For most of the 80’s and throughout the early 2000’s, the recurring motto in the stock photo industry was “It’s the content, idiot”. Key to any growth of photo agencies and successful career of any photographer was the ability to offer great content. Rule number one was to appeal to clients and crush the competition by creating upscale, high Read More →

Confusion and mixed messages are creating a worried atmosphere in the world of Splash News contributors. First, the news broke that Silverhub Media signed a worldwide and exclusive distribution deal with Shutterstock. The news made no sense, SilverHub having little to no content of value for the microstock giant until it was announced not long after Read More →

The year has not been kind for the editorial space and as result, photo agencies have continued to suffer. The market continues to see  decreasing space rates along with print publications shutting down. Once the kingdom of Rights managed and exclusives, it is now a vast flat plain of yearly unlimited subscriptions and royalty free. Yet, Read More →

Of the billions of images being shared today, the vast majority will live a life of anonymous orphans, forever separated from its original creator. Beyond its obvious disregard to original creation, it is an issue affecting hundreds of thousands of photographers worldwide whose only revenue depends on this attribution. PixelRights, a British startup, just introduced SmartFrame, a solution which elegantly attempts to solve this dilemma for everyone involved. We spoke with CEO Robert Sewell to learn more: Read More →

Apparently, Getty Images is no longer in love with its entertainment division. Word in the street is that all the top executives of that branch, Vince Bannon, VP of Strategic Partnerships and Georges DeKeerle, Sr. Director EMEA have been given the pink slip. And there might be more.  The reasons are not clear. Some say that the celebrity division, Read More →

If you want to win the World Press Photo, you have to be : A Man Around 35 years old Either from North America or Europe Have taken a picture in Asia Horizontally framed Of a child In a war Dead or dying With a gray dominant color These are the results of a statistical Read More →

The world of sports has always been dominated by exceptional achievements. It is indelibly carved into a precise moment in time when the  accumulation of a lifetime of efforts culminates into a victorious epiphany.  A combination of a defeat of physical limitation as well as the complete and absolute annihilation of any competitors, it is a never-to-be-repeated-again Read More →

As the flow of news coming out of the stock photo industry major – and not so major – players keep on pushing one press release after the other, it is always good to take a step back and analyze trends. It’s been a hectic first six months of 2016 and if its any indication, Read More →

An Interview with Ulf Schmidt-Funke by Stefan Hartmann for PICTORIAL Magazin 04/2016. It was – actually – a discussion about an entirely different topic. But Ulf Schmidt-Funke was just about to travel to the USA, where he planned to meet with major market players – including Reuters, New York Times and Shutterstock – on behalf Read More →

The man, shot, had been agonizing on the ground, his face full of blood, with the commotion still going on around him. The photojournalist had been shooting all night, trying to make sense of the events as they were unfolding, trying to keep composure as chaos was unfolding around her. The door of the fire Read More →