Archives: October, 2007
News
ibid closing its doors after forty years
Last week, we received a comment from San Francisco photographer Jeff Singer concerning our story about Jupiterimages offering photographers from its micro-stock site, StockXpert.com, the opportunity to have their images distributed through one of Jupiter’s signature RF brands, Dynamic Graphics. Singer laments the declining standards of both clients and suppliers in our industry that, from his perspective, this development epitomizes. As further evidence of the difficulty the current environment poses for professional photographers, he cites the news that ibid, a boutique agency founded with uniquely high artistic standards in 1966 and known for its magnificent archive of contemporary black and white photography, will cease operating as a business at the end of this year.
News
BBC Worldwide acquires Lonely Planet
London based BBC Worldwide, the commercial arm of the BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation), has announced the acquisition of leading travel publisher, Lonely Planet (including Lonely Planet Images). Lonely Planet was founded in 1972 by Tony and Maureen Wheeler and is currently considered to be one of the largest privately owned travel information companies in the world. The more than 30 year old company is being sold by its founders and John Singleton who became a shareholder in 1999. BBC Worldwide has stated plans to further extend the Lonely Planet franchise around the world, Currently Lonely Planet books are sold in over 200 countries via a global distribution network with over 500 titles and more than 6.5 million books sold annually.
News
F1online acquires Image Direkt
Frankfurt based F1online has announced the acquisition of the German photo agency Image Direkt, one of Germany's largest professional resellers of royalty-free stock photography. Both companies launched in 1997 and have operated for approximately 10 years as cross-town rivals in the Frankfurt region.
News
Getty launches music search tool Soundtrack
Having acquired the digital music licensing company Pump Audio back in June of this year, Getty Images has launched the service on its own flagship web-site, GettyImages.com. Users can now access Pump Audio’s 20,000+ original sound tracks with an easy-to-use search tool called Soundtrack.
News
News Brief: Nancy Wolff named Picture Professional of the Year 2007 by ASPP
We at abouttheimage send our best wishes and congratulations to Nancy Wolff, great friend to anyone in the photography business and an exceptional attorney, on the news that the American Society of Picture Professionals (ASPP) has named her Picture Professional of the Year for 2007.
News
News Brief: JaincoTech opens London scanning facility to serve European and UK clients.
In partnership with Elizabeth Whiting Associates (EWA,) digital image services provider JaincoTech has opened a scanning facility in the UK. The company now has three scanning operations worldwide, in London, Mumbai, India and Solon, Ohio.
Features
Visual case study: American Express ‘Are You a Cardmember?’ Campaign
In recent years American Express has struggled to find the right message to reach customers in the ever-evolving marketplace of charge cards. The company has employed such memorable campaigns as “Do you know me?” (1974 to 1987), “Membership has its privileges” (1987 to 1996), and “Do more” (1996 to 2004). In its latest attempt the company has once again tapped Ogilvy & Mather to launch a new campaign entitled "Are you a Cardmember?" featuring celebrities in real-life situations while extolling the benefits of being a Cardmember (note the company uses the term Cardmember rather than Cardholder). The campaign which was launched in April 2007 with an estimated budget of $400 million to $500 million has featured tennis great John McEnroe, professional snowboarder Shaun White, and comedians Larry David and Tina Fey. Meg Asaro and Karen D’Silva from Spark Visual Research take a closer look at the images used by American Express to ask the question "Are you a Cardmember?".
News
Alamy celebrates 10 million images by offering an additional 10% to Photographers
Just eight years ago Alamy launched in Abingdon, Oxfordshire, UK as a family-owned business hoping to carve out a niche in the Stock Photography industry. The company founded by James West with his uncle and company chairman Mike Fischer, today celebrates the monumental milestone of 10 million unique images. To mark the occasion is giving an extra 10% commission to contributors for any sales they make today.
