June 26, 2008 by pmelcher.

I am a big fan of coops. Initially started in France, Magnum being the most famous one, Coops are small photo agencies created by a group of photographers who pool their resources in order to survive. Most do not last very long, because, along with the financial pressures, getting along amongst photographers with a lot of personality is not a easy task.

That’s what a coop is, really : a group of very individual individuals with a very strong ego. Thus internal fights and argument are quite frequent and explosive. Nevertheless, although very rare in the US ( VII being the exception), coops are striving in Europe. Not just France, but Belgium, Switzerland, Sweden and Italy. You have to have that socialist edge to create or be part of a coop, not really an American thing.

Photographers who belong to those coop have complete editorial freedom and shoot what they want, when they want.It is not always favorable to great business, but it allows for genuine photography. And that is where they are very strong. Far from the hard news already covered by countless wire services and photo agencies, Coop photographers tend to cover the unexpected and forgotten. In a industry now only obsessed by speed, they take their time. They do not produce much or fast and sometimes tend to over think their images. But nevertheless, you might be surprised. very surprised.

PictureTank, the Coop of Coops, or rather a platform that allows for different agencies to pool their images in one place, is a great way to discover and follow the work of many photographers. Presented in full sets rather than single images, it displays the story the way they were meant to be shown. It carries a full respect for the photographers work.

These agencies are not affected by Getty or microstocks. Not even Britney Spears worries them as they all seem to have made a vow of poverty. They understand that the path they have taken will not lead them to stardom or richness ( material, that is), but like priests of a Godless church, they have decided to devote their lives to photography. They cannot be touched because their world is not made of nice cars and expensive restaurants. They care about their work and nothing else.

Not all are good, far from it. You probably have the same ratio of good to bad than anywhere else. Some are helplessly useless while others shine like diamonds. No surprises here.

At a time when photography is all about numbers, dollars and no sense, where photo magazines worry about a supermodel’s ass while others are proud of their scatological content, where  Alain Meckler admits failure even in trade shows production and Corbis remains hopelessly in the red, it is good to see some fresh production.

Posted in photojournalism, Search, magazine, Magnum, wire service, slideshow, getty, corbis, france, editorial, Microstock | Print | 2 Comments »

April 26, 2008 by pmelcher.

What is revolting about this image ? what makes people so upset ? what about this one ?

Those the image above makes you feel like screaming foul ? Do you want to pick up your phone and tell the exhibitor to pull them down, immediately. I fear not. besides being not very good, these image seem totally harmless, don’t they ?

Well Parisians are upset, very upset. A little background info would be good here:  Theses images where taken in Paris, by a french photographer called Andre Zucca for a magazine called Signal. They are amongst some of the earliest color photographs ever taken and depict parisians going about their daily life under nazi occupation. The problem is that Signal was a nazi propaganda magazine and that Andre Zucca, a french collaborator more than happy to show that the parisians where a bunch of happy people during that time.

Not so,  said some french human rights organization and  individuals. Parisians were suffering and all doing “resistance”. However, when one visits this exhibit, it is clear that none of the images are staged. Perhaps posed, but certainly not stage. There is even photographs of the “Rue des rosiers”, in the heart of the Parisian jewish neighborhood where one can see a few people walking, albeit one man visibly wearing a yellow cross:

Parisians who lived during this period do not want to be showed as happy citizen during this period. French people, in general, would rather show them heroically fighting against the occupant. Thus after many protests, the exhibitors have agreed to add some more information to go along with the images to better explain the situation.

What is interesting here is how very banal images can trigger so much heated reaction. The images themselves, quite frankly, are boring snapshots.Yet, a lot of people are up in arms saying they are insulted by these images. I found it fascinating that images can become insulting not by what they depict but rather by what they do not show. Besides resistance, they do not show the terribly difficult situation such a big city had to face in order to find the most basic food during a time of war.It doesn’t show the constant humiliation to having to live under an enemy force and arbitrary sets of rules. It doesn’t show the frustration of witnessing such violent acts and not being able to do anything about it.

