December 24, 2008 by pmelcher.

Part of the reason text journalism is failing is mostly due to the laziness of its reporters. It seems that if something was not presented to them via a press release or already published elsewhere, they will not write about it. There is almost no investigation left and everything is just reprint and Copy/Paste.

With this said and while you enjoy a probably cold day at home ( if your are in the Northern Hemisphere) lets look at  a few new things emerging at our horizon:

Our friends at Google seem to be more and more involved in image search. After putting online content from the Life magazine collection, currently being license by Getty Images, they have taken the first step to actually managing image content. Unlike the rest of the image search in Google, this collection seemed to have been indexed entirely on its IPTC content. Even more interesting, this content  does not appear on a Yahoo search. As we wrote about before, the future of search is to display content unavailable to other search engine, making it an even more useful and valuable. Google certainly has the cash to purchase such content ( Getty anyone ?).Could this Life Collection be an experiment ? A few toes in the water? But that is old news.What Google has recently released can be seen in its “advanced search” and come as numerous filters:

It is now possible to separate images from drawings and illustrations. It is also possible to search only within editorial usage, by just selecting the “news content” filter.  The drop menus also allow for even more accuracy as one allows to pick the file format, as the other can filter the b/w or color images. Finally with the “domain ” filter, you can actually do a search on a photo agency website using the Google search engine instead of their own.  Some  photo agency or photographer websites are so security obsessed that they will not let this happen, but that is their loss, not Google’s.

As it was stated before here many times, the future of the licensed images lies in being where the client is, not the opposite. Having your own website is only the beginning  and not an end in itself.

CNN. Unlike companies that have decided to cut  expenses, CNN is going all out to look for new revenue streams. After their wire service announcement, or in parallel I should say, they are beta testing their Image Source website :

Made entirely of videos , CNN is licensing their entire archive to the world. That is a huge blow to Getty who is lagging way behind in editorial video only offering lousy red carpet B roll. Cnn has also secured AFP video content, the same AFP that has a photo distribution deal with Getty images. Finally, CNN is also licensing the content they get from iReport, their user generated content.

As newspapers are dying and online sources of news are growing, CNN is betting on a huge yet untapped market. Furthermore it has little or no competition in this editorial video space. Will they license stills made from their video camera ? Time will tell.

Finally, stumbled upon a blog site today called the 37 th frame dot org. While it says that the intent is to promote photojournalism, its “About US” page not only offers no names but instead a big disclaimer saying that all images used on the site are covered by the fair use act.  It doesn’t prevent them from having big banner ads all over the site. I guess that promotion of photojournalism also means taking advantage of it these days. If whomever is behind this site would share its ad revenue with the photographers he displays on his/her site, photojournalism would feel much better.

Posted in magazine, IPTC, Cnn, technology, commercial stock, google, web 2.0, news, editorial, photojournalism, prosumer, getty | Print | No Comments »

December 18, 2008 by pmelcher.

it’s not photography that is important, its the message that it conveys. What photojournalism is all about, is messaging. It brings to our attention something that is happening elsewhere, beyond the scope of our own eyes and individuality. It permits viewers to travel through space and time without ever leaving their individual lives. Slowly the medium is becoming the message, instead of transporting it. Photographers are becoming the stars, the focal point, rather than their images.

In a society who likes to have hero, role models and stars, it is not such a surprise. But it is somewhat counterproductive to the core role of photojournalism. Instead of transposing the viewer in a place and time he or she could not have possibly been in, it is slowly shifting to bringing the viewer into a photographers head. Who took the image becomes more important than the image itself. There is nothing wrong about having a style, but real photojournalist should be anonymous. Every step they take to be better known is one more step away from their role of being a photojournalist.

Granted, we fall in a conundrum. How to get assignments, thus money, while remaining anonymous and preserving perfect objectivity? How to avoid to take images that are expected instead of what is seen ? And how to avoid sending a message within the  message.If photographer X is known for his/her highly communist political views, how can fully trust what I see? In a way, isn’t photography better served by a pool of unknown wire service photographers, like we have seen during the Mumbai attacks, than photojournalist superstars ?