Features
Book Review: Vanishing Point by David Plowden
David Plowden: Vanishing Point
Fifty Years of Photography by David Plowden
W.W. Norton & Company, October 2007
340 pages/hardcover/280 duotone photographs/ $100.00
Pulling the cellophane wrap off of David Plowden: Vanishing Point feels like blowing away years of dust from an old box of keepsakes. Inside, the images taken by the prolific master photographer David Plowden have been righteously preserved. Plowden deserves a big heap of recognition with the publication of this tribute to his examination of America over the last half century. Journalist Steve Edwards reveals much we didn’t know about Plowden in the book’s introduction. For example, there is the impressive fact that he studied with Minor White, but what is more informative is to discover that when they first met, Plowden was so intimidated by White’s room displaying works by Edward Weston and Paul Caponigro, “I almost turned around and fled,” he says.
News
Image Source launches AXIS, distribution service for third-party production companies
The London-based RF production company, Image Source, has launched AXIS, a distribution service for third-party producers of royalty-free imagery. The service will give smaller and start-up RF producers the opportunity to take advantage of the vast world-wide network of distributors Image Source has already established. The company will not make public the revenue split under the AXIS program.
News
Zymmetrical positioning itself as a midstock agency with 70% royalties
Zymmetrical.com was founded in 2006 by Keith Tuomi after successfully launching Flyerstarter.com. The site offers Fonts, videos, graphics and photography much like micropayment sites (made popular by iStockphoto) but positioned at a pricepoint ranging from $3 to $100 with the artist retaining 70% of the retail price.
Features
Book Review: Image Makers, Image Takers by Anne-Celine Jaeger
Image Makers, Image Takers by Anne-Celine Jaeger
Thames & Hudson, May 2007
272 pages/paperback/218 illustrations/ $34.95
If your summer book list didn’t include Image Makers, Image Takers, then now is the time to pick up your copy of this handbook that examines the creative methodology of today’s leading image makers and shapers. The book provides Q&A-style interviews with some of photography’s heavy hitters. There are also plenty of well chosen images to study and their addition to the text greatly enhances the book’s value. Various quotes are pulled and presented in large font and sprinkled throughout for even more punch.
News
Rex Features launches new website
The British press agency and picture library Rex Features has announced the launch of a new website with an eye toward browsing and searching more efficiently. The company has been operating since 1954 and now offers more than 2.5 million images online and with its daily news service adds over 1,500 new images every day serving customers in the UK and in more than 30 countries worldwide.
News
age fotostock offers new storage service for stock photo distributors
Six years ago, the Barcelona-based stock photo agency, age fotostock, launched a web-site hosting and marketing service for other stock photo companies called Technological Hosting Platform or THP Photo Services. AGE will now leverage the management of the images on the system by offering THP Photo Storage, an image storage and access system to stock photo companies who do not use the search engine platform service.
Features
Book Review: Small World by Martin Parr
Small World by Martin ParrDewi Lewis Publishing, November 2007
96 pages/hardcover/69 color photographs/ $45.00
We’ve seen photo requests for soft-filtered shots of children running through flowery fields for real estate ad campaigns, insisting there should be no house in sight. It seems to follow that in the near future, travel clients won’t need photos of the actual attractions anymore when it comes time to feature the highlights of their destinations. To meet that spec when it arrives, you’ll find just the right images in Small World by Martin Parr.
News
Corbis testing waters with discount offer
Corbis has offered a select group of US and Canadian clients a special deep discount on all royalty-free purchases. The targeted customers will receive a 30% discount on an initial purchase, and then an increasing discount of ten additional percentage points on each subsequent purchase, up to the seventh purchase when the discount reaches 90%. That makes the average discount on all seven purchases, combined, 60%. The deal allows for a maximum of five images per purchase and covers all RF images in their archives, including those from third-party suppliers.