Let’s face it. Not every man or woman is a hero. Not everyone is ready to pick up a gun and fight against the most powerful army at the time. And these images show part of that. The reality was far more ambiguous than be a resistant or be a collaborator. The lines were not clearly defined and certainly not simple to cross. Sometimes, just getting decent food for your family, your kids, was all a days work and no other business could occupy your mind.

It is easy for us to judge, from the comfort of our home, on a time and place we have never been close to.

These images had never been published before. The German Nazi kept color photography for war images only. Furthermore, color photography was such a difficult process at the time, it could only be taken in bright sunny days. That adds  impression  that the occupation was just a long hot sunny day. Obviously people look worst under gray or rainy days.

Finally, the photographer, who was never persecuted for helping the nazis , was not allowed to shoot sensitive areas, mostly where the Nazi lived or assembled, for security reasons. Thus, there are multiple  invisible underlying censorships in these images: the photographers eyes, the technical requirement of the film and the Nazi censorship.

The mayor of Paris has ordered fuller captions and organized debates around this exhibit of more than a thousand images. Sensibilities have to be managed as well as the truth needs to be massaged by many words, spoken or written.

We say that an image is worth a thousand words. Well, it this case, an images needs a thousand more words.

Can we consider these images photojournalism ? After all, Andre Zucca was one of the most  important war correspondent before the war, working for celebrated publication France Soir. This is what he saw, with the tools he had, and an assignment he was given. Not so much different then if Time magazine* would send a photographer in Afghanistan to shoot the daily life and asking the reporter to show the bright side of Kabhul life.

This photo exhibit has more than the eye can see and brings our comprehension of photography a step further. How we see or perceive an event, how we can sometimes feel  frustrated by its short coming, how it fixes into time who we are, and how we behave.

More info and a little sideshow here

*Time magazine, of course, is not a propaganda magazine and the American army is not the Nazi, far from it.

Posted in lens, magazine, photojournalism, editorial, france | Print | 2 Comments »

April 12, 2008 by pmelcher.

A few good things are happening in the Photo agency world, at least in the USA.

First and foremost, it is the recent launch of ElevationPhotos. Created by Mick Magsino , ex Corbis, ex ImageDirect, Ex Getty, this new celebrity photo agency based in Los Angeles works exclusively on assignment. Instead of adding more red carpet images to the current flow (A photo editor at In Touch told me recently they receive about 80,000 images a week on spec), Mick applies a more intelligent approach by only covering events for which they are hired for. And it is working well. elevation photo were the official photographers of the Sarasota Film festival. Mick also finds the time to write a blog here.

Expect to see more of them in the near future.

Not too unrelated, is the opening of the Photoshot office in New York. Photoshot is a big agency in the UK, having recently acquired many smaller collection. Their offering is huge and covers the whole range of news, celebrity, nature, travel, sport and creative photography. They are, in a way, a smaller, yet very potent, Corbis/Getty. They distribute Elevation Photos in the UK. This opening is big news since it will offer a third offering to the US market, and place itself above Jupitermedia. Already, a lot of picture buyers cannot wait to have access to this huge pool of yet unseen images. Kris Hook, ex Corbis, heads the US sales operation.

Finally, there is the relaunch of AbacaUSA. The french photo agency has entered a stronger relationship with PA photo (the AP of england) in order to combine their forces and resources in the USA. Both agency also have a very rich library as well as a very active desk. Already in the USA for many years, Abaca has the advantage of knowing the market better than the two previous agencies. Coupled with PA’s firepower and credibility, this could be a killer relationship. Bruno Thiery, ex Abaca France is spearheading the effort.

As previously said, the editorial market is still strong and seems to be going the right way by partnering and finding new growth opportunities. Compare to the declining, disonauresque RM Commercial stock industry, this is refreshing news. Is it that the people running editorial agencies are smarter ?

Posted in license, Search, Jupiter, celebrity, magazine, newspaper, photojournalism, corbis, news, france, editorial, getty | Print | No Comments »

April 9, 2008 by pmelcher.

 Paris, France. Spring of 1871.  After a four month siege of Paris by the Prussian army in a war started by Napoleon III, the French Government decides to surrender. In a decaying world where aristocracy is loosing its powers on the emerging working class,they also decide to let the German army parade in Paris. To add insult to injury, the french government relocates to Versailles, once the headquarters of the French Royalty.

