issues progress, readers will increasingly be invited to participate interactively. Prize competitions, references to image search opportunities and the extension of themes on the Masterfile microsite will all offer the chance for readers to enter into direct dialogue with each other," the company said in a prepared release.

For Masterfile's web site, click here.

AMUSE to Distribute iStock Images for Mobile Devices . .  .
April 11, 2007

Getty Images' iStockphoto division has chosen AMUSE Entertainment Group B.V. to help distribute imagery to the users of mobile telephones and other mobile communications devices.

The two companies have set up a pilot program through which 5,000 images will be available to customers in the United Kingdom. Based on results in the U.K., the program could be extended to other parts of the world and could include all of the 1.5 million images in the iStock library.

For iStockphoto, click here.

123RF Web Site Undergoes Face-Lift. .  .
April 11, 2007

Micropayment and subscription web site 123RF has been revamped. Inmagine, which owns 123RF, said the new site has a streamlined interface, advanced search options with filters, and better community-based tools.

The site also offers free web resolution images donated by contributors. The company said top photographers are seeing increased sales as a result of the face-lift.

For 123RF, click here.

Civil Rights Imagery Available at Look South . .  .
April 6, 2007

Look South, a stock distributor based in Atlanta, GA, has announced a collection of imagery based on the U. S. civil rights movement. The collection should be of interest to scholars, publishers and researchers, the company said.

Included are images of Coretta Scott King, her children, Hosea Williams and other civil rights activists. The collection also includes photos of Ku Klux Klan "wizards" in full hooded regalia and rows of Klan crosses burning against a night sky.

The announcement comes at a time when the civil rights movement is getting renewed attention thanks to an Atlanta exhibit of handwritten notes used by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., to craft some of his most famous speeches.

For Look South, click here.

Alamy Adds 40260 Collection . .  .
April 4, 2007

Alamy has added 3,700 images from a royalty-free image collection that focuses on the 40- to 60-year-old age group –– the so-called "baby-boom" generation of people born shortly after World War II.

The collection portrays this market segment as enjoying a fit, healthy lifestyle during the empty-nest and pre-retirement years.

For Alamy, click here.

Awards for Photoshop Professionals . .  .
April 4, 2007

The National Association of Photoshop Professionals has announced the "Guru Award" winners from the Photoshop World Conference and Expo in Boston.

The nine winners are Scott Montgomery, Eduardo Rizo, Daniel Johnson, Michael Green, Laura Behnke, Luis Ramirez, Stephen Power, Judy Morse and Matt Zumbo. Zumbo won the best of show award. The winners were chosen from more than 300 entries and received prizes of various professional products.

To see the winning images, click here.

Newscom signs BBC Magazines . .  .
March 30, 2007

Newscom, which distributes written and visual materials to publishers, has signed a deal with BBC Magazines. Under the arrangement, Newscom will initially distribute material from two food-related magazines published by BBC Magazines. The agreement calls for future distribution of materials from other BBC publications.

The deal is BBC Magazines first venture into the publishing markets in North, Central and South America, Newscom said. BBC Magazines is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the British Broadcasting Corporation.

For Newscom, click here.

LIFE Newspaper Supplement to Cease Publication . .  .
March 27, 2007

Time, Inc. has announced that the last LIFE Magazine newspaper supplement will be published April 20. However, LIFE will continue with plans to launch an ambitious new online portal that will make LIFE's entire ten million image collection available for personal use. LIFE also will continue to publish books.

As a stand-alone weekly magazine from the 1930s to the early 1970s, LIFE was considered the gold-standard for photojournalism, LIFE was reborn as a monthly magazine in 1978 and continued to publish until 2000. It was revived again as a newspaper supplement in 2004. Time, Inc., said it is killing the supplement because of the poor outlook for advertising growth in the newspaper market.

Images from LIFE and Time magazine are available for editorial and commercial uses from a stand-alone web site and from Getty Images. For the Time and Life Pictures web site, click here.

LOOK Photography Launches New RF Architectural Collection . .  .
March 27, 2007

A California-based photo distributor that specializes in home and architectural imagery has announced a new royalty-free image collection.

LOOK Photography said all the images in the new collection are model and property released, the company said. The library currently includes 3,500 images and is expected to grow to about 10,000 images by the end of this year. LOOK also licenses rights-managed photography.

Subjects include architecture, interior and exterior design, home lifestyles and home environments. For the LOOK web site, click here.

Aurora Launches Photographer Rep Division . .  .
March 22, 2007

Aurora Photos, which licenses outdoor, adventure, lifestyle, geographic and cultural stock photography, has announced the launch of a new division named "Select" that will represent editorial photographers . David Laidler will direct Select, which is headquartered in New York City.

Select will handle advertising and corporate assignments, as well as editorial ones, said Aurora founder José Azel. He noted that the experience and story-telling skills available through the division are valuable to all image-users.

Photographers Bridget Besaw, Jay Clendenin, Jon Lowenstein, Vince Musi, Andy Cutraro, Katja Heinemann, Todd Korol, John Lee will be represented by the new division.

For Select, click here.

Corbis Represents Heithoff and Ogunsemore . .  .
March 22, 2007

Corbis has announced that its artists representation team now represents photographers Mark Heithoff and Olùgbènrò Ogunsemore. Heithoff shoots environmental portraits in what is described as a low-key style. Ogunsemore shoots environmental and studio portraits.

For Corbis, click here.

Getty Launches Assignment Photography Agency . .  .
March 20, 2007

Getty Images announced on this date that it is starting a new assignment photography agency called Orchard. The agency will offer two distinct services. Orchard Artists Representation represents "elite, award-winning photographers for commission based on their style, approach and specialty."

Orchard Global Assignment will commission photographers for projects in specific geographic locations. Getty said that, since 2004, volume in the assignment category has more than doubled, leading to this expansion of the company's assignment business. Orchard has offices in New York, London, Munich and Paris.

For Orchard, click here.

Jupitermedia Delays Reporting Fourth Quarter Results . .  .
March 9, 2007

Jupitermedia has announced it will delay reporting fourth quarter 2006 financial results until next week. The company, which had planned to report yesterday, said it had to reschedule because of merger talks with Getty Images. It was reported this week that the talks have terminated without a deal.

Jupitermedia, which owns JupiterImages, said the fourth quarter and annual financial numbers will be released after the stock market closes Wednesday, March 14. The company has scheduled a conference call to discuss the results Thursday, March 15.

In his blog, Jupiter CEO Alan Meckler asked investors to avoid speculating about the delay. "We are a relatively small company and our financial team was diverted from our quarterly closing in order to supply due diligence information for the proposed deal, which of course was ended yesterday," Meckler commented in an entry posted last night.

For Jupitermedia, click here.

Eddie Porter Illustration at Retna . .  .
March 7, 2007

Work by Award-winning illustrator Eddie Porter is now available exclusively from Retna, a supplier of celebrity, news, sports and commercial imagery. Through Porter, Retna also will create new illustration-on-demand for publishing companies.

A native of Iceland, Porter attended the Art Institute of Ft. Lauderdale. Retna will offer Porter's scientific, conceptual and landscape illustration.

For Retna, click here.

Jupiter Launches Web Video Site . .  .
March 7, 2007

Jupitermedia has launched a web site about shooting, editing and distributing video on the internet. WebVideoUniverse.com is part of Jupiter's Internet.com's information technology channel, the company said.

The launch follows an announcement that Jupitermedia will host a Web Video Summit trade show June 27 and 28 in San Jose, California. The new web site launches with articles about Adobe editing tools available at Photobucket.com, creating a sense of place in a video sequence and promoting videos with press releases.

For WebVideoUniverse.com, click here.

Alamy Adds Eyecandy Royalty-Free . .  .
March 7, 2007

Royalty-free photography from Eyecandy Images is now available on Alamy. The London- and New York-based image distributor describes its collection as "innovative, daring and sexy."

In another matter, the Alamy web site now claims more than eight million images online. The company is adding 350,000 images every month.

For Alamy, click here.

Garden Picture Library 20 Years Old . .  .
March 7, 2007

Garden Picture Library, which is now owned by Photolibrary, is celebrating its 20th birthday. The collection of botanical and horticultural imagery now contains more than 300,000 images.

To celebrate, the British collection is offering a Pocket Garden with every purchase over £300.

For Garden Picture Library, click here.