News
PhotoShelter, technology provider to photographers, launches licensing business
PhotoShelter, the provider of on-line archiving and web-site services to over 16,000 photographers, has announced the opening of a photo licensing business called The PhotoShelter Collection. The company invites all interested photographers to submit images for consideration by its editing team. PhotoShelter gives photographers a 70% revenue share but, as an incentive to help build the collection, will offer 85% on images submitted by November 4, for the first six months of sales.
News
Aurora Photos appoints Gregg Stallings as Director of Sales
Aurora Photos, an independent photo agency based in Portland Maine, has announced the appointment of Gregg Stallings as its Director of Sales. Based in the company’s NYC office Stallings will lead the company in its effort to grow in a tumultuous marketplace. The company has a reputation for representing a robust collection of editorial images as well as contemporary lifestyle photography.
News
photolibrary building food archive
photolibrary, owner of the Fresh Food Images (FFI) brand of food and drink images, has added three more food image collections to its archives; CEPHAS, FoodandDrink Photos and Photos Cuisine. FFI already represents the Anthony Blake Food Library from the UK. The addition of the three newly added collections brings photolibrary’s FFI database to over 300,000 images.
News
Industry veterans launch ‘ImagePick’ a new royalty free image portal
ImagePick, A new Royalty Free stock photography source has launched in the UK claiming a unique approach. The company was formed by ex-Getty Images CFO Lawrence Gould and former Getty Images Director of E-Commerce, Tom Donnelly who stated in a press release that “ImagePick intends to shift the tectonic plates of the stock industry from Quantity back to Quality.” On the surface the fledgling company appears to offer many of the same Royalty Free brands as other resellers including such brands as Corbis, Jupiterimages, Blend, Rubberball, Westend61, and many others but it’s founders believe they have taken steps to ensure customers can easily find the right image faster. “ Imagepick may appear traditional, but we also know that today's younger creatives are the Google-generation. They expect a simple interface and great results. That's what we've set out to do with ImagePick. So many sites require you to tweak too many dials before you can get meaningful results. Imagepick works right out of the box” states Gould.
Features
Book Review: A New England Autumn by Ferenc Máté
A New England Autumn by Ferenc Máté
Albatross Publishing, September 2007
160 pages/hardcover/103 color photographs/$39.95
Novelist, master sailor, winemaker and yes, photographer, Ferenc Máté’s new book, A New England Autumn, showcases the region’s most pristine forests and tranquil locations. The book lives up to its promise: “For lovers of nature and fine writing.” Unfortunately, this marquee pronouncement is mistakenly placed in an obscure location on the inside jacket flap. Until readers peruse the contents pages and beyond there is little on the face of this book to indicate the riches inside.
News
Crestock revises web-site with version 3.0
The Norway-based micro-stock web-site Crestock has upgraded its web-site, adding several features for both buyers and contributors of images. On the buyer side, the company has added a quick roll-over preview feature and advanced search features such as the ability to find other images with the same models in a given image, or images by the same photographer and an overview of recently viewed images so one can easily locate an image from a previous search.
News
Pepper Stark appoints Jane Gibbons to lead new design and production division
Pepper Stark, a consultancy and recruitment firm from the UK specializing in the stock licensing industry, has announced that it has appointed Jane Gibbons to help the company serve the design and production needs within the creative industry. Jane brings to Pepper Stark more than six years of specialized recruitment experience in the creative world. Prior to working in recruitment Jane worked in various creative roles including stints as a magazine designer and studio manager.
Features
Mr. Stock Smarty Pants offering free advice for stock photographers
Send us your questions - You know abouttheimage as a classy, above-the-board, shining example of contemporary journalism. All that is about to change. Commencing next week, and at no small expense, abouttheimage will feature a bi-weekly question-and answer column featuring the wit, wisdom and occasional political diatribes of that international man of mystery from the stock picture industry, Mr. Stock Smarty Pants. Some of you may have already heard of this shadowy figure…others not.