The Parisian population, left defenseless, decide to take their fate in their own hands and organizes its protection. The Prussians, probably aware of the existing tensions, parade briefly and leave.  The population of Paris takes control of the city and start their own independent government, called the “commune”. It will later be an insperition to Karl Marx, thus the name “communist”.

The French government send troops into Paris and it’s a bloody civil war, with mass execution. The revolution of the Parisians will have lasted only two lonely spring months. But it still has repercussions today.

Archive photo Agency Roger-Viollet has put up some great photographs of the uprising. Because, before Capa, there where other Capa’s. Without the advantage of fast film, most of the images are posed and lack the action of our current photojournalism. But they are poignant as well. Just to show that great images can make you learn about distant conflict, even in time.

Some commentaries are in French, but the trip is very well worth it. View it here.

And for those in love with the eternal city of light, the main site is all about historical views of the city.

http://www.parisenimages.fr/

A great idea of what a photo agency can do when they think a little bit outside the box.

Posted in multimedia, magazine, technology, photojournalism, slideshow, france, editorial, news | Print | No Comments »

April 8, 2008 by pmelcher.

I was fortunate enough to have met both Pierre and Alexandra Boulat. I have been even more fortunate to have seen their images. In their memory and to continue the great photographic work of this amazing family, I am proud to  announce the creation of : The Pierre and Alexandra Boulat Association and Grant and the Pierre and Alexandra Boulat Association.
Formed in the memory of Pierre and Alexandra Boulat by friends and family after the death of Alexandra Boulat in 2007, the Association seeks to keep the spirit of father and daughter alive through making their work available to the public and creating an annual grant for a photographer and sponsoring the education of young photographers.

Membership of the Association and Donations:

To become a member of the Association:

> For individual subscribers: 50 €
> For a company or an organization: 100 €

Additional donations are welcome:

In Europe:

Pierre & Alexandra Boulat Foundation
HSBC UBP – Paris Madeleine, France.
RIB: 30938 00080 00800019113 05
IBAN: 3093 8000 8000 8000 1911 305
code BIC LUBPFRPP
The Pierre and Alexandra Boulat Grant:
We will award a Grant to a photographer to produce a story that must be told but that the photographer cannot find support for from within the Media.
The first Grant will be awarded at Visa pour L’Image in Perpignan 2008, as it was an event very close to the hearts of Alexandra and Pierre Boulat.

The photographer should submit, no later than July 1st each calendar year, a one page proposal with a portfolio of 20 pictures to prove competency. A first committee will make a pre-selection in Paris and the final decision will be made in Perpignan with a jury of 7 or 9 people chosen among the most important photo editors at Visa pour L’image.

Submissions to:

The Alexandra and Pierre Boulat Association Grant
Cosmos
56, Bld Latour Maubourg,
Paris, 75007
France.
Exhibition projects:
-Vannes Festival in April in France is devoted to Alexandra. They will show her video MODEST.
-New York Photo Festival will show MODEST by Alexandra in the new VII gallery in Brooklyn in May
-FotoGrafia International Festival, Rome. Through the Looking Glass, an homage to Alexandra curated by Francesco Zizola and Deanna Richardson. May 8th to June 5th
-Bruxelles: Bruno Stevens who is organizing a major exhibition on War-Photojournalism will show one of Alexandra’s images with her comment.
-Visa pour l’Image, Perpignan September 2008 will show a major retrospective exhibition of Alexandra’s work. It will be in the present Pierre Boulat space.
-To be confirmed: Jean-Louis Atlan Space Ground 00 In Washington will show an exhibition by Alexandra for the first edition of Photo Week D.C. November 2008

Prints:
Alexandra’s prints are available through Bill Hunt Gallery in New York and through the Alexandra and Pierre Boulat Association in Paris.
Pierre’s Prints are available through the Alexandra and Pierre Boulat Association, Paris.
Press: Pierre Boulat is represented by the Cosmos Photo Agency in Paris.
Alexandra Boulat is represented by the VII Photo Agency in Paris and New York