Getty Awards Two Photojournalism Grants . .  .
Feb. 28, 2007

Getty Images has awarded two $20,000 photojournalism grants. Magnum photographer Christopher Anderson will use his grant and additional support from the Getty editorial staff to work on a project entitled "The Bolivarian Revolution –– Venezuela and Bolivia at a Crossroads." The project will examine the new socialist revolution in Latin America.

Getty Images contributor Ziyah Gafic plans to use his grant for a project entitled "Troubled Islam –– Short Stories from Troubled Societies." The three-year-old grant program attracted 153 entries. The anonymous proposals were judged by a panel of three industry experts.

For Getty Images, click here.

Dreamstime Collection Reaches One Million Images . .  .
Feb. 28, 2007

Micropayment stock photography distributor Dreamstime.com announced its collection now contains more than one million images. The company said it currently uploads about 5,000 images and serves 100,000 visitors each day.

Dreamstime said Matthew Apps, one of 15,000 image contributors, uploaded the one millionth image.

For Dreamstime, click here.

Dreamstime Launches Blog with Ellen Boughn. .  .
Feb. 21, 2007

Micropayment stock distributor Dreamstime.com has launched a blog with comments from its new Content Director Ellen Boughn. Boughn is a 30-year stock industry veteran.

In her first three entries, Boughn offers would-be and emerging stock shooters some good advice about how models should dress for a stock shoot; creating useful "incomplete" images; and stimulating inspiration.

For the new blog, click here.

Honesty is the Best Policy, Unless You Want to Get Bought . .  .
Feb. 21, 2007

Alamy's Alan Capel, had a little fun in a contributor's blog entry dealing with common misconceptions about the company. Under item eight entitled "But I'm sure you (Alamy, we presume) can be bought," the company's head of content replied, "WRONG –– nice try but we are far too honest for that."

Hmmmmm!?!? For the Alamy blog, click here.

Masterfile Strikes Deal with amana . .  .
Feb. 19, 2007

Toronto stock photogrpahy distributor Masterfile announced on this date that it has signed a multi-year agreement with amana images of Japan. Under the pact, amana will market Masterfile's rights-managed and "Radius" royalty-free collections to the Japanese market.

In addition, Masterfile will collaborate with amana to produce new images tailored to the Japanese market. Amana, which is considered Japan's largest provider of imagery, also has a marketing agreement with Getty Images.

For Masterfile's web site, click here.

Lightroom Released by Adobe . .  .
Feb. 19, 2007

Adobe's new photography workflow program for Macintosh and Windows operating systems is now shipping at an introductory price of $199, the company has announced. After April 30, the program will sell for $299.

The program allows digital photographers a great deal of flexibility in managing large image collections. In addition the software offers a number of non-destructive image manipulation tools. Adobe also announced the release of Camera Raw 3.7 with support for more than 150 cameras.

For more information about Lightroom, click here.

PACA Announces Annual Meeting Schedule . .  .
Feb. 15, 2007

The Picture Archive Council of America (PACA) has announced the agenda for its 2007 annual meeting in Alexandria, VA, just outside Washington DC. This year's event will be held at the Hilton Alexandria Mark Center May 4 to 6.

PACA has invited members of the American Society of Picture Professionals for the May 5 sessions. Among other presentations, that day's schedule will include an art buyers' panel entitled "Freedom of Choice. Are we Giving Them What They Need."

The three-day event also will include presentations on public domain images, licensing models, industry standards, the future of stock photography, and motion imagery.

For more information, click here.

Jupiter Starts Music Subscription Service . .  .
Feb. 15, 2007

JupiterImages' RoyaltyFreeMusic.com web site now offers its library of 6,000 music tracks and 10,000 sound effects through a new subscription service.

The service can be purchased for $199.95 per month or $999.95 per year. For the music web site, click here.

OnAsia Photographers Picked for Thailand Project . .  .
Feb. 14, 2007

Six OnAsia photographers will contribute to a new book about Thailand that will be published by Editions Didier Millet of Singapore.

In all, 55 photographers will produce images for the photographic portrait entitled Thailand: Nine Days in the Kingdom. The book will be released in December to mark the birthday of Thailand's King Bhumipol Adulydej.

For the project's web site, click here.

Masterfile to Sponsor Design Week Award . .  .
Feb. 14, 2007

The European offices of Masterfile have announced that the company will be a sponsor of this year's Design Week Awards. Masterfile will award the prize for the posters category, one of 24 awards presented during the 2007 ceremonies next Monday at the London Park Lane Hilton Hotel.

Members of the Masterfile team also will be available for chats that night and promise "a whole load of little surprises" for attendees.

For the Masterfile web site, click here.

Getty Courts Hispanic Image Buyers . .  .
Feb. 13, 2007

Trying to better understand the needs of Hispanic image buyers, Getty Images has launched a series of discussions with ad agency and publishing leaders from the growing Latino community in the United States.

The first meeting of "Creativisimo!" included 12 participants who discussed trends, changes, intra-cultural diversity and other issues affecting how the Hispanic communications industry purchases imagery. Three Getty Images representatives and Horacio Gavilan, executive director of the Association of Hispanic Advertising Agencies, were among the participants.

Getty plans additional meetings during 2007 in major cities across the United States.

For the Getty Images web site, click here.

Jupiter Starts Video Trade Show. .  .
Feb. 8, 2007

Jupitermedia, the parent company of the JupiterImages stock photography brand, will host a web video summit in San Jose, CA, June 27 and 28. The trade show will be for people who create and distribute video over the web. The company said it also would soon launch a new web site named WebVideoUniverse.com to provide news, information and other resources to this community.

Industry expert David Burstein will chair the summit at the Jan Jose Marriott Hotel.

For the Jupitermedia web site, click here.

Getty Sells Market Research for $750 . .  .
Feb. 6, 2007

Getty Images has released the MAP Report, a compact disc containing much of the company's research into visual market trends. The company compiled the information by surveying image buyers, looking a current advertising and compiling search information from the Getty web site. However, at $750, the report is a little expensive for a lot of image creators and small distributors.

Fortunately, much useful information about market trends is available for free or for the cost of a magazine subscription. Advertising Age, for example, provides much useful information through the American Demographics section on its web site.

For the Getty Images report , click here. For Advertising Age, click here.

Nuth Promoted by Masterfile . .  .
Feb. 5, 2007

Linda Nuth has been named marketing coordinator for Masterfile's European operation, which is headquartered in Dusseldorf, German.

Nuth, was previously employed within Masterfile's European sales team. She previously worked for Corbis in Europe. She is now responsible for organizing, coordinating and implementing marketing strategy for all of Europe, the company said. For the Masterfile web site, click here.

Alamy Has Biggest Day Ever . .  .
Feb. 5, 2007

Alamy reported in its new blog that Jan. 31 was the company's biggest day ever in terms of sales.

In a short entry Alamy's James Allsworth said, "We haven't done anything spectacular to celebrate this joyous occasion, but what we are doing, right now, in fact, is giving ourselves a whacking great pat on the back." Allsworth did not report sales figures for the day. For the Alamy Blog (which is entitled simply "Blog"), click here.

IStockvideo Contest Launched. .  .
Feb. 5, 2007

IStockphoto, Getty Images' subsidiary that offers video under the iStockvideo name, has announced a video contest entitled "Future Now." Videographers are being asked to submit original work, 30 seconds to three minutes long, about today's high-tech lifestyles, "offering a perspective on our futuristic, gadget-driven lives." There are categories for humorous and non-humorous work.

Winners will receive a portion of some $25,000 in prizes. For the contest information , click here.

Art Resource to License Images from the Met . .  .
Feb. 5, 2007

Art Resource, which represents work from 6,000 museums, institutions and monuments worldwide, has announced that it now licenses more than 2,000 images from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, which owns artworks spanning 5,000 years of world culture.

Included in the new Art Resource collection are works like The Death of Socrates by Jacques-Louis David; Young Woman with a Water Jug by Vermeer; Rembrandt's Aristotle with a Bust of Homer; Manet's Boating; The Unicorn Tapestries, Emanuel Leutze's Washington Crossing the Delaware; and Jackson Pollock's Autumn Rhythm.

For the Art Resource web site, click here.

Ellen Boughn Joins Dreamstime . .  .
Feb. 2, 2007

Ellen Boughn, who most recently worked for SuperStock and UpperCut Images, has now signed on with micropayment stock distributor Dreamstime.

