Closed, shut down and out

April 26, 2007 by pmelcher.

Green Recovery, new owners of what used to be Hachette Filipacchi Photo Group ( Gamma, Rapho, Explorer, Hoa Qui,Top) have decided to shut down their New York operation. The whole staff has been laid off. It’s a very sad thing. Gamma, among others, used to be one of the 3 great photo agencies in the world, along with SIPA and SYGMA. Under Michel Bernard, Gamma-Liaison, the New York operation of Gamma, used to be a thriving operation, so much so that Getty bought it for a cool $8 million dollars at the time. They had magnificent offices on Bryant Park and were the talk of the town. Years later, Jean Pierre Laffont, with such great names as Jean Pierre Pappis ( Currently president of Polaris) and James McGrath (currently President of AtlasPressPhoto) had revived it, only to be shut down by the upper echelons of Hachette in France.

Gamma was not killed by microstocks, nor was it destroyed by Getty or Corbis. Gamma was sunk by extremely incompetent management. Following the lead of companies like Corbis, the powers at Hachette decided to put fresh out of business school CEO’s thinking that this business is the same then any old business. Committees, internal politics, fratricide, enormous amounts of red tape, bureaucracy, conservative thinking, all added up to sucking the air of a tremendous talent pool. Obsessed by saving money rather than making money, these so called leaders forgot that the only way to make a plant grow healthy is to water it frequently, not to save on the water consumption. Great photojournalism, like great celebrity imagery, is a gamble. In order to be there at the right time you have to invest time, money and resources. If you play you cards right, you get those winning shots and get back 5, 10 times your investments. You take a part of your earnings and re-invest in the next story. If you decide to play it safe and wait for these images to come to you, it will never happen.

The second major mistake these CEO did was to ignore the digital evolution of this industry. Thus they were trying, desperately, to follow it, step by step, instead of plunging into it with one big leap. Resisting change is a killer.
In short, that is what happened with Gamma. The triumph of “the suits”, those fed on business rules that cannot and will not be applied to the photography world, those who excel at meetings and self promotion, those who cannot see intelligence and talent in other people, those who couldn’t care less about the damage they leave behind. All the CEO’s of Gamma have cozy jobs today. The hard working staff of Gamma are on the street.

Don’t believe for an instant this is limited to Gamma or / and the French. Corbis would be in the same situation today if it wasn’t for the deep pockets, and apparent dedication of its sole owner.

What really bothers me is what happens to the photographers, the images, the hours of hard and dedicated work, the passion and commitment, the sleepless nights, the tormented hours, the joys and group satisfaction, the proud and irreplaceable moments, the successes and triumphs, and those very early mornings when you finally came home from work with a tired smile of victory on your face ?

To those who have spend part of there lives at Gamma New York, past and present, photographers as well as staff employees, I salute you.

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