Enter the clowns…Update

There are many ways to kill. Many different ways that we manage to find somewhere in ourselves to destroy the things we love the most. The violent murder of Benazir Bhutto earlier this week is a prime example. During a period during when most of us enjoy the comfort of our simple lives, the world continues to rip itself apart in what seems to be an incontrollable violence that goes beyond our understanding.

Like many others I am still in shock and appalled by the event in Pakistan and the brutal assassination a woman that stood for change and democracy against relentless nihilism. I took a tour, from my distant home, of the photographs taken that day, and thanks to Daryl Lang of PDN, watched the two sideshows done by the New York Times and CNN with the images of John Moore of Getty Images.At the end of the CNN slideshow, I looked at this image :

and thought to myself, how did John Moore ever think of doing a zoom effect in the middle of this commotion ? Three shots where fired, and explosion just happened, people are lying dead all around him and he still find the time to create a zoom effect. Even think about it. My second thought is that he didn’t do it on purpose and just happened to zoom out when he took the frame. Still, this image puzzled me.

Until I saw the same image on the New York Times slideshow:

And then I realized, he didn’t. And here I made a false assumption. I previously wrote :

[ Someone at CNN thought that it would be more dramatic, more intense to add that stupid zoom effect]

Thanks to avid reader Gary Gardiner who checked the Getty site, we now know that both images were taken by the same photographer. Apparently, due to his shooting with a motor drive, both images are very similar, one probably shot as he was zooming out to get a full length of the man. That will teach me to write a blog before finishing breakfast. My apologies to CNN and to those I got confused. More from Gary in the “comment” section below.

PS: I forsee a World Press photo here…

Under cover of the Holidays

by Paul Melcher 

ImageSource, the number 1 independent royalty free company who bravely resisted the Getty web ready price cut to $49 is going midstock with Fotolia. A few days ago, French microstock company Fotolia announce the creation of a premium value collection called “Infinite” that would be priced around $20. The announcement came, surprisingly, a few days before the industry, buyers as well as sellers, go into the holidays slump. Inside the announcement, there was a mysterious allegation that the new collection was populated with images from pro photo agencies. However, no names were given.

I had to find out. It wasn’t too hard. This is the original, priced at $119 for the smallest size:

This is the Fotolia version, priced at 16.60 Euro :

And finally, there is the Getty version, who, as you might remember, was not allowed to price it at $49.00 :

As you can see, same image, different prices. So, depending on where you shop, you can get a nice rebate. I am sure that ImageSource will have a lot of explaining to do when they come back from their vacation. This surprising move seem to indicate that even they are under the pricing pressure of m icrostock but are ashame or afraid to admit it. It also shows that the Midstock model that companies like Zymmetrical.com have followed since its inception is becoming more the norm. Getty, Corbis, and now ImageSource and Fotolia are following the trend of pricing images at budget value rather than dirt cheap. Istockphoto is also slowly raising its price and entering the dance.

I am sure that we will see more traditional royalty free entering the midstock dance, probably at first with retired image and later withe new production. Pro photographers already do, so why not the agencies? The merging of micro and traditional is not far away anymore and 2008 should see the final steps, this time in the open.

Steal this

From Canada, again. Seems like every thing good or innovative in photography these days is coming from Canada (istockphoto, Veer, Idee, Zymmetrical, ….) . The TV channel and website CBC ( Canadian Broadcasting Corporation ) has posted an interview of uber-humanitarian and extremely talented photographer Marcus Bleadsale.

You can, and you should ( it’s an order ), view it here:

Marcus, for those who might not know, is the new member of the VII photo agency and recipient of many, many awards. However, as much as he appreciates the attention of his peers, he would much rather people do something about the situation he photographs. In a way, he would love being out of a job.

I had written an entry about Marcus a while back.

Via Mediastorm’s blog ( another site you have to visit)

A Whale of a Story

Funny thing about newspapers and magazines these days. They have a hard time jumping over the fence and taking full control of their future. It is obvious that dailies and weeklies, in their current format, have no chance of surviving against the web. But they all think of their web presence as a supplement to their print presence. It should be the opposite and most should be looking on how to make their print presence a supplement of their web presence.