Among other things, Boughn will help build the collection and write a blog for Dreamstime users. The official announcement is scheduled for Monday, Feb. 5. For the Dreamstime web site, click here.

Masterson Joins Janou Pakter, Inc. . .  .
Feb. 2, 2007

Michael Masterson, formerly of Workbook and Workbook Stock, has been hired by Janou Pakter, Inc. (JPI), an executive search firm with offices in New York, Paris and Milan. He will work at the company's new West Coast office.

Masterson will work with JPI Vice President Jerry Tavin to create a new photography division. Tavin is the former CEO of Nonstock. The photography division will recruit talent for stock photography , publishing, advertising and design companies. For the JPI web site, click here.

Newscom Improves Brand Images, Hires New Sales Director . .  .
Jan. 31, 2007

Newscom, which aggregates images, stories and graphics from more than 100 providers for use in newspapers, magazines and other editorial publications, has launched a new look for its brand and hired a former Getty Images executive to direct sales.

The company's web site now sports a clean orange and white layout with a central news image surrounded by links to various Newscom services and collections. On this date, the large image was a photo of reasonably healthy-looking Fidel Castro. The right column contained links to a special Academy Awards Resource Center and to a password-protected entertainment section. Additional links were in a column to the left of the central image. Newscom's new logo was at the top.

The company said it has hired Tom Bannon, who is charged with improving sales staff expertise, working with key accounts, and helping expand Newscom's presence in its market niche. He was previously director of sales for national accounts at Getty Images. For Newscom, click here.

Alamy Adds World History Archive . .  .
Jan. 30, 2007

Some 5,000 pictures from the World History Archive have been added to the Alamy collection with another 5,000 to be uploaded by May of this year. The British stock imagery company said the historic pictures from the archive document all periods from Medieval times until the present.

Comprised of woodcuts, lithographs, photographs and other kinds of images, the collection focuses on science, medicine, famous people, war and art. The World History Archive was established in 1960.

For Alamy, click here.

Jupitermedia Purchases Trade Shows . .  .
Jan. 30, 2007

Jupitermedia announced on this date that it has purchased the remaining 50.1 percent interest in two annual ISPCON trade shows and 100 percent of the INBOX trade show from Golden Group I, Inc. With the acquisitions, Jupitermedia now owns 100 percent of all three trade shows. Financial details were not disclosed.

ISPCON is the largest internet service provider trade show in North America. INBOX deals with e-mail communications technology. Jupitermedia owns JupiterImages, the world's third largest stock photography operation.

For more information, click here.

Image Production Firm Launched . .  .
Jan. 30, 2007

Pat and Mark Hunt, both long-time participants in the stock photo industry, have started a new image production company that will specialize in royalty-free imagery in six categories including, business, boomers, lifestyles, children, concepts and locations.

Huntstock, based in Boston, will offer its wholly-owned collection for worldwide distribution. All images currently on the Huntstock web site appear to have been created by Mark Hunt. For the Huntstock site, click here.

Another Getty Extension . .  .
Jan. 25, 2007

Getty Images has again extended its solicitation of consents from holders of its convertible subordinated debentures totaling $265 million. The new deadline is Feb. 7. The original deadline was Jan. 17, but the company previously extended it to Jan. 24. The solicitations could cost the company as much as $1.3 million if accepted by all holders of the debentures. The solicitations were offered after Getty received two notices of default when it delayed filing its third quarterly report with the U. S. Securities Exchange Commission last year.

For more information, click here.

Royalty-Free Serenity Offered by PhotoAlto . .  .
Jan. 24, 2007

PhotoAlto, a Paris-based royalty-free image distributor, has announced the release of Zen Shui, a collection of images that "takes a serene eastern esthetic of purity and simplicity blended with contemporary western themes and subject matter."

Palo Alto was founded in Paris in 1995 by two photographers and a graphic designer. It specializes in modern themes and contemporary photographic styles.

For the PhotoAlto web site, click here.

Jupiter Buys Royalty-Free Music and Sound Suppliers . .  .
Jan. 18, 2007

JupiterImages announced that it has purchased the assets of StudioCutz.com, BlueFuseMusic.com, NoiseFuel.com and MediaMusicLoops.com in a deal with Mediatone Music, Inc.

The division of Jupitermedia said it obtains 2,600 music tracks and 5,500 sound effects through the transaction. Terms of the purchase were not disclosed.

For the JupiterImages web site, click here.

Getty Extends Consent Solicitation . .  .
Jan. 18, 2007

Getty Images has extended until Jan. 24 the deadline for solicitation of consents from holders of its convertible subordinated debentures for $265 million due in 2023. The original deadline ended Jan.17 at 5 p.m.

The consents solicitations were offered after Getty received two notices of default when it delayed filing its third quarterly report last year. The company is offering cash payments of $5 for each $1,000 of the aggregate principal amount for the consents, which would let the company file the third quarterly report and the 2006 annual report late. Getty is not admitting that it has failed to perform any legal obligations. For an earlier article, click here.

Times Reports 51 Percent of Women Living Without A Spouse . .  .
Jan. 16, 2007

Demographics play an important role in determining what kinds of pictures advertisers use and, thus, what stock photographers shoot. As a result, a New York Times article on this date will probably raise some eyebrows.

In an piece by Sam Roberts, the newspaper said that, as of 2005, 51 percent of American woman were living without a spouse. It was the first time households with married couples were reported to be a minority, according to the Times, which analyzed national census numbers to come up with the figure. The Times suggested that women are marrying later and waiting longer or remarry after a divorce or the death of a spouse.

For the New York Times web site, click here.

Corbis Hires Sales Director for Australia . .  .
Jan. 15, 2007

Corbis has hired Sarah McCarthy as sales director for the company's new office in Australia. McCarthy has 20 years advertising agency and marketing experience and is a graduate of the University of Sydney.

Corbis recently moved into Australia with the purchase of Australian Picture Library (APL). McCarthy will help manage the integration of the Corbis and APL operations, which should be completed over the next few months, the company said. For the Corbis web site, click here.

Rock at Retna . .  .
Jan. 11, 2007

An extensive archive of images by long-time music photographer Mick Rock is now available for licensing from Retna, Ltd. Rock has created some of the most memorable rock and roll photography from the 1970s until now. He has created images of music celebrities and bands like David Bowie, Syd Barrett, Lou Reed, Iggy and the Stooges, Queen, Ramones, Joan Jett and others.

Rock was chief photographer for Rocky Horror Picture Show, Hedwig and the Angry Inch and Shortbus. Recent subjects include Michael Stripe, Johnny Marr, Kate Moss, Perry Ferrell, the Rapture and others. Born in London, Rock lives in New York City. For the Retna web site, click here.

Digital Railroad Offers Plug-In for Aperture. .  .
Jan. 11, 2006

Digital Railroad has announced a new plug-in for Apple Aperture version 1.5. The plug-in lets Aperture users upload images to their Digital Railroad archives with one click. According to the company, the new plug-in offers a unique feature in that Aperture users can continue using the Apple program while images are being uploaded. Users can add new images for upload during the uploading process, the company said.

Digital Railroad also offers its members an upload utility for iView Media Pro and scanning and keywording services from JaincoTech, the company said. For the Digital Railroad web site, click here.

A21 Appoints Sales and Marketing VP . .  .
Jan. 8, 2007

A21 announced on this date that it has hired Bruce D. Slywka as executive vice president of sales and marketing, a newly-created position. Slywka will report directly to CEO John Z. Ferguson.

Slywka, 38, was most recently vice president of worldwide sales at Knowledge Adventure, an educational software firm. He is a graduate of San Diego State with a degree in Business Administration. A21 sells stock photography through its SuperStock division and wall art and framing through its ArtSelect division. For the a21 web site, click here.

Getty Veteran Joins Blend Images . .  .
Jan. 5, 2007

Blend Images, which specializes in ethnically diverse business and lifestyle imagery, has hired Getty Images veteran Robert Henson as director of channel relations and sales.

Henson will manage relationships with worldwide sales partners and handle marketing for the royalty-free company. Henson held several positions at Getty Images over a period of nearly ten years. Most recently he was director of image partner operations at Getty. For the Blend web site, click here.

