April 7, 2008 by pmelcher.

I will never understand the publishers stubbornness in designing magazine online. They literally replicate their print edition. Not just the content, but the layout. You have a cover/front page. You have sections, you have pages and along all that, a lot and lot of text .

Scrolling, for example, is much easier online. No need to change pages when all you have to do is scroll down. Why fix a limit on how far down you can scroll, when the majority of us have a wheel and can read down for ever?

One reason is that making you change page forces the page to reload, thus displaying new ads. Good for the publisher, not for the reader.

And what is it with this obscene amount of text? Since the launch of Netscape, back in the early 90’s, the web can easily display images, yet all publication use much more text than visuals. Yet the cost is practically the same.

One would have thought that, by now, all the news could have been delivered in a multimedia format. Instead of the linear print magazine format, the web offers video, sound, graphics and of course, photography, to give the readers a more three diminutional vision of a story.

Yet few, if none, use this ability. Its like driving a ferrari at 20 MPH all the time.

Magazine publishers, as we all know, are extremely resistant to change. If anything, they will do more of the same and copy their competition before they will innovate. They mostly believe that their content is so special, it cannot be brought down by the packaging.  They should think again.

With the coming of age of the internet generation, those who grew up in the 90’s and are about to hit college, this will change fast. Right now they are busy absorbing. Absorbing Youtube, Facebook, EW online, myspace. They currently take what is being offered to them. As somewhat passive consumers. But when they hit the work force and take charge, they will certainly create a new medium and certainly affect it deeply.

Online magazine will be more web friendly, mixing text, video, voice over, photography to deliver the story. Navigation will no longer be up and down, left to right.

Interfaces will more like the one use by Brightqube who sadly currently only uses it for delivering  RF images. You will be able to slide your way through a publication that will all reside on one page. Companies like MediaStorm will be able to produce more interactive multimedia, where one would be more involved in its unfolding instead of being a passive listener.  For example, on a report on the Iraq war, one could decide between the short or long version, the unrated or family friendly version, wether to read or listen. And much, much  more.

Magazine sites currently look like scanned magazines. TV sites, look like small tv sets. News site, depending on who produced it, look like their parent. Obviously they want to maintain their brand, and they will. But like microstock to the commercial stock world, they are leaving the door wide open for someone else to steal their readership.

And they will.

Posted in magazine, mediastorm, focus, technology, Piclens, multimedia, Search, msnbc.com, editorial, photojournalism, web 2.0, newspaper, news | Print | No Comments »

February 21, 2008 by pmelcher.

For those who always to know more about Mediastorm and couldn’t quite say it, blog rocketboom.com offers a small two part video you could watch here.

or part one here:

and part 2 here :
If that format doesn’t work for you, you can view more option here

Posted in mediastorm, multimedia, photojournalism, editorial, news | Print | No Comments »

February 8, 2008 by pmelcher.

The World Press awards has revealed its winners for 2008. As expected, the picture of Britney Spears having her head shaved off won for the best image of Arts and entertainment. Or wait..it did not. Once again, The World Press has shown its complete disrespect for the world of news in favor of an overly intellectualized vision of the world. A bit as if the judges, once gathered in a room, behind closed doors, had said: “lets kill photojournalism a little bit more this year”

The photojournalism intelligentsia has voted. A closed group of overly self adoring and painfully egocentric intellectuals whose vision of a news photography is closer to the likes of ICP than the masses. They look for the creative touch, the Holga/lensbaby effect, the “je ne sais quoi” that makes a news photograph a work of art. They over think photography to an excess and seem to look for the Picasso rather than the human touch. They do not believe that an news image can be good, if doesn’t carry the touch of a creative artifact.

This years big winner is a blurry image of a tired soldier. Although not taken in a combat situation, and probably because of low light, it is slightly blurry. I don’t care for such poorly taken image. What is so wrong about reality that it has to be altered and given the highest prize in photojournalism ?