Take the latest downsizing at Business Week. The reason behind it is to combine resources between print and web, with print still being the chief operator. It will save money by trying to fit online what cannot wait until the ink dries up. It gives the impression that there is speed where there is none. Why not, I ask, shift the whole operation completely and once and for all. make it a full range web publication with a weekly print supplement? Focus efforts where the market is growing and adapt to the new economy instead of being forced into it, dragging and screaming.

There is obvious connection here with the photo industry for whom the internet is still an accessory, a second thought. although forced to accept a new reality much faster than the publishing world, there are still some, too many, who are reluctant to invest in online sales and distribution solution.

It is everyone’s understanding that the price of photography will continue to dip down. How soon and how fast, it is anyone’s guess. It would absolutely not surprise me if someone like Getty would take a deep plunge into bottom cheap imagery in order to get rid of any competion and clean the landscape, a bit like a whale plunges deep below to get rid of parasite fish, only to return to a new, stronger marketplace. Everyone knows that there is too much photography available, both in stock and editorial. It is time to force the medium and lesser photographers and agencies into a rapid bankruptcy in order to sanitize the offering.

Let me step back and explain: The market, currently, offers the false impression that anyone can make money in the photography field. Since it has become easy and cheap to enter, everyone and his brother is now either a photographer or a stock agent. Since there is no tangible market research on the size of our industry, $2 billion, $5 billion, $3000 billion, it is anyone guess on what the payout will be. If someone paid attention, I am sure that we would see that there has been more stock agencies of all type launched in the last five years then at anytime in its brief history. And it is only growing exponentially. More agencies, more photographers, more photographers, less relevant images. It seems that there is money to be made because of Microstocks and Flickr’s successes. And as much is there might be an increase in the number of images used in one year, there has not been an increase of revenue generated by this spike. It has been almost cancelled by the fall in pricing and Getty has been a witness to that.

The only way to really profit form that growth would be to get rid of the overflow of images. And the best way is to force as many people out of the market as possible, as quickly as possible.

~ In a related note, I am very sad at the departure of Business Week Picture Director Larry Lippmann . For those who had a chance to work with him and his staff, it is a huge lost. He is one of the true gentleman of photography, has created a fair and balance agreement with stock agencies and photographers. Business Week is the only publication that pays for foreign edition usage up front, that reports usage with a tear sheet and one of the few that is always polite and professional. They asked and used a lot of images per week at different sizes and over the years I have never, ever heard any complains. Doing assignment work for them was a pleasurable breeze and always correctly paid. All this is to the credit of Larry Lippmann who deserves an award. It would be nice if our industry would officially recognize such professionals. Thank you Larry for all you have done for the photography world.

Google hates Photography

Do no evil, they said. Google is one of the worst tool for photography ever to appear on the internet.

Think about it. It makes a mockery of IPTC standards by completely ignoring it . Instead of searching within the carefully inputed metatags of images, Google images only displays image results based on the text and links surrounding an image. It ignores images that have been correctly keyworded, allowing for a better introduction of an effective Orphan legislation. These thumbnails you see, generated by Google, not only rip all metadata but also destroys the original file name of the photograph, creating an orphan duplicate. Instead of being a catalyst for even better informed images, it does quite the opposite by showing that it is more than ok to ignore relevant information.

With this process, it has pushed to the surface some of the worst images I have personally seen. Since there is no quality control, we suddenly see photography at its worst, with the top images challenging each other for the most horrible composition to the most appealing quality. It is as if someone had pushed the dirt out of the bottom of a lake to make it reach the surface.

It has helped the concept of stealing. With no enforcement of copyright information, and being an unofficial infringer itself, Google perpetuates the idea that images are for free and can be used with no regards to copyrights. It literally grabs images from other sites, properly licensed or not and displays as is, with no regards to where and how to contact its owner.

It doesn’t even search the thousand of professional image database worldwide from photo agencies or photographers, completely ignoring the best of the best. Search for Corbis, Getty Images or any photo agency and you see for yourself. For an untrained individual, it seems that this is it, the whole offering of image on a particular subject.