Walsh Leaves JupiterImages . .  .
Dec. 29, 2006

Chris Walsh, vice president of creative content for JupiterImages in Europe, has announced that he is leaving the third largest stock distributor and will return to his freelance image consultancy in Munich, Germany.

Walsh said he joined Jupiter after the Darien, CT, company acquired IFA-Bilderteam GmbH, of Munich, in April of 2006. He was responsible for content development for eight European brands. For the JupiterImages web site, click here.

Jupiter Officially in Micropayment Business . .  .
Dec. 19, 2006

JupiterImages said on this date that it has closed its acquisition of most of the remaining shares of HAAP Media, LTD, giving Jupiter a controlling interest in the micropayment distributor. JupiterImages now owns 90 percent of the Hungarian company that licenses imagery for one dollar or less from its Stockxpert.com web site. HAAP also operates a free image exchange. Terms of the deal were not announced. Jupiter previously owned just less than 50 percent of HAAP.

The purchase makes Jupiter the second large stock photography distributor to enter the micropayment sector. Getty Images bought iStockphoto, the largest micropayment company, last February. Corbis is also interested in the business model. For the JupiterImages web site, click here. For Stockxpert, click here.

Getty Credit Rating Lowered . .  .
Dec. 15, 2006

Standard and Poor's has reduced Getty Images credit rating to B+ with a notation to "watch developments." Getty had been rated BB.

The lower credit rating is apparently the result of circumstances around a Security Exchange Commission (SEC) informal investigation into stock option practices at the company. Getty decided to delay filing its third quarter report while the company and the SEC look into the practices. The delay triggered two notices of a purported default from bond holders.

Getty says it does not believe it is in default, but claims to have the money to pay off the unpaid principal and interest, which amounts to 29 percent of Getty's outstanding $265 million debt. The SEC investigation has also opened the company up to the possibility of a shareholders' lawsuit with at least one law firm looking into the company's practices. For the Getty Images web site, click here.

Masterfile Hires Tim Lund . .  .
Dec. 8, 2006

Former Getty Images Director of Photography Tim Lund has been hired by Masterfile to direct image production teams in Düsseldorf, Germany, and Toronto, Canada. Lund is charged with expanding the Masterfile collection and the new Radius royalty-free image library.

"He is a profesional manager with the creative eye of a brilliant, rebellious artist," said Masterfile President Steve Pigeon in making the announcement on this date. "He will be instrumental in our continued efforts to build the finest collection in the world."

At Getty Images, Lund was responsible for producing wholly-owned content. He has also worked at Digital Vision and VCG.

Pigeon said Masterfile is spending millions of dollars to produce images targeted at local markets in major international centers. The company also represent many photographers with traditional contracts that pay royalties for each license sold. For the Masterfile web site, click here.

Retna Launches New Web Site . .  .
Dec. 7, 2006

Retna CEO Jessica Daly says her company is already reaping benefits from a new web site that was unveiled early this week. She said the site does a better job of showing image-buyers all of Retna's different collections, which is translating into additional sales from existing customers.

Searchers must still register before browsing the entire Retna collection, but the web site's new home page offers previews of five distinct image categories. Though Retna is best-known for its celebrity and music image library, it also offers portrait, general stock photography, historic, and news/sports collections.

The New York company's web site has 1.9 million images online. Retna imagery is subdistributed through 40 international agents worldwide. For the Retna web site, click here.

Getty Names Two Executives to Photo Assignments Team . .  .
Nov. 30, 2006

Getty Images has named Matthew Goodrich director of marketing and strategy for photo assignments and Aidan Sullivan vice president of photo assignments in North America. Sullivan will also continue in his current role as vice president of editorial photographer relations.

Goodrich, who most recently served as vice president of marketing at Stockland Martel, a photo assignments agency, will oversee international photo assignments marketing efforts and direct the U.S. assignments team. Sullivan will oversee the division's creative direction and business operations. For the Getty Images' web site, click here.

BigStockPhotos.com Surpasses 700,000 images . .  .
Nov. 29, 2006

BigStockPhoto.com, a micropayment stock photography web site based in Davis, CA, has announced that its collection has reached 700,000 images. The company said it is adding 80,000 images each month.

BigStockPhoto says it serves a community of 90,000 users and plans to add a number of new web site features soon. For the company's web site, click here.

Alamy Expands Greenhouse Gas Reduction Program . .  .
Nov. 21, 2006

Alamy has expanded a program designed to offset greenhouse gas production linked to the company's operations. The company said it is taking several steps, including donating about $100,000 to a project in Keraia, India, that provides solar-powered electric lanterns to low-income families; has invested in video-conferencing technology to reduce travel between the company's offices in Britain and India; is increasing contributions to third party offset organizations; and is buying electricity from renewable sources where possible. For the Alamy web site, click here.

Photolibrary Named Finalist for International Business Award . .  .
Nov. 21, 2006

Australian stock photography distributor Photolibrary has been named a finalist in the Knowledge & Service Industry category for the United Kingdom Trade & Investment 2006 International Business Awards. The program recognizes Australian companies for successfully investing in the UK.

A panel of judges chose Photolibrary from a short list of 30 companies. Photolibrary, which also has offices in Asia and the Middle East, recently established a presence in the United States by purchasing Monsoon Images and Index Stock, both based in New York City.

To enter this year's competition, click here.

ADC Awards Call for Entries . .  .
Nov. 10, 2006

The Art Directors Club (ADC) is now accepting entries for its 86th Annual Awards program. The deadline for professionally-produced creative work is Jan. 19, 2007 and the deadline for student work is Jan. 31, 2007. Recognized entries will be printed in the Art Directors Annual.

ADC is accepting entrees in advertising, interactive, graphic design, photography illustration, hybrid and playground categories. The hybrid category is for work that is outside the more traditional categories while the playground category is for professional creative that was not published. ADC will unveil the awards at an event May 31, 2007.

To enter this year's competition, click here.

Half Off Comstock Complete . .  .
Nov. 10, 2006

Despite having trouble making its projected financial numbers for the last six months, JupiterImages' Comstock Complete subscription brand is running a half-off sale for web-sized images.

As a "special introductory offer," Comstock complete offers one year of access to more than 100,000 images up to1.7 megabytes in size. Subscribers can download up to 50 images a day under the plan –– that would be up to 18,250 image downloads for the year for any subscriber making full use of the plan.

The web resolution plan is $1,199 a year while the the print resolution plan is $1,999 a year. No special deal is offered for the print resolution plan.

For the Comstock Complete web site, click here.

Getty Reports Improved Entertainment Sales . .  .
Nov. 7, 2006

Getty Images reported its entertainment business has grown more than 60 percent during the most recent two quarters when compared to the same period last year.

The company said that, during the latest two quarters, it distributed exclusively images of the Avril Lavigne and Sum 41's Deryck Whibley wedding, family photos from Anna Nicole Smith, and family portraits of the Prince and Princess of Savoy and their two children. Getty noted that its photographers also captured a number of exclusive images during the period.

For Getty Images, click here.

JupiterImages Increases its Stake in Micropayment . .  .
Nov. 7, 2006

Jupitermedia, which owns JupiterImages, has signed an agreement to increase its ownership position in HAAP Media, Ltd, a micropayment distributor based in Budapest, Hungary. The agreement raises Jupiter's ownership percentage to 90 percent. Jupiter previously held just under 50 percent of HAAP.

HAAP operates two stock photo web sites, Stockxpert.com and Stock.xchng.com. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. For JupiterImages, click here.

PunchStock Promotes with PunchPunks . .  .
Oct 31, 2006

PunchStock, an aggregator of rights-managed and royalty-free stock photography, has launched a new campaign featuring colorful cartoon characters called "PunchPunks."

The new campaign, designed by the Planet Propaganda creative agency, will promote the new PunchStock rights-managed collection, which includes about 125,000 images from 25 stock distributors.

To see an animated PunchPunks video, click here.

Young Guns Party . .  .
Oct 31, 2006

The Art Directors Club (ADC) will host an exhibition preview and book party for ADC Young Guns 5, which showcases young talent in art direction, advertising, publishing, graphic design, illustration, photography, film and video, packaging, environmental design, experimental fashion and interactive media. The event will be held Thursday, Nov. 9, from 7 to 10 p.m. at the ADC gallery, 106 W. 29th St., in New York City. It is free to ADC members. Non-members will be charged $10.