The Board
Annie Boulat – Présidente
Gary Knight – Vice Président
Antoinette Boulat – Secrétaire
Jean-François Leroy – Trésorier

Honorary and consultant members :
Issa Frei, Maryanne Golon, WW Hunt, Olivier Kaeppelin, Antonin Kratochvil, Patrice Lamotte, Caroline Mangez, Alison Morley, Chris Morris, Ariane Quentier, Robert Stevens, Sylvie Grumbach, Patrice Massoteau, Nicolas Saada, Jean-François Gallois, Jean-François Camp, Mete Zihnioglu,Goksin Sipahioglu,Kent Kobersteen.

For further information please contact Annie Boulat: annie(at)cosmosphoto.com

Posted in magazine, Cosmos, newspaper, photojournalism, france, editorial, news | Print | No Comments »

April 3, 2008 by pmelcher.

You would think that you could immediately say which news photographer won 11 prizes this year. You would probably think..”mmm, someone from VII or Getty, no ?”.

You could say that but you would be wrong.

This year alone, he won:

3  National Geographic prizes.

4 White House News Photographers associations prizes

Grand prize PDN & National Geographic Traveler

2 Honorable Mentions PX3 Prix de la photographie de Paris

First Place portrait Best Of Photojournalism NPPA

Yet his images have never been shown at Visa Pour l’image, ICP and other venerable photo institution. You will not see his images at the first NY photo festival. Probably because he does not shoot wars, does not have any images of dead people and does not carry a HOLGA. However you have seen his images in Newsweek, TIME, Stern, Paris Match. And you will see more, trust me. You even have seen him published here.

Yes, it’s Olivier Douliery, from Abaca Press . Extremely talented news photographer from Washington DC who does magic with an extremely  difficult subject : US politics. A great example of what photojournalism can do when it does not desperately try to be art, but a communication language. Olivier does not capture faces and places, he gets their soul. From a defeated Mike Tyson before his final match, to a playful Dalai Lama, from a Bill Clinton looking through the shoes of his candidate wife, to a George Bush laughing like a little kid at his inauguration as if he just pulled a nasty trick at another kid in the schoolyard, Olivier photograph with a smart sense of humor that makes you smile and reflect at the same time. There is no politicians in Olivier’s image, but rather players on an empty stage that have their moments of sadness, doubt, happiness, exhaustion, triumph. People with emotions, like you and me. Olivier captures the emotions of the so called powerful. The whole gamut. And makes them human again, with an incredible respect for his subject. A little bit as he was photographing  his cousins at summer family gathering.

There is a sense of time in all of his images, of  immediacy. It would be almost impossible to take any of his image and put them out of context. They would look odd and wrong. That is why he is a great photojournalist. Because he no only captures the person, but also everything that is going in at that time, in that persons life.

And finally, Olivier is great human being. Nice, polite, helpful, he is respected and adored by his peers. I am privileged to know him. He as a great career ahead of him.

More of his images here

Posted in TIME, newspaper, magazine, Newsweek, photojournalism, slideshow, news, france, editorial, getty | Print | No Comments »

March 26, 2008 by pmelcher.

• Another great story out of France today:

As you might remember, French president Nicolas Sarkozy used to be married to a very free thinking woman called Cecilia. While still a minister, but already the “chosen one” to succeed the heart attack stricken Jacques Chirac, Mr Sarkozy got a big surprise one morning when he saw pictures of his wife kissing some guy in the streets of New York city plastered on the cover of the biggest news magazine of France : Paris Match.

Paris Match is owned by Hachette Filipacchi, itself owned by the Groupe Laguardere. And heading this magnificent group that also counts in its portfolio banks, insurance companies, arm manufacturing, parts of Airbus and much more, is Arnaud Laguardere. Arnaud is not only a college buddy of Nicolas, he is also a key figure of French foreign policy, weapons being the number one export of France.

One call and the publisher of Paris Match was fired . So much for the freedom of the press. Nicolas Sarkozy has nothing against the press as long as it is respectful to him.