Maybe so. But that could also be an added argument in the camp of the Citizen photojournalist camp: many anonymous eyes are better than one trained and famous one. Well, not so fast.

Citizen are not journalists. We have seen it over and over and will see it forever. During a conflict, drama, war, catastrophe , hurricane, citizens take care of their lives first. A photojournalist does not. They take pictures first. Their priority is to report to all those who are blind because they are not present. Capturing the message.

But not being there doesn’t mean being stupid. Studies show that 95% of human communication is non verbal. Looking at photographs is a perfect example of that. I can, with the right photograph, from the comfort of my living room,  almost feel, smell, understand a situation that has happened elsewhere and at another time.

So why would the photographer matter? How does knowing that he/she is gay/black/asian/ midget/muslim/nazi/famous/rich/french be important ? Can we relate better to the photograph when we know who shot it ?When you see pictures of your nephew, does he look cuter because it was taken by his mom or his brother ?

Its the illusion of greatness: we might be inclined to see an image as great because the photographer has taken great images in the past. Magazines or websites might publish an image just because it was taken by a branded photographer. But then we all fail, don’t we?  Even great photographers take lousy pictures. And what because of the reality of the event then ?

Distorted. By our obsession with  the infallibility of stardom. If he/she has been great than he/she will continue to be great, regardless. The message is no longer the image but who took the image. And we take one more step away from reality.

Exposing photojournalism images on a museum wall, a growing trend, accentuate this trend. Prolonging a photographs existence beyond its natural life and support is only beneficial to the photographer, not the photograph. Ripping it out of natural habitat, magazine pages or websites, is denying a huge part of what it makes it exceptional, its temporality. Its denying its direct link to a very specific event and giving it a status of art piece. A stand alone. To the pure benefit of the photographer and not the event it was initially supposed to reflect.

There is no arguing that some photographers are just plain better and more talented than others. Their photographs are a thousand time better than anyone around, at the same place and at the same time. But that should be a trade secret, an industry knowledge. It should never appear to the public. It should remain anonymous for the rest of us. For the sake of photography and the message itself.

Posted in magazine, focus, lens, newspaper, photojournalism, france, editorial, wire service, news | Print | No Comments »

December 17, 2008 by pmelcher.

The world economy, as we all see, is not doing well. Between massive layoffs and the beginning of a deflation trend in the USA, signs are all pointing towards catastrophic changes ahead. what does it mean for the photo industry ? Let take a look and make some predictions.
The first place photo agencies and image buyers are going to save is on what is seen as non essential cost. Trade shows, reunions, festivals, awards, all will see a dramatic cut on attendance. Already National Geographic in the USA and PICTA in Germany have been canceled. Two reasons for this : they will not find sponsors and they will not be able to book enough presence. More shows will follow. The ones probably the most hurt will be photojournalism shows as on both side of the market, creators and users, there is no more money. Visa Pour L’image in Perpignan will certainly will see a huge decline in its attendance, especially from US participants, as the cost of attending is rising every year, with no tangible return. But others, like PACA, or even CEPIC will greatly be impacted , for the same reasons. The only shows that might survive are the ones that get image buyers and sellers together, like Picturehouse. But the attendance might be only local, as everyone else will continue to save on travel cost.
When times get thought, companies tend to rely on their finance department for help. Thus creative management is replaced by bean counting management. For some unknown reason also known as the turtle reaction, they no longer look at what will make them more money but rather what will save them money. This will accelerate the adoption of the subscription base licensing scheme as it makes easier for everyone to manage and budget. Agencies working only with freelancers photographers on a commission basis will try to follow until they realize it is too cost prohibitive. Which will be too late.
Smart businesses will see this as an opportunity, as failing agencies will hit the market for a bargain price. Some will be great opportunities, other will be rotten fruits. Either way, there will be more consolidation.
All image buyers will rush to budget photography. If you though microstock was doing well, wait until 2009. no one will care so much about great photography, or at least no enough to matter. Any image with a good price will do the job. Since more freelance photographers will hit the market after being laid off  their staff job, it is not the supply that will lack.