For the ADC web site, click here.

TheStreet.com Pokes Fun at Getty Images . .  .
Oct 27, 2006

The world's largest stock photography distributor took a jab in the ribs from the staff of TheStreet.com on this date. Getty placed fourth in the web site's weekly feature entitled The Five Dumbest Things on Wall Street This Week.

In an entry called "Glib Gab at Getty," TheStreet.com's staff seemed to find humor in the company's attempts to create some positive spin for some less than positive pronouncements.

Noting that the company's stock dropped 16 percent during the week while royalty-free sales volume fell, TheStreet.com said Getty "quickly pointed to other highlights," like the fact that Getty photographed and distributed images of Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt's baby –– a coup the financial web site called "momentous and unprofitable."

The site also highlighted a Jonathan Klein note to employees announcing planned changes at Getty. The note said, "As part of our vision, there will be changes to some departments and job functions. This means some of our colleagues will not be part of the new structure."

Our Oxford American Dictionary defines "glib" as, "Fluent and voluble but insincere and shallow." You decide.

For TheStreet.com story, click here.

Jupitermedia Buys Spanish Distributor . .  .
Oct 26, 2006

Jupitermedia announced on this date that it has acquired Cover - Imagen y Publicaciones, S. L, a Spanish stock distributor with offices in Madrid and Barcelona. Financial terms of the deal were not revealed.

Jupitermedia, which owns the JupiterImages stock photography brand, said Cover Images distributes local and international rights-managed imagery. The Spanish company licenses some 1.5 million images in its home market.

Alan Meckler, chairman and CEO of Jupitermedia, said his company will combine JupiterImages' existing royalty-free and rights-managed collections with the Cover Images collection to create a base of operations in
Spain. For the Cover Images web site, click here.

Digital Railroad to Support iView Uploads . .  .
Oct 25, 2006

Digital Railroad, which offers online technology and services for photographers, stock distributors and others, has announced that it now lets its customers upload images using iView MediaPro and iView Multimedia, Ltd, both digital workflow programs offered by a Microsoft subsidiary. IView is one of a new breed of software that lets photographers and others edit and archive imagery quickly and easily. For the Digital Railroad web site, click here.

ASPP Launches Program for Students . .  .
Oct 24, 2006

The American Society of Picture Professionals (ASPP) will kick off a new mentoring program on this date in Washington D. C. and Chicago. Entitled Expose Yourself to Careers in the Photo and Visual Media Industry, the new program is aimed at students who want careers as image professionals, including careers in photo research editing, licensing, creating, archiving, publishing and photography. Seed sponsorship money was provided by Image Source. Additional sponsorships were provided by Getty Images, Corbis, Discovery Channel, JupiterImages, PunchStock and Panoramic images. To see the ASPP site, click here.

UPA Photos Announces New Web Site . .  .
Oct 19, 2006

UPA Photos, a collection of about 50,000 news and editorial images, has launched a new web site that includes about half of those images. UPA, which stands for United Photo Archive, offers images of world leaders and events. Many of the images were created by photographer Robert Goddyn.

Goddyn says images for newspapers and magazines start at 80 euros. Commercial uses of the images are negotiated on a case-by-case basis. Participating photographers receive a 50 percent split. UPA is based in The Hague, Netherlands. To see the new site, click here.

NPPA Announces Partnership with Digital Railroad. .  .
Oct 4, 2006

The National Press Photographers Association (NPPA) has chosen Digital Railroad as an exclusive partner for online delivery and distribution of technology services. NPPA will use Digital Railroad to manage the NPPA photo archive, which includes thousands of images from respected journalists worldwide. The deal also offers NPPA members discount rates for Digital Railroad services.

In addition, Digital Railroad and NPPA will co-produce a series of free seminars at NPPA events. The first two, entitled Digital Workflow Solutions, will be Oct. 9 in Austin, TX, and Oct. 12 in Santa Fe, NM. Click here for the Digital Railroad web site and here for the NPPA site.

Getty Starts New Online Game . .  .
Oct 2, 2006

Getty Images is offering a daily $1,000 drawing prize and six grand prizes for participants of a new online game that employs a variation of the Rorschach inkblot test. "Gestalt," named after a style of therapy made famous by Frederick Perls, tests players' skills at spatial relationships by having them try to figure out which of ten royalty-free images a Rorschach pattern was taken from.

Grand prizes include experiences like an African safari, a Formula 1 race in Monaco, a sporting event in London, a visit to the Galapagos Islands, Fashion Week in New York and an "American all star sports fantasy weekend of the winners choice." To play, click here. Getty says anyone can play, but winners will be chosen from the United States (excluding Florida), Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Ireland, New Zealand, Spain, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.

IStock Launches Foreign Language Sites / Getty Stock Up . .  .
Sept. 18, 2006

Micropayment stock photography brand iStockphoto has announced that it has launched versions of its web site in French, German and Spanish. At the same time, the Getty Images subsidiary said its image search software will now work in 12 languages. IStock licenses images for as little as $1 each.

In another matter, Getty Images stock jumped significantly on this date, at least partly due to a J.P. Morgan upgrade. J. P. Morgan raised Getty shares from neutral to "overweight" for several reasons, including Getty's share repurchasing program, the addition of new image licensing models, growth in royalty-free sales and improved foreign exchange rates. Getty stock jumped to almost $55 a share in early trading, before closing at $51.51 an increase of $2.11 or 4.27 percent over the previous close. Volume was very heavy with almost 3.2 million shares changing hands. Average volume for Getty is about 742,000 shares a day.

Getty Names Final Three Editorial Award Recipients . .  .
Sept. 7, 2006

Getty Images has named the final three winners of its 2006 Grants for Editorial Photography. Simon Roberts, of England, will use his grant to look at the war in Chechnya from the perspective of Russian soldiers and their families; Rena Effendi, of Azerbaijan, will document the lives of people living along the Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline; and Sarah Caron, of France, will look at the martyrdom culture of the Palestinian Al-Agsa Martyr Brigades.

Getty said that over 120 proposals from 29 countries were reviewed by three judges. Each grant winner will receive $20,000. For Getty Images, click here.

ASMP Starts Online Corporate Photographers' Group . .  .
Sept. 7, 2006

The American Society of Media Photographers has started a discussion group for corporate photographers. The list is hosted by Yahoo Groups. Participants must have a Yahoo account to join. To sign up, click here.

New Subscription Service from JupiterImages . .  .
Sept. 6, 2006

JupiterImages announced this date that it has launched a new paid subscription service called Comstock Complete. The new service has over 100,000 images in two plans.

The "Web Plan" provides images up to 1.,7 megabytes for $1,199 a year or $299 a month. The "Print Plan" offers images of 10 to 14 megabytes for $1,999 a year or $499 a month. Subscribers can download up to 50 images a day. The same images will continue to be offered on single-image and CD collection basis. For Comstock Complete, click here.

Shutterstock reaches one million images . .  .
Sept. 6, 2006

Shutterstock has announced that its collection now contains more than one million images. The subscription service said it is now adding about 15,000 images a week. The collection has doubled in size this year.

Shutterstock says it evaluates images before adding them to the collection. The one-millionth image is of a flamingo photographed by a photographer from Polynesia. For Shutterstock, click here.

ASMP Extends Insurance Plan to Students and Instructors . .  .
Sept. 6, 2006

The American Society of Media Photographers (ASMP) has extended its photo equipment insurance plan to include students and faculty members. The equipment insurance policy is valid anywhere in the world and covers all kinds of photo and computer equipment against theft, breakage, water damage and other problems.

There also is a liability policy. Liability policies often are required when shooting on private property or at certain public locations. Students must be an ASMP student member and must be enrolled in an accredited photography program. Faculty at accredited institutions can join ASMP as associate or affiliate members. The organization says the application process is simple and the cost is much lower than individual policies. For the ASMP web site, which has a downloadable flyer about the insurance, click here.

NewsCom Partners with StockPhotoFinder.com. .  .
Aug. 22, 2006

NewsCom, a provider of photography and other visual content for editorial outlets says it will make its images available through StockPhotoFinder, a web site that aggregates images from a number of sources around the world.

The deal makes NewsCom the largest single supplier of images to StockPhotoFinder.

StockPhotoFinder will create a searchable catalog of NewsCom images on a public site and will provide customized search solutions to large-volume users like book publishers. For StockPhotoFinder, click here.

