A little while back, a bunch of Englishmen ( and women) sat down around a table to discuss the state of the photo licensing industry. Organized by Alamy, recently under heavy attacks from its contributors for embarking in heavily discounted Getty-like pricing, it ended up as a white paper. A white paper is something that Read More →

It is going to be interesting to see how the market reacts to Shutterstock IPO. For once, the stock photo market will be taken out of its own little world and confronted to the business world. Also of importance, obviously, is KKR investments in Fotolia for 50 % of the company. Obviously, this is a Read More →

In a financial report hardly seen by anyone, it is mentioned that Getty Images will take a loan of $275 million in order to pay dividend to it’s shareholders. Those are well known. It is a equity firm called Hellman & Friedman . This payment will, in addition to previous ones, cover the cost the equity company Read More →

Who said there was no money to be made in photography ? Sure you could snap the first pictures of Angelina Jolie’s baby: $2 million. Or you could be the collector who recently sold a Gursky print for $5 million. But better yet, could you be the person who just sold his photography based company Read More →

Now, this is an interesting twist : This Belgium photo studio will shoot your products for free if you, in exchange, let them sell those products once the shoot is  finished. Thus, they make money not on the photo shoot but on the product they sell afterwards. Here is how it works : You are Read More →

Historically, ( we are talking pre internet here) the only two places one could find images was either at a photo agency or via a photographer. You could, of course, always check if your neighbor had any photographs you could use but chances that there would a match was very, very slim. During that time, Read More →

And you thought there was no money to be made in photography ? Well, you were wrong , there is and it doesn’t involve taking exclusive pictures of Angelina Jolie’s new twins. In fact, it looks more like it involves taking pictures of the most boring things, blowing them big and putting the whole thing Read More →

The real story behind the evolution of photography is its pauperization. In its early days, photography was for the wealthy and educated. The equipment needed was expensive and the skills involved needed formal education. Furthermore, the financial risks involved in being a photographer – variable income- meant you had to have some other resources. Even Read More →

Taking a cue from the succesful microstock model,  here is where photojournalism is heading.  It is happening under our eyes, right now and in four steps. The decline of traditional photojournalism: Nothing really new here. Rising cost of living (travel, lodging, food) has made it almost impossible for current print and web publishers to send Read More →