Even assignment and wedding photography will be hurt. First, because companies will reduce their marketing dollars and not feel that a CEO head shot needs a pro, especially with the husband of the marketing VP who is unemployed and has this cool Canon 5 D mark II he bought before being laid off. Others will be happy to do assignment work for free if they can keep the licensing rights.Furthermore, ex newspapers staffers will join the growing ranks of wedding photographers and will slash down prices.

If anyone gets married anymore or hires a photographer.

Than, there is also the looming SAG strike. The SAG is the Screen Actors Guild and every single movie star is a member. 75% of their membership is already out of work so couldn’t care less if they went on strike. That would create havoc on the editorial celebrity world, one of the last healthy places for photography. No more premieres, no more red carpet, no more award shows. Some photo agencies only cover those. It would be a catastrophic blow to them. Others might precipitate their photographers into the street to chase the celebrities, doubling the already overwhelming amount of paparazzi in the streets. Besides the fights amongst them, accident with celebrities will happen and laws will pass.It is already an over saturated market anyway, so prices, like others, will plummet.

Not a pretty picture : There are no safe heavens. There is not one photo agency or publication that will not be tremendously  affected  by this economy. not one.  No one will be able to pull into their degrees to find solutions.  The ones that will survive will do so by pure brilliant instinct, by being ingenious and street smart. There are ways to navigate more or less safely.

Posted in Midstock, newspaper, license, celebrity, commercial stock, magazine, prosumer, photojournalism, transaction, editorial, finance, PACA, CEPIC, Microstock | Print | No Comments »

December 12, 2008 by pmelcher.

It’s all in the way you search. Stock photo agencies, now having reached a point where they are all pretty much offering the same content for the same prices, are desperately trying to make themselves relevant with different search engines. After all, Google’s success is made on search and not content, so why not stock photo agencies ?

Lately, Canadian based Masterfile, recipient of the A21/Superstock legacy and its assets, has just revealed a new “paradigm shift” ( don’t you just hate that overused expression?) , called “endless media”. Surely, exactly what an image buyer wants to see after doing a search is endless results. I think not. When playing around with it, it really looks like a vague combination of Brightqube’s 2 year old mosaic display idea sprinkled with a little bit of Cooliris. No shift here, just a lot of balloon air.

Steve Pidgeon explains to Selling Stock newsletter :

“The name of this toy is Endless Media, and with good reason: the primary search results are displayed as three horizontally scrollable rows of square thumbnails, presenting a seemingly endless amount of options. The style of review is up to the user. The search engine can auto-play results by scrolling and pausing at adjustable time intervals. It also allows a buyer to move back and forth with the help of buttons familiar from early cassette-player days, drag a slider to any point between the first and last screens—or even specify a “go to” position as a percentage of total. Sizes of image thumbnails can also be adjusted based on user preference.

Hovering over any thumbnail produces a small uncropped preview, and clicking on an image is where the real fun begins: Without losing the three rows of primary results, a buyer also sees a large image preview—unwatermarked for registered customers—and a series of similars.

“You did not ask for similar images, but we gave them to you without penalizing you by losing your primary search,” explains McDonald, who stresses the importance of this never-lose-your-place functionality and the ability to work both literally and laterally at the same time.”

mmm. sounds easy and simple: early cassette player, multiple options, scroll right and left, adjustable sizes, lots of similars ..and so on. But what about the core essential result expected from doing a search ? Like, finding the right image quickly and easily? Doesn’t seem like they worked on that.

While we are on the topic of search, two new image search portals have been launched recently. One in the UK, called Imprezzeo, looks for similar based on content. Nothing new here, as other companies, like Idee, have been offering this for many years. But Idee has never offered it as a global portal but rather as a plug in to existing image database.With there latest Tineye offering, they offer even more as you can now locate the exact same image, rather than similar. Not useful for a internal database but very useful for a public search. Imprezzeo seems to tap the same market, that is photo agencies, according to their “about us” page. Funny that they would consider it a segment of the industry to invest in, considering how its about to tank.