Adobe Stock Photos Now Offers 850,000 Royalty-Free Images . .  .
Aug. 16, 2006

Adobe Stock Photos reported that its online royalty-free stock photography collection has reached 850,000 images from 21 image collections and 18 image galleries.

The image supplier said it recently added images from Banana Stock, Tetra and four Getty Images libraries –– MedioImages, Photosindia, Redchopsticks and Glow. The Getty collections focus on cross-cultural imagery.

Adobe Stock Photos said Euro RSCG, the worlds fifth-largest global advertising/marketing/public relations agency, is making extensive use of the image library, which is searchable from within Creative Suite software like Photoshop and InDesign. For more information about Adobe Stock Photos, click here.

A21 Announces Initiatives . .  .
Aug. 11, 2006

A21, the parent company of SuperStock and ArtSelect, has announced four new initiatives, including the Appointment of Laura B. Sachar to the board of directors. Sachar, of StarVest Partners, is also on the boards of Newgistics and MessageOne. She founded Sachar Capital, Ltd., a financial advisory firm.

The company also announced it has changed its state of incorporation from Texas to Delaware, has authorized an increase in capital stock from 100.1 million shares to 200.1 million shares and has added Douglas W. McCormick, an investor in Starvest, to the search committee for a new CEO to replace SuperStock CEO Thomas Butta. Butta's employment was terminated in June.

McCormick joins Sachar, a21 chairman and CEO Albert L. Pleus, and Acting SuperStock CEO Phillip N. Garfinkle on the search committee. A21 has hired DHR International to help find the new CEO. For a21, click here.

Veer Announces Hispanic Royalty-free Collection . .  .
Aug. 9, 2006

Veer, a supplier of high-quality stock photography and fonts, has announced the Somos collection of royalty-free images of Hispanic culture. The company said the new collection of 3,000 images "captures the subjects and faces of the contemporary Hispanic demographic and portrays the range of Latino culture today, from business to romance."

Single-image downloads are avaialble from $129 to $419, depending on resolution. Veer said the collection will grow to 10,000 images during the first year. For the Somos collection, click here.

Corbis Appoints Two Outline Photography Directors . .  .
Aug. 7, 2006

Corbis has appointed Lisa Diamond and Sherrie Berger co-directors of photography at Corbis Outline, the celebrity portraiture division of the Seattle stock photography distributor.

The two new directors have a combined 15-year history with Corbis Outline. Diamond, who was most recently director of artist relations, will be based in New York and will be responsible for developing and recruiting East Coast and European photographers. Berger will work out of the Corbis Los Angeles office and will work with West Coast and Asian shooters. For the Corbis web site, click here.

Jupitermedia Buys RoyaltyFreeMusic.com . .  .
Aug. 7, 2006

Jupitermedia said this date that it has acquired RoyaltyFreeMusic.com, a library of 1,100 wholly-owned musical tracks. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Jupitermedia previously purchased Steve Shapiro Music Library, Crank City Music and BBM.net, all suppliers of digitized musical tracks. Jupitermedia is a major supplier of digital creative materials, including photos, illustrations, videos and Flash content. For the Jupitermedia web site, click here.

Shutterstock has 32,000 contributors . .  .
Aug. 4, 2006

Shutterstock said this week that it now represents a network of 32,000 contributing photographers. The subscription stock photography service also will soon offer 100,000 images online. The Shutterstock web site boasts 936,104 images on this date and is adding about 15,000 images a week.

The company said it added 3,000 photographers during July. Shutterstock accepts about 40 percent of all images submitted. For the Shutterstock web site, click here.

VNU Goes Private . .  .
July 31, 2006

VNU, The parent of Photo District News, IPNStock and PhotoPlus Expo, has announced that shareholders have approved the firm's conversion from a publicly held company into a private company. VNU was acquired in May by a holding company that represents a consortium of private equity investors. The deal was valued at $9.7 billion.

The Netherlands-based publishing and research business will now be known as VNU Group B.V. Five new supervisory board members have been appointed. For the VNU web site, click here.

IStock to Launch Video Web Site . .  .
July 31, 2006

IStockphoto, a wholly-owned micropayment stock photography subsidiary of Getty Images, has announced it will soon offer a low-cost stock video service much like the company's still image service.

IStockvideo, which will launch Sept. 5, is asking photographers to submit video clips, digitized film footage, animations and other motion graphics. The material will be licensed on a royalty-free basis for between $5 and $50, depending on file sizes. Contributors will receive 20 to 40 percent of the licensing fees collected. For iStockvideo, click here.

Index offers Free DeBabelizer . .  .
July 26, 2006

Index Stock Imagery has announced that it will offer a free DeBabelizer LE software program to any customer who makes an Index or Index Open purchase. The stock distributor said it will also include a $75 rebate coupon toward the purchase of DeBabelizer Pro for Macintosh or Windows.

At the same time, Equilibrium, which provides DeBabelizer software, will offer purchasers of DeBabelizer Pro or any Equilibrium server product a free, one-month Index Open LE subscription.

DeBabelizer lets users acquire, edit, optimize and convert images, animations and videos. For Index Stock Imagery, click here.

Operation Photo Rescue Using PhotoShelter . .  .
July 24, 2006

Photoshelter, an image archiving and distribution service, is donating a free Multi-User Account to Operation Photo Rescue, a non-profit group that is restoring thousands of photos damaged during Hurricane Katrina.

Some 725 volunteer image restorers are involved in the process. In the first stage, professional digital cameras are used to digitize the images. After the images are uploaded to PhotoShelter, volunteers view them and download those that best suit their individual skills. Once restored, the images are again uploaded to the archive for printing and delivery to the original owner free of charge. For PhotoShelter, click here. For Operation Photo Rescue, click here.

Adobe Honors Student Winners . .  .
July 21, 2006

Adobe Systems announced the winners of the Sixth Annual Adobe Design Achievement Awards during a ceremony yesterday at the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto. Some 1,800 students from 24 counties competed for honors in nine categories. All used Adobe products for their entries.

First place winners received $5,000 and a selection of Adobe products. The winners were also offered internships. The work will be shown at the ZeroOne Festival and Sundance. To view the work, click here.

Winners were: Keng-Ming Liu, animation, from the School of Visual Arts in New York; Amy Wang, environmental graphics and packaging, from the School of Visual Arts; Lucie Bichelberger, digital illustration, from école.intuit/lab in Paris; Janina Boesch, interactive design, from the Rhode Island School of Design in Providence, R.I.; Karolina Novitska, live action, from the Massachusetts College of Art in Boston; Howard Hao-An Tsai, motion graphics, from the Art Center College of Design; Nils Orth, digital photography, from the Tyler School of Art at Temple University in Elkins Park, Pa.; Stephan Powilat and Mathias Vogel, print design multi-page, from Fachhochschule Mainz in Mainz, Germany; and Hank Huang, print design single-page, from the Art Center College of Design.

OnAsia Now Offers Images from 130 Photographers . .  .
July 20, 2006

OnAsia, a digital stock photography and assignment agency that specializes in Asian photography and stories, said that it now works with 130 member photographers and plans to add more. The Bangkok-based company said it reviews new portfolios on a weekly basis and continues to cultivated new talent in the region.

However, the company, which was founded in 2003, said it remains very selective in choosing new photographers. For the OnAsia web site, click here.

Printing Workshop Planned for Photoshop Conference . .  .
July 20, 2006

The Photoshop World Conference and Expo has announced a new pre-conference workshop featuring Russell Brown, a senior creative director at Adobe Systems. For $99, participants will get the chance to experiment with printing images on various kinds of media like film, plastics, fabric, fine art papers and more during the five-hour workshop on Sept. 6.

The program, entitled "Photoshop Mondo Media Mania," is one of 11 pre-conference workshops scheduled before the Sept. 7-9 expo at the Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino in Las Vegas, NV. For more information about the expo, click here.

Art Directors Club Presents Change Me Exhibit . .  .
July 19, 2006

The Art Directors Club (ADC) is presenting an exhibit of Getty Images' interactive experiment called Change Me: The Power of Imagery to Create Change.

Getty has been donating $10 to the Friends of the Global Fight Against AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria for each submission to Change Me. Participants are asked to pick an image from the Getty web site and "use it to express an idea that has the ability to touch or affect the person viewing it."