News
Capture moves photo library management software online
Capture, the UK-based provider of back-office and client-facing tools for managing picture archive businesses, has announced a make-over of its software. Following a trend in the software industry to move to on-line or web-based software delivery, as opposed to software installed on client’s local servers, Capture will launch Capture Office Online (COO). The move brings the service in line with other providers of archive management software that have been on-line since their inception, such as IPNStock, PhotoShelter and DigitalRailroad.
News
AP Images now representing archival television photos from NBC Universal
NBC Universal has announced the appointment of AP Images to represent its archive of archival television photos. The deal provides AP Images with exclusive third-party distribution rights in the U. S. and Mexico, and the rights to license the content non-exclusively throughout much of the world. NBCU’s archive includes tens of millions of images which is continually being digitized by NBCU’s digital media distribution group.
News
Albert Pleus resigns from A21/Superstock board of directors
Co-founder and former CEO of A21/Superstock Albert Pleus has resigned from the company’s board of directors. The move follows a series of management and board shuffles over the past year. During that time, the company’s stock price has declined steadily from a peak of $0.80 per share in May of 2006 to yesterday’s close at $0.07 per share.
News
Outdoor-Archiv: a new lifestyle agency with a traditional business model
http://www.outdoor-archiv.de" title="© Outdoor-Archive - http://www.outdoor-archiv.de" src="/images_MT/outdoor_archiv_sport.gif" />Outdoor-Archiv, A new stock photography company has emerged from Hamburg featuring a fresh collection of lifestyle images related to the outdoors, sports, and leisure activities. The small picture agency was founded by Thomas Kettler (photographer) and Carola Hillmann (graphic designer) and currently offers about 23,000 rights-managed images online. According to Carola “Our lifestyle collection is distinctive by its authenticity. Professional photographers with a genuine passion for their subject matter produce photos in a genuine location, meaning the feelings and experiences they are trying to portray are perfectly captured on film”.
News
Blend Images adds 3rd party content to the mix
Features
Book Review: Magnum Magnum edited by Brigitte Lardinois
Magnum Magnum edited by Brigitte LardinoisThames & Hudson, November 30, 2007
564 pages/hardcover/ 400+ photographs in color and duotone/$225.00
“If you’re going to be thinking anyway, you might as well think big,” goes the quote from Donald Trump. Those behind the planning of Magnum Magnum moved beyond big and into the realm of colossal thinking. In fact, the book is the largest and most ambitious volume Thames & Hudson has ever published. The 14-pound behemoth surpasses another huge book about the legendary agency of decorated photographers: the 512-page Magnum Stories published in 2004 by Phaidon Press. Magnum’s kingdom keeps growing even when traditional high-end photojournalistic channels seem to be disappearing.
News
Imagestate Media secures £2 million investment
Imagestate, the once troubled stock photography business, appears to have rebounded from its financial woes of April-May 2006 when Sheldon Marshall, as CEO of Heritage Partners, acquired the assets and Imagestate brand from the company he helped found. Prior to the purchase by Marshall the company had suspended trading of its shares “pending clarification of the company’s financial position.” Marshall has extensive experience of stock image businesses, including VCG which was sold to Getty for $220 million.
News
SAA claiming Imagestate dissolution leaves contributors unpaid
As reported previously on AboutTheImage, Imagestate had faltered in 2006 and the brand name and assets were purchased by one of its founders Sheldon Marshall as the CEO of Heritage Image Partners Ltd. After the acquisition Marshall merged the two businesses (Heritage Partners & Imagestate) under the name ‘Imagestate Media’ and according to a press release from October 12th 2007 the old Imagestate PLC, a company under the control of the receivers will cease to exist on January 12th 2008. Following this news the Stock Artist Alliance (SAA) issued a press release claiming that “With just a few months until operations shut down, the situation has become critical for many contributors” who according to the SAA have long overdue royalties from licenses made by Imagestate.