Another one, which is a complete surprise, is Hitachi. Yes, the same Hitachi that you might have in your living room. You know that when the Japanese industry gets involved in something, they do it right. Called Gazopa, it is also a similar image search engine ( or a SISE, as we say in the connected world) with a few pluses. It has a browser plug in that allows you to search outside of their site. You can upload or draw the images you are looking for. and finally, it has a ” stream of consciousnesses” features that continue to search for similars of your similars as long as you want it to. Called “Flow”, it is more a gadget than very useful, but still interesting. Still in Beta, this service seems fully geared to the public and not to the photo industry.

Similar searches are still the exception rather than the rule in photo agencies search. No data has been made public on whether it is being used by image buyers  at all. But with all these publicly accessible image search engine using it, it will soon become another tool people will expect. It has the huge benefit on not relying on keywords anymore (those nasty little keywords) and is a more “natural” way to search for images. As usual, the photo industry is lagging way behind. Furthermore, none of these public search engine seem to index existing image database, making the professional offering invisible to casual buyers. The photo  agency industry stubbornness to keep their assets behind closely protected close doors is all to the advantage of Microstock platform who thrive on them. While each traditional agency is busy trying to enhance their local, in house, propritery search engine, they forget that less and less image buyers will come to their website but rather look for global search engines. And thus, they will loose on many sales to come.

Posted in Canada, technology, Piclens, commercial stock, idee, Search, filter, web 2.0, google, keyword, Microstock | Print | No Comments »

December 10, 2008 by pmelcher.

 According to AFP, french photographer Alain Ernoult has been awarded 1 million euros in a case involving Getty Images. The photographer, famous for his areal images, was a contributor to The Image Bank. He had signed an exclusive agreement with the company, covering the years 1991 to 1995.  In 2001, he brought the company to trial, after Getty had purchased The Image Bank, for continuing to license his images. Apparently, some of his photographs were licensed by Getty for use in  ads for car company Peugeot, Toshiba and Air France.

It is not the first time the french justice system awards huge settlements to photographers. A recent case also involved millions of Euros to the family of  fame photojournalist Catherine Leroy for lost transparencies. In a period where it is becoming harder and harder to license images at a reasonable price, there is no doubt that more photographers will pursue any opportunity to sue their distributors and agency for any potential wrongdoing, especially in France.

The decision from the “Tribunal De Grande Instance” of Paris was just delivered its decision on the 9 of December 2008. It is customary for the French legal system to take a very long time.

Article here:

Getty Images condamnée à payer un million d’euros à un photographe - Le Monde.fr

Posted in copyright, commercial stock, license, transaction, law, france, getty | Print | No Comments »

December 9, 2008 by pmelcher.

There are newspaper websites, where a second staff of editors recapture what is in the print edition and put it on line, for free. Not really cost effective and a sure wait to shoot yourself in the foot. The recent massive layouts and bankruptcy filing are good indication that this hasn’t been a good idea. As the country, and the world, will see the rows of unemployment rise, it is quite predictable that paid readership will continue to drop.

In comes a great company out of England, Newspapersdirect. With a savvy and simple website, one can now read international newspapers right on their desktop without getting their hands dirty. For a simple monthly fee that allows you for a limited viewing of newspapers per month, $9.99 for 38 newspaper view a months for example, one can have an entire newsroom at home.

There are few things a great about this service. First,  it saves trees.second, you do not have to be stuck with subscribing to thousands of newspapers. like a newsstand, you pay for those you want to read that day. Third, you have access to thousand of newspaper worldwide, the same day ( that certainly beats a newsstand). Fourth, there is a nifty little application that allows you to quickly see all the images used in a newspaper at once.Five, their search engine is amazingly powerful. One can search for credit line in all the newspapers in one swoop. Six, you can view past edition in case you missed any.  Seven, you can save, email or print the pages that you would like to keep.

This website is a brilliant example of how technology can be extremely useful when implemented correctly. It is simple to use and efficient. Newspapers still get revenue from participating and can actually increase their readership by reaching far away places with no distribution cost. There is a good chance that they will start doing the same with magazines in the near future.

you can play around with it yourself at pressdisplay.com

Posted in Search, magazine, technology, newspaper, web 2.0, editorial, photojournalism, news | Print | 2 Comments »