When smart people are combined with top end technology, something magical happens. Spiderpic is such an example. Brainchild of Ginipic, who had already launched a multiple database desktop application, Spiderpic is not only an image search portal but also serves as a price comparison site. To top it all, it is very simple to use Read More →

Let’s review. Up to now, USG, or User Generated  Content, has dramatically and irrevocably changed the Commercial stock photography landscape. It has brought it down to a commodity by not only bringing the prices down to, well, the prices of a commodity, by making it even more widely and easily available ( no need to call a bored Read More →

It’s all about connection. Remenber, when you were a kid, people use to gather around a print photograph and talk about it. They would also want a copy and travel with it and show it to other people. In a way, photography was one of the first social networking hub. Because of its highly physical Read More →

There is more to the story than just numbers. Much, much more. And the official media ignores it. But what the photo industry is currently experiencing is much, much more than just a few layoff. What we are seeing is the disappearance of  knowledge. Most of the photo editors being let go from magazines, newspapers, Read More →

Is creativity limitless? Can we go on and on creating new pictures that have never been seen or are we going to reach a point where we will start going into circles and re-shooting the same things over and over again? Is there a point where nothing will be new ? Creativity is the lifeblood Read More →

The current photo industry and newcomers apply a completely flawed logic to licensing images. It is too often believed that if an image is largely seen, it will be licensed. The thinking come from primeval logic. It goes like this: – if an image is not seen, it will never be sold. (which is a Read More →

Getty Images advertising on Splash News photo agency’s blog today. Is this the result of blind advertising or a sign of things to come ? Unrelated : amusing that Getty would use “Small is powerful” as a slogan considering who they are.

One of the premises for the acquisition by Getty images of Istockphoto was that customers of the microstock site would eventually migrate to the higher priced imagery placed on the Getty images site. Instead, it has been a growing cannibalization of high end, full price paying customers to the micro priced site. From the 8% Read More →

It is not what you photograph that matters anymore, it is how you photograph it. It used to be that cameras, processing,  access and mostly distribution was the privilege of a few, all nicely rewarded by a comfortable income. This closed “Boy’s Club” had many high level entry barriers . Not so much. Cameras have Read More →

While everyone is searching for what commercial stock might become in the future, the Chinese might have one solution and it is quite revolutionary. Researchers from TNList, Department of Computer Science and Technology, Tsinghua University along with a Singapore based researcher, have put together Photosketcher, previously called Sketch2Photo. The principle is quite simple : you Read More →