Fast forward. He gets elected, throws a few parties, they wait a little and finally Cecilia files for a divorce and leaves for New York. French President remarries with ex model singer songwriter Carla Bruni who apparently loved to pose naked, according to PDN.

Cecilia reconnects with Richard Attias, the man she was kissing on the cover and they also decide to get married. Being publicity whores themselves, they go shopping to sell their wedding. Their first stop ? Paris Match. Quite obviously, the new editorial team decides to turn them down. For some reason, they end up with Getty Images. Probably because they heard that Getty was affiliated with AFP in France ( partly owned by the French Government) thus making a proxy deal.

Getty Images says yes to the exclusive rights. As customary in this world, they turn around and sell it to French Gala for  60,000 euros ( about $95,000). Not much compared to the  baby pictures of Jlo, Jolie or C. Aguilar, but still a hefty sum. All proceeds, as per agreement, go to charity.

Richard Attias, Ceo of Publicis Events World and Cecilia ex Sarkozy get really, really upset. They didn’t want the money, which they will not see anyway, but the exposure. They made the deal so that they could, especially her, get back to Nicolas and show their happiness all over the french media. But when they wake up this past Monday morning, nothing.

Calls to Getty quickly got them the answer they did not want to hear. Thus they forced Getty to release 3 or 4 images so that non bidders could publish images too. Le Parisien, a populus french daily  for people who love to bet on horses ( which is 96 % of the french population), finally publishes 2 images in its Tuesday edition ( yesterday) for a mere 1,500 Euro (about $2,400) and right under a huge, unrelated headline that reads ” Beware of rotten meat !!”.

A few thoughts come to mind:

-Getty should avoid mingling in French sex affairs. It is a lot of pain and no income (remember, all proceeds went to charity)

- What happened to AFP, the supposed exclusive agent of Getty in France?  Partly owned by the French government, did they suddenly retract themselves because it was too hot ?

- Cecilia is no Nicolas. He gets married, its a big deal. She does what she wants, no one really cares. He is the President, after all.

- Exclusives are made to make money, not to get extended coverage. Freebies can help getting you published everywhere. Unless if you are the first born of Angelina Jolie and Bradd Pitt, an exclusive is not the way to go if all you want to do is piss off your ex husband.

- Freedom of the press, in France, is a point of view . Depending on where you are, its definition changes.

Posted in newspaper, license, celebrity, magazine, finance, transaction, news, france, editorial, getty | Print | No Comments »

March 5, 2008 by pmelcher.

French photo agency Gamma, now under the umbrella of Eyedea,  recently lost a judgment for the lost of 9 210 originals. Catherine Leroy, Legendary war photographer, will receive 1,381,500 €  ( that is $ 2,108,909.49). About $228 dollars an image.

Catherine Leroy died in 2006 and was represented by her mother.

Yes, you have read this correctly. That is more than twice the price company Green Recovery paid  Hachette to purchase Gamma, Rapho, Hoaqui, Jacana, Explorer and Top last year. The purchase price was rumored  to be  € 600,000.00 or $900,000.00

Sipa has also been condemned to pay € 1,200,000 ( about $1,8 Million)   to photographer Gérard Gastaud for the lost of 43,331 of his originals. ( about $42.00 per image lost)

Apparently, if you are going to have your originals lost, you are better off moving to France first.

Seriously, however, neither agency would survive if they had to pay such penalty. Both are surviving right now and certainly cannot afford to part with more than $1 million dollar. Actually, besides Corbis, I do not know of any agency that could survive such a settlement.

I am all for compensating photographers whose images have been lost or mistreated. Especially legendary photographers like Catherine Leroy . However, I will question the intelligence of a judge who puts the settlement a such a high value that it endangers the jobs of 1,000’s of innocent people. Some common sense needs to also be applied here.

Both agencies have the right to appeal, which, in this case, I am sure they will certainly do.

More on these judgments here ( In French) : Photographie.com

Posted in SIPA, newspaper, copyright, magazine, photojournalism, finance, news, law, france, editorial, corbis | Print | No Comments »

February 5, 2008 by pmelcher.

