AlamyUpload Launched . . .

Stock Asylum Staff Report
July 9, 2007

British stock photography distributor Alamy is rolling out a new system that will let photographers submit imagery over the internet for the first time.

Though this is not the first direct submission system in the stock photo industry (micropayment distributors have had the capability for some time), AlamyUpload represents a major step forward for a company that prides itself on the number of images in its database.

The company currently claims to have 9.12 million images online and is on track to reach 10 million images by the end of this year. If Alamy reaches that number, it will have uploaded some 2.5 million new images this year, a number that would dwarf the entire collections of some stock distributors.

The company said it will make the new feature available to photographers gradually over the next few months.

"We're being quite cautious as we release it," said Alamy CEO James West. "This takes major bandwidth. The early trials have gone well, but we have to make sure that, when we make it available to everyone, it won't fall over."

Alamy said it will try to be fair to photographers during the roll out, but will not take requests from photographers. The company said it will try to "ensure we get a good variety of contributors based on location, submission behavior and other criteria." during the launch.

West said the company hopes to have the launch completed by the end of August.

Alamy accepts .jpg image files compressed to the highest quality levels. However, the uncompressed size of the images must be 48 megabytes or more, the company says.

As such, uploading images, especially large batches, could take a considerable amount of computer time, especially for contributors with slower internet connections.

The company said it could take up to 25 days to process the submitted images through the company's quality control department.

The Alamy web site is at: http://www.alamy.com.