The exhibit is at the ADC gallery at 106 W. 29th St. in New York City. It runs through July 28. A reception is being held from 6 to 8 p.m. on this date. To participate in Change Me, click here.

KaleidoXtock Offers Photo Library Hosting . .  .
July 19, 2006

KaleidoXtock is offering an independent image library hosting service for photographers. The KaleidoXtock software lets photographers modify text and data in real time, the company said.

Photographers set their own image prices and sales conditions. The company is offering a free15-day trial and, during July and August, a 20 percent discount. Various programs offer up to 20 gigabytes of digital storage space. Prices range from $400 a year for one gigabyte to $1926 a year for 20 gigabytes. The service offers English and Spanish web sites. To learn more, click here.

Getty, Corbis and Jupiter are Charter Sustaining Members of PLUS . .  .
July 19, 2006

The PLUS Coalition has announced that Corbis, and Getty Images have joined the coalition as charter sustaining members. JupiterImages has committed to a second years as a sustaining member of the PLUS Leadership Circle. Although new to PLUS membership, Getty and Corbis have been involved with the initiative since its inception.

Last October PLUS published the Universal Picture Licensing Glossary, which provides standard definitions for more than 1,300 terms used in licensing imagery. The organization is also developing other licensing standards. To learn more about PLUS, click here.

Jupiter Launches Japanese Micropayment Stock Photo Brand . .  .
July 18, 2006

JupiterImages announced this date that it has launched a micropayment stock photography web site in Japan. The company claims Photos.jp is the first such web site produced in Japan.

The web site was developed by Aeria, Inc. It uses software based on technology developed by Stockxpert.com, which is partly owned by the JupiterImages division of Jupitermedia. Stockxpert is a micropayment site based in Hungry.

PACA Publishes Print Membership Directory . .  .
July 12, 2006

The Picture Archive Council of America (PACA) has published a 150-page print directory of its membership – the first printed membership list since 2000.

Over 130 North American and International PACA members are included in the booklet. It also includes PACA's "Copyright Commandments," definitions of various licensing models and a detailed list of photographic subjects that require special releases. Click here to order a copy, or here to see the online version.

Alaska Stock Images Announces Contest . .  .
July 12, 2006

Alaska Stock Images has announced a "North of Normal" online contest to promote the company's new collection of Christmas holiday images.

Grand Prize is a Bose SoundDock for iPods. Second prize is a set of Bose QuietComfort headphones. The company also will give away ten "I only got the moose" stuffed animals. To enter, click here.

Adobe Announces MAX 2006 Conference in Las Vegas . .  .
July 11, 2006

Adobe Systems has announced that its MAX 2006 conference will be held Oct. 23-26 in Las Vegas. The company also announced a call for entries for the Fourth Annual Adobe MAX Awards.

The conference will include more than 100 workshops and hands-on sessions, as well as technical support labs, partner exhibits an other events. Keynote speeches will be delivered by Adobe CEO Bruce Chizen, President and COO Shantanu Narayen and Chief Software Architect Kevin Lynch.

The program could prove particularly significant to users of Adobe products because the company is currently integrating Macromedia software into traditional Adobe brands. Adobe purchased Macromedia late last year.

Winners of MAX Awards in eight categories will be introduced at the conference. For more information about the conference, click here.

Picturehouse New York Show Scheduled for Nov. 1 . .  .
July 11, 2006

Picturehouse says its New York stock photography trade show for creative professional will be held Nov. 1 from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. at the Puck Building in lower Manhattan.

As usual, Picturehouse is the day before PhotoPlus Expo opens at the Jacob Javits Convention Center in New York. PhotoPlus runs from Nov. 2 to Nov. 4 this year.

Both large and small stock agencies will be represented at Picturehouse. In addition to highlighting traditional collections of still imagery, this year's event will also have a separate room devoted to footage. For more information about Picturehouse, click here.

Pacific Stock Seeks Photographers . .  .
July 11, 2006

Pacific Stock, which licenses rights-managed and royalty-free stock photography of Hawaii and the Pacific rim, is looking for new photographers.

The 20-year-old company said it needs a range of images, some of which can be created without traveling. Pacific Stock is especially interested in royalty-free images for its new Wiki Shots collection, which was released June 12.

Interested photographers should check out the Pacific Stock online want list. To download the list as an Adobe PDF document, click here.

Ghost Hunter Publishes Book on France . .  .
June 30, 2006

Simon Marsden, who has made a career out of photographing haunted buildings, has announced that his latest book on the haunted chateaux, abbeys, castles and churches of France will be released in September. all images in the book will be available as stock photography from the Marsden Archive.

Marsden has previously investigated the occult in England, Scotland, Ireland and Venice. He also has searched for the source of the Dracula legend in Romania. During his travels, he has created an extensive collection of images of haunted locations – all in an ethereal black and white style.

His new book, published in the U.S. and Canada by Random House/Rizzoli International, explores Versailles, the chateaux of the Loire, Norman abbeys, the menhirs of Brittany, the Cathar castles of the Pyrenees and other locations. For the Marsden Archive, click here.

Adobe Acquires Camera Raw Technologies . .  .
June 27, 2006

Adobe Systems claims it has strengthened its position in the processing of camera raw digital files by acquiring the technology assets of Pixmantec ApS, which makes digital imaging software for digital workflow management.

Pixmantec, of Copenhagen, Denmark, sells "RawShooter" digital photography software. Adobe will integrate Pixmantec raw processing technologies into Lightroom, a workflow program currently in development. A beta version of Lightroom is available from Adobe.

Adobe said the Pixmantec RawShooter Premium product will be discontinued. The free RawShooter Essentials program will be available until Lightroom development is completed. Adobe will continue support for Pixmantec products. To download the Lightroom Public Beta 3.0, click here.

Apple to Preview Mac OS X "Leopard . .  .
June 27, 2006

Apple Computer has announced that CEO Steve Jobs will be among a team of executives that will kick off the company's annual Worldwide Developers Conference with a preview of the new Mac OS X "Leopard" operating system.

The developers Conference runs from Aug 7 to 11 at Mascone West in San Francisco. It includes more than 175 technical sessions, the company said. The five-day conference costs $1,599 per person, but offers a $300 early registration discount through July 7. For conference details, click here.

Corbis Outline Hires Editor, Signs Eight Photographers . .  .
June 22, 2006

Corbis announced on this date that it has hired Lili Harges as managing editor of the Outline collection in the United Kingdom. The company also said it has signed eight new photographers for the worldwide celebrity collection.

Harges comes to Corbis from Arena Magazine where she was photo editor. She also has worked as a freelance photo editor and was previously photo editor at Details Magazine. In her new role, she will recruit celebrity portrait photographers and help expand Corbis Outline's reach in Europe.

Corbis said it will now syndicate the celebrity portraiture of Rick Chapman, Don Flood, Patrick Fraser, Susanna Howe, Steven Lippman, Matthias Vriens, Michael Weschler and Autumn de Wilde. The new shooters join a roster of over 100 celebrity portrait photographers already represented by Corbis Outline. For Corbis Outline, click here.

New Photography Blog by Joseph Pobereskin . .  .
June 22, 2006

Joseph Pobereskin, a veteran advertising, corporate, industrial and stock photographer from New Jersey and New York City, has started writing his own weblog entitled "Eat at Joe's."

The new blogger has been an active member of the American Society of Media Photographers and Stock Artists Alliance. He is known for speaking his mind, even when his views are not popular. Though his blog is only weeks old, Pobereskin already has taken on issues like over-generous rights packages, low day rates and the practices of OnRequest Images, a company that essentially turns an assignment into a contest between several photographers. To read "Eat at Joe's," click here.

"Just Buy Jupiter," Analysts Suggest . .  .
June 22, 2006

Analysts at Stifel Nicolaus & Company have suggested that Getty Images consider acquiring JupiterImages to avoid competition. The analysts said that Jupiter will improve its competitiveness in rights-managed area of stock photography "relative to Getty Images," which could hurt Getty going forward.

Stifel Nicolaus & Company operates in 26 states and the Washington DC. It offers a range of investments. The company's analysts rate Getty Images as "hold."

There has been no indication that JupiterImages is currently available for acquisition. It has been speculated that JupiterImages' owner, Jupitermedia, is building the division with the idea of eventually selling it.