A great story out of France today. You remember the Frenchman who made the world market crash ( I know, I know, just joking), Jerome Kerviel, responsible for a 7 billion dollars loss at the Societe Generale? He has become a superstar, especially in his native country. However, he has been very illusive and only a couple of stock images of him exist.

As you can imagine, all the top photo agencies have been on his track, trying to get that “scoop”. Well, it was a guy living across the street from the French Financial police headquarter who managed to get it first. He is not a photographer but a video film producers. And he managed to film, on video, the infamous financial artist, as he was held for questioning by the authorities. Where the story becomes interesting is that, instead of selling the images directly or even going to one of the photo agencies, he want to Citizenside, a French citizen photojournalism site.

Certainly a coup for those who scream loud and far that this is the future of photojournalism. But wait, here is what happened. The image was bid upon by top native publications and Paris Match won for an estimated 100,000 Euros. Not bad. According to Philippe Checinski, CEO of Citizenside, 75% went to the videographer and they kept the rest. But they then proceeded of making a deal with AP for the video and Getty Images for the stills for any territory outside France. 50/50, says Checinski. Not sure if that split is between Citizenside and the agencies or the videographer and Citizenside.

Why would a citizen photojournalist website do a deal with photo agencies for distribution ? doesn’t that defeat the purpose ? The lucky man could have made those deals directly.

One explanation is that Citizenside is owned at 34% by French AFP. And AFP has a deal with Getty Images. Furthermore, apparently AFP gave away, for free, the video to French television channels. Ouch !!.

And it gets better. In the mean time AFP gets an exclusive portrait session with Kerviel and give that to Getty too. Priced at regular space rate, these “official” images are available on Getty’s site while the others cannot be found. Mmm… 50% of nothing doesn’t look so good anymore.

Did Kerviel’s lawyer make a deal with  AFP saying, take down those images where my client looks guilty in exchange of an exclusive interview ? And even Getty complied ? Is that journalism ? and the videographer was only used as a bargaining chip?

So, although the initial sell of the image was certainly well handled, the secondary and international rights where given away to third party distributors, making Citizenside a broker between creators and photo agencies. A middle man for the middle men. A distribution platform for redistribution. Not what I thought these sites where made. Meaning that if you send a image to Scoopt.com, Getty image will give it to AFP in France. And while each one takes a commission in the process, the creator of the image gets ripped of a little more than directly going to an agency.

What is the point then ?

Posted in web 2.0, prosumer, newspaper, license, magazine, photojournalism, finance, news, france, editorial, transaction, getty | Print | 1 Comment »

January 16, 2008 by pmelcher.

Not all is bad in the web 2.0 world. Take this new initiative by giant hosting site Flickr. It has posted a part of the huge Library of Congress collection to get some help in key wording for future generation to enjoy. It even has created a new copyright/license for it called “no known copyright restrictions” : “[That does] not mean the image is in the public domain, but do indicate that no evidence has been found to show that restrictions apply.”

The Library of Congress, if you are not aware, is a huge repository of documents related to the history of the United States of America and thus, partly, the world. Most of its content has been donated in a deliberate act to make it accessible and available to the public. Unlike a commercial photo agency, the Library of Congress is not in the business of licensing its content for a fee in order to make some profit but to allow anyone with any curiosity to learn from its document. for free. This project of asking for anyones help to tag, or keyword the images is a great idea, “awesome” some would say, that will allow to share knowledges on line.

I do apprehend already some photo agencies, mostly outside the USA, downloading some of these images and making them available to their clients via a “research” or “service” fee, like they currently do with NASA images or images released by movie studios. Since there is no apparent copyright owners and these images are old, chances of being found and sued by copyright owners are slim to none, they will think.

By making this project as public as possible and by educating the as many as possible, we can put a damper on those who give our industry a bad name. Now, go and tag !

UPDATE :Just what I feared, Apparently Rohn Engh  does want you to take those images and sell them according to his entry in Black Star Rising. I guess that is the new good advice for photographers : if your images do not sell,  steal some public domain and resell them. Treat your clients like idiots and charge them for images they could have found themselves.

Posted in keyword, IPTC, Search, license, web 2.0, flickr, law, france, editorial, news | Print | No Comments »