It is not an agent of discovery but an agent of banality. Since it ranks images the same way it ranks website, by looking at how many time an image has been linked too, thus seen, it bubbles the images most used, not the best. For someone looking to find some creative novelty, there is no inspiration. Quality, in Google engine eyes, is a factor of longevity and popularity. Quite the opposite of what a good photo editor should look for.

Finally, a photograph, for Google, is the same as graphics, logo or anything saved as a jpeg. A 5 year old drawing could easily compete with great photography. Or some banner. Terrifying.

The scariest part is that most photo editors will admit they use Google image to find images. It pushes photo professional to twist and bend their websites to be Google friendly while not being so much people friendly. It makes our industry’s effort to have intelligent search engines producing the strongest relevancy almost meaningless. And it spits in the face of creative photographers by putting their work next to unqualified snappers.

Although there is no law against misrepresenting an art or profession, Google should however be summoned to question its usefulness and purpose. Who and what really benefits from the Google Image search. Because it is certainly not the photo industry.

A big unrelated PS : Brian Storm and Jessica Dimmock have created one of the strongest multimedia yet. When two great talent collide. Not easy to watch but impossible to ever forget . see it here

It’s rising

Micro giant Istockphoto is pulling its prices up, starting January 7th. According to the new rates, already published on the community driven website, all sizes are going up one dollar, except for the X small, which remains at the legendary $1. Microshooters are in a frenzy at the prospect of an additional .20 cents per image sold and are already making plans to increase their holiday shopping budget. Competing sites, like Dreamstime and Fotolia, cannot wait to receive the bountiful mass of angry clients that will trickle down to them as they huff and puff at the incredible cost of imagery these days.

Industry news sites and other part time bloggers/economist/experts have all pulled out their slide rulers to calculate the impact of this decision on the photo industry and the world economy. Others will just sit back in their lounge chair and while puffing on an imaginary pipe ( for health reason), say “I told you so”, while crossing their long legs. Some will scout Youtube in the desperate hope that they can hotlink to a video of a singing Bruce Livingstone in pajamas, while industry veterans will write long, painful letters about the good old days of when microstock was really cheap and affordable.

Corbis will pay thousands of specialized analysts to study Istockphoto’s move and millions of work hours will be spend in crowded meeting room figuring out what should be their next move. Some say they plan to move the whole company into a virtual photo agency and move all operations into Second Life, “a first in the industry”, said Gary Shenk’s avatar, adding, “pricing will soon be a thing of the past” before transforming himself into a butterfly.

Alan Meckler, Jupiter’s CEO, will first argue that it was his idea and that Getty stole his idea. He will then purchase another website which has nothing to do with photography and finish his day buying some of his own stock, grumbling that if no one wants them, he will purchase them all.

A21 ( no longer a group for lack of members) will post yet another loss of a few hundred million of dollars and someone we never heard of will say something that will be ignored by everyone. A month later, a press release will be issued explaining that this person has resigned and the stock will drop another 150% to $0.000000002. Again, no one will pay much attention.

The tech/software/portal companies will plan a special celebration in honor of their members and throw yet another expensive party where everyone will be drunk and celebrate the fact that they have nothing much to celebrate. But at least they have each other. and a free T-shirt. If they are lucky.

Photo organizations that speak on behalf of their members will issue a triumphant press release saying that thanks to their increased effort, Getty was forced to raise the price of their microstock offering and that the battle continues. As usual, everyone will smile politely, not sure what that “battle” might be.

Finally, I will check out the weather forecast for today, read the news and enjoy a relaxing week end.

Companies to watch in 2008

Photo Agencies (distributors) :

Getty Images: The already succesful company is under the gun to prove to investors it can continue to deliver on its historical growth. With not much left to acquire that would trigger a 30 % growth, it is left to its own demise to add fuel to its engine. Already on the path to explore other revenue stream, like music and video, it is about to launch itself into the B2C eldorado and try to reap benefits from ever promised land. All eyes are watching the giant at its second attempt to cash in on unknown territories. Also on the near horizon, an accelerated effort to be as strong on international market than it is in the USA. The last quarterly report showed that Getty doesn’t not even make 5% of its revenue in Germany which is, after all, one of the biggest market in photography. Does Getty have the right people in place to make this happen ?