However, JupiterImages is currently consolidating a large number of recently acquired small stock distributors into a single company. It is unlikely that any larger company would be interested in JupiterImages before this difficult process is successfully completed.

JupiterImages, which is strongest in low-end royalty-free and subscription stock photography market segments, is also competing for high-end image buyers. The company has just sent out a 40-page rights-managed promotional piece. In addition, Jupiter purchased Workbook Stock June 5. Workbook Stock joined several other quality rights-managed collections owned by JupiterImages, including The Beauty Archive, Botanica, FoodPix and others.

Apple Releases New Shake Program at Lower Price . .  .
June 20, 2006

Apple Computer has announced a new version of its Shake video software for three-dimensional composting, keying, image tracking and stabilization. The new version works on Intel-based Macintosh computers as well as Power PCs and can be purchased for $499, which is considerably less than the software's former $2,999 price tag.

Shake has been used in movies like King Kong, Mission Impossible 3, Poseidon and the upcoming Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest. For the Apple web site, click here.

Adobe Announces Lightroom Beta 3.0 . .  .
June 19, 2006

Adobe Systems has announced a newly updated public beta version of its Lightroom image workflow program.

The new version adds before and after preview tools, a history feature for tracking changes to an image, more control over the size and resolution of exported photos, a new straighten tool, keyword import and export, and other improvements. To download the Lightroom Public Beta 3.0, click here.

TrendWatch says InDesign use Growing . .  .
June 19, 2006

Trendwatch Graphic Arts reports that Adobe's InDesign program is making headway against QuarkXPress.

TrendWatch reported that a recent survey indicated that just 27 percent of designers and production professionals said the "use QuarkXPress and have no reason to switch to InDesign." This figure was down considerably from a survey in the winter of 2003-2004 when 40 percent responded similarly.

Over the same period, TrendWatch reported, "twice as many design and production pros said they've started to ease InDesign into their production workflows while more than one-fifth have stopped using QuarkXPress altogether."

The company cited several possible reasons for the change, including Adobe's decision to bundle InDesign with other creative programs.

JupiterImages Launches New Search Engine . .  .
June 19, 2006

Jupitermedia CEO Alan Meckler has reported in his weblog that his company's JupiterImages Division has replaced its image search engine with one that answers many concerns of stock photography buyers.

Meckler said the new search engine makes it easier for image buyers to search by gender, age, ethnicity, emotions and the presence (or lack) of people. He said the new approach also lets buyers distinguish between images made indoors and outdoors and images where the subject looks at or away from the camera.

Searchers will now be able to search for images without nudity, images available on CDs and images that are 50 megabytes or more. For JupiterImages web site, click here.

Photoshop World Expo Registration Opens . .  .
June 12, 2006

Registration for this year's Photoshop World Conference and Expo has opened. A discount of $100 will be available for those who register between now and Aug. 4. This year's program will be held at the Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino in Las Vegas Sept. 7-9.

The program includes more than 70 classes, ten pre-conference sessions and ten "bonus" sessions during a two-day Tech Expo. The National Association of Photoshop Professionals, which operates the expo, said that it is bringing together 36 instructors, including Scott Kelby, Deke McClelland, Julieanne Kost, Jim DiVitale and Jay Maisel. To register, click here.

Getty Launches "10 Ways" . .  .
June 12, 2006

Five interactive designers and Getty Images have teamed up to create an interactive online exhibit that explores the visual opportunities of digital media.

Entitled10 ways, the new online exhibit offers interactive presentations based on ten concepts. The presentations were created by Sumona, of South Africa; the Barbarian Group, from the United States; Tomato, from the United Kingdom, Less Rain, from Germany, and Great Works, of Sweden. To see the exhibit, click here.

Alamy Embeds Metadata. .  .
June 8, 2006

Alamy has announced that all images downloaded from its web site will now have important licensing information embedded in a text file attached to the image.

The British stock distributor said including the information will make re-licensing images easier for image buyers. "Many image users face the difficult job of tracking images they have licensed," said Alamy CEO James West. "It can be an enormous task, especially for busy picture desks that use a lot of imagery."

The licensing info, and other information about the image, can be found in Photoshop by selecting "File Info . . ." under the "File" menu. Information in what is sometimes called "IPTC metadata," also is used by some digital asset management programs to organize images and other computer files, making it easier to locate specific files in large computer databases.

Corbis Launches Celebrity Homes Collection . .  .
June 8, 2006

Corbis announced on this date that it has launched a collection of images of celebrity home interior photographs using imagery from the regular Corbis collection as well as work from the recently acquired Beateworks library.

The Corbis Outline@Home Collection includes work from a number of interior shooters, including Tim Street-Porter, Oberto Gili, Fernando Bengoechea, Art Streiber and Dale Berman.

Included in the collection are images from the homes of Madonna, Julianne Moore, Teri Hatcher, Francis Ford Coppola, Oscar de La Renta and others.

Arnold Newman Dies . .  .
June 7, 2006

Famed New York photographer Arnold Newman, who pioneered the notion of environmental portraits with images of famous people like Pablo Picasso, Marilyn Monroe and Igor Stravinski, died yesterday in New York. A graduate of the University of Miami, Newman was 88.

The New York Daily News reported that Newman recently suffered a stroke. He died of a heart attack at Mt. Sinai Medical Center in New York. During a career that spanned some 65 years, Newman frequently freelanced for Life Magazine.

Alamy Offers Popperfoto World Cup Collection . .  .
June 7, 2006

With the start of this year's World Cup soccer competition just days away, image buyers may want to find some historic photos of one of the Earth's premier sporting events. Alamy may be a good place to start such a search.

The British stock photo distributor represents a sizable portion of the Popperfoto World Cup collection, which includes images from all 16 World Cups, starting with the first one held in 1930. Popperfoto will also cover this year's event.

Besides the usual game photos, the Popperfoto collection also includes memorable feature images like a photo of England's Captain Bobby Moore hoisting the trophy in 1966, a shot of Pickles the dog (who found the trophy after it was stolen in 1966) and some brightly-costumed Brazilian fans during the 2002 finals in Japan. For Alamy, click here.

Elizabeth Whiting & Associates Launches Interiors Library . .  .
June 6, 2006

Elizabeth Whiting & Associates has launched a new searchable web site with over 50,000 rights-managed and royalty-free images of interiors, homes, crafts, and other subjects.

The new site lets buyers search by keywords or browse. Buyers can create and mail light boxes, check pricing and purchase images online. For the Elizabeth Whiting web site, click here.

NewsCom to Supply Topix.net . .  .
June 6, 2006

NewsCom, which supplies news outlets with articles, photos, illustrations, maps and other materials, announced that it will start providing images and stories to Topix.net, an internet news clearing house.

NewsCom, said it will provide Topix.net with text and photos from numerous sources, like UPI, Photographer Showcase, Fashion Wire Daily, AdMedia and Icon Sports. NewsCom offers its customers large amounts of written and visual materials from many sources. Recently, the company started providing stock photography from distributors, like SuperStock, WireImage and others. For Topix.net, click here. For NewsCom, click here.

Pics of Famous Baby Will Help Support Charities. .  .
June 6, 2006

Getty Images will license exclusive images of Angelina Jolie's and Brad Pitt's new daughter to raise money for charitable causes. The company will take no profit from worldwide distribution of the images.

"While we celebrate the joy of the birth of our daughter, we recognize that two million babies born every year in the developing world die on the first day of their lives," said Jolie and Pitt. "These children can be saved, but only if governments around the world make it a priority." For Getty Images, click here.

Copyright Office Fees to Go Up . .  .
June 2, 2006

If all goes as planned, the price for registering image copyrights with the U. S. Copyright Office will go up from $30 to $45 as of July 1. The Copyright Office said the new rate schedule will let it recover all costs of providing many services that primarily benefit only the user of the service.

A proposed fee increase for pre-registration of a group of photographs has been eliminated and a proposal to increase fees for group registration of photographs has been reduced to the fee for basic registration, the office said. The Copyright Office said Congressional action could halt the increase, but such action seems unlikely. For more details, click here.

LuckyPix Releases Second Edition of Fresh Looks Magazine . .  .
June 2, 2006

Chicago stock photography distributor LuckyPix has released the second edition of its Fresh Looks Magazine. Among other features, the new edition introduces newly-signed photographer David Nevala

The magazine is available as a PDF. To download, click here.

For older briefs, click here.