Sadly enough, we see the same intelligentsia controlling most of the major prizes worldwide and spitting out the same type of winners. These judges are all friends with each other and spend the rest of the year over analyzing images as if they where reading a Kafka novel. It has to be dark, blurry, slightly incomprehensible and borderline boring.

No wonder photojournalism is dying. Once again, the sports images of this year seem to be the real winners. Amazing images of incredible situation. The rest is dark, so dark. Not just dark subjects, but simply slightly underexposed or taken with low light. The less you see, the more you can imagine. The image is good for what is not there, so you can fill in the blanks yourself. Even the Nature category is full of blood and sadness because a happy image, according to these judges, cannot be a good image.

Lets no forget that politics, for example, has no place in the World Press. We marvel at the John F Kennedy images in the Oval office yet there is not one image of world leaders in action. Between the French election last year, the changing of guards in England and the US election, you cannot tell me there was no great images.

It is a little bit as if, outside of Africa ( Kenya, mostly), Afghanistan and Iraq, the rest of the world stood still. Or, maybe it was not favorable for a nice moody b&w panoramic Holga image. You can almost hear the judges discuss the lightness of being, quoting “The human condition”, while sipping their warm cappuccinos.” This image is so Nietzscheen, isn’t it?”

Certainly not a good year for the World Press. Even more, because, once again, they refused to acknowledge multimedia, one of the most powerful tool of today’s photojournalism. Or, in a socially driven internet, they do not have a people’s choice, where image consumers could vote.

No, they prefer to remain in photojournalism Medieval ages, taking comfort in congratulating themselves for picking the least interesting images possible as to prove there is more to photojournalism than the reporting of the news. If anything, this, and other awards of it kind, are killing photojournalism. They create the false impression that this is the standard to achieve.

If you have time to waste and have really nothing else to do, here are the winners :

World Press

PS: At least I was right about John Moore’s images who, by the way, truly deserved this prize.

Posted in mediastorm, multimedia, celebrity, magazine, lens, HOLGA, TIME, slideshow, editorial, lensbabies, photojournalism, web 2.0, news | Print | 1 Comment »

January 22, 2008 by pmelcher.

This is what you get when you mix the talent of Brian Storm and his team and the incredible dedication and eyesight of Marcus Bleasdale, new member of VII photo agency :

If only everyone had a camera…with a conscience. Like Marcus.

Posted in digg, magazine, focus, lens, mediastorm, multimedia, editorial, slideshow, wire service, photojournalism, news | Print | No Comments »

December 18, 2007 by pmelcher.

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)

Posted in idee, magazine, Canada, mediastorm, multimedia, editorial, photojournalism, news | Print | No Comments »

December 12, 2007 by pmelcher.

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

Posted in mediastorm, multimedia, Search, keyword, google | Print | No Comments »

December 3, 2007 by pmelcher.

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 own engine. Already on the path to explore other revenue streams, like music (micromusic anyone ?) and video, it is about to launch itself into the B2C Eldorado and try to reap benefits from this ever promised land. All eyes are watching the giant at its second attempt ( remember the Art.com fiasco?) to cash in on this unknown territory. Also on the near horizon, hopefully, an accelerated effort to be as strong on international market than it is in the USA. The last quarterly report showed that Getty does  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 amateurs 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 beyond. 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, and 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 unknown 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 devaluate images overall by making them so easily available ? 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 projects 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 phenix 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…

Posted in Search, google, web 2.0, multimedia, mediastorm, celebrity, Midstock, prosumer, flickr, getty, Royalty free, corbis, france, msnbc.com, editorial, Microstock | Print | No Comments »

September 25, 2007 by pmelcher.

And the  EMMY Award for DOCUMENTARY/NONFICTION PROGRAMMING FOR BROADBAND goes to :

Mediastorm.org – ““Kingsley’s Crossing,” Olivier Jobard, photographer/videographer; Brian Storm , Eric Maierson, producers.

Congratulations to Brian Storm and his team  for this prestigious and certainly deserved award. If you have not seen the fantastic multimedia produced by Mediastorm, please go now before they make you pay to see them.

Posted in mediastorm, multimedia, photojournalism, slideshow | Print | No Comments »