Corbis: The overweight rich kid of the industry is trying to shed some fat. With one of the best content in world, will it be capable of showing, finally, a profit? Will it stop playing games with papa Gates money and enter adulthood? We heard the promises, now let see it happen.

stockthatdoesntsuck: Will high end stock photography survive? Their content is amazing, their intention pure. Will the market support them? 2008 will certainly let us know.

SplashNews: With one of the smartest management in this industry who has the keen ability to ignore risks, Splashnews goes for the jugular. They just concentrate their fire to those images that sell very well, and that is it. Combine with a true understanding of how to leverage technology, it is one of the most succesful photo agencies around. Let’s not be surprised if Getty or Corbis are knocking at their door.

Zymmetrical: launched in 2006, this mid stock has everything to please creative professionals. With not only photography, but also fonts, video and graphic, it is the one sop shop for budget conscious creative professional. It also allows pros to compete with amateur on the same platform without giving up on pricing. At the end, only the best image wins.

Tech Companies:

Idee Inc : Still the one to watch on the image tracking field and more. Extremely succesful and innovative , it is the kind of company that will keep on surprising the industry over and over. The Toronto base company has its ears to the ground and its eyes fixed on the horizon. We should see and hear a lot from them in 2008, or even sooner.

Mochilla, Britepic, Picsout and others: This will be the year of the user generated revenue. Following in the footsteps of Corbis and soon Getty, other photo agencies will offer free ad supported images to 60 million bloggers worldwide. A few unknowns remain: What will be the photographers cut ?, will people click on the ads ?, will it be a revenue generator or gobbler ? Will it prevent agencies to continue doing adequate business with professional website ? Finally, will it continue to devaluate the value of images overall ? Hang on to your seats, photography is going for a wild spin.

Brightqube: Came out of the gate with a huge, and well deserved WOW effect. But, once passed the cool interface, it is just another royalty free platform. What’s next ? Knowing the team behind it, be ready to be wowed some more.

Picturemaxx and others: Portals where everyone dump their images into one central server is so 1990’s. The next generation of agency will be using virtual portals. Image database networked to each other will deliver the ultimate user experience to image buyers. One location to search any or all photo agencies worldwide is the ultimate image buying tool. For agencies, especially the small and medium, being part of a global offering makes more sense. Ultimately, it will change the way this industry works over the web. Sub agents and distributors, beware.

The Outsiders : Like istockphoto, Idee, Mochilla, the photo industry is being re invented by people outside of this industry. A lot of companies are currently in alpha mode and ready to revolutionized the way we do business. The success of Flickr has brought a lot of attention to our industry and brilliant minds are looking to cash in. New ways to license, to search, to retrieve. there is a lot of very interesting project in the works. Some will stick, some will not. a few areas of development are:

- Image licensing : pay per view

- Search : Semantic search ( French company new phoenix are already years ahead)

- Auto keywording : image recognition applied to tagging

- Auto editing : Data mining applied to cognitive results.

- Automated translation: Become local without any additional work. Years of development about to break open.

- Intelligent images : images will tell you where they have been, who has seen them, for how long.

and much,much more..

Media companies:

MediaStorm: The ones to follow. Set extremely high standards to how our images will be seen by our children. Offers a 3d emotional quality to still photography. Brilliantly succeeds in adding video, sound, text and stills into intensely rewarding experiences. Question is, will Mediastorm become a media company by itself or just license its content ?

Msnbc.Com : At the forefront of what can be done with still photography and the web, Msnbc.com keeps on re inventing itself, making it one of the most desirable destination for web surfers. They have never stood still, never took their success for granted. Furthermore, they pay a decent price for photography. We like that.

The New York Times : As respectful to photography on its web pages as they are on the print edition. The quality and placement of photography keeps on rising as they have realized how important it is. With newspaper like this, photojournalism will never die.

Yahoo/Flickr/Google: Will they or will they not? The whole industry is buzzing with the prospect of these mega players entering the photo licensing business and squashing everyone in their path. Flickr had announce earlier this year that 2007 will be the “licensing” year. It did not materialized. Will 2008 be the year where the flood gates open ?

( Partial) Conclusion: by no means exhaustive, this list is a good indication of the companies that will start or continue to amaze us in 2008 . Feel free to add. I know I will…