A little bird told me

June 29, 2010 by pmelcher.

You gotta to work with facts. Opinions are good for cocktail parties and useless , endless conversation; facts are good for business. In the last year or so there has been an emergence of Social Media “specialist” popping up here and there arguing breathlessly on the magic wonders of using social media to make your business grow.

There is no success story right now proving that either Twitter or Facebook will indeed help you grow your business. Inversely, there is no failure stories either of anyone going bankrupt because of them.Yet, these self proclaims gurus that have way to much time on their hands think they have discovered the path to the new El Dorado of the photo industry. If you Tweet right, they proclaim, you will be extremely successful. Ok then, let’s take a look.

There is a cool site called Wefollow.com that shows how many followers a Tweeter based on the keywords they have. So we looked at #photography :

If we cancel the photo sites like The Creative Review or ID Magazine who are clearly not in the business of getting assignments or selling stock images, the first individual who tops the list is this guy : David Malby with 103,591 followers. He seems to have tweeted recently about the speed of a sneeze and seems to have a local radio show..mmm, ok, let’s go to number 2 .

With 93, 380 followers, TheBigKlosowski is Denver based photographer that does wedding. Seems his tweets are all over the place ( “All salad is better with steak on it.”) and not really photo related. Besides trying to sell his old gear, there is no evidence of him making any income from his tweets. Doubtful that any soon to be married couple care about his love of steak.

Nunber 3 Tony Mandarich ( 87, 163 followers ) seems to sell a SEO service business more than his photography skills. His Tweets are also a mix bags of Penny stocks obsession and links back to his SEO blog..

We are not having a lot of success here, are we ? we could go on and on down the list, jumping from Iphone lovers to gadgets junkies but no real photography junkies. The only ones close are those that offer tips and tricks and how to ’s.

Sure, if you like to caress your ego by counting how many no lifers have decided to follow your every brain burps, go Tweet. If you need to run a business, I would really avoid it. It is not photo friendly at all as the best you can offer is a link to images. Do people looking for photographers and photography go on tweeter.? No. It would be the last place they would go. There are more people using Craiglist to find photo service than on Tweeter. Except Craig’s List is not that cool anymore, so the Gurus won’t talk about it.

They say you need a plan so you can track your success. But will not tell you what plan would that be, because they don’t know themselves.

The problem with social media/web 2.0 these days is that everyone thinks he/she is a specialist because no one is.  They try to sell you their services without having a clue. As long as you are ready to listen, they are ready to talk. They have time on their hands, you don’t.

So here’s an idea ( for free). Don’t do tweeter for business, do it for fun. If it brings you business, good; if it doesn’t, well, at least your having fun. Whatever you do however, don’t listen to social media gurus or specialists : if they were that good, they would be making money with their tweets.

Posted in license, technology, commercial stock, Search, web 2.0, editorial, finance, Uncategorized | Print | 1 Comment »

Corbis Sygma files for Liquidation

May 21, 2010 by pmelcher.

According to an article in the French press, the subsidiary of Corbis, Sygma, has just filed for bankrupcy protection.

“I am unable to pay my creditors,” said Stefan Biberfeld, director of Sygma, which was founded in 1973 and was purchased in 1999 by the American company Corbis, owned by Bill Gates personally.

The reason  (something we wrote about here a while back) :  Sygma was found guilty of losing original images  of photographer Dominique Aubert and fined 1.5 million Euros ( about $2 million Dollars) . The company had then its property, equipment and bank account seized by  the French Justice.

Apparently a bankruptcy would not work as any buyer  would  also be face with the same fines and possibly more brought forth by other photographers .

“Our tax debts  have risen to 73 millions in the last 10 years and we have lost 2 millions Euros just in 1999″ continues the manager. 29 full time employees currently working at Sygma risk losing their jobs and the destiny of millions of images is unknown. Corbis had just recently spend a huge amount of money to relocate the Sygma in a safe and climate controlled facility just outside of Paris.

Obviously, Corbis  has decided not to protect it’s company and decided, probably after crushing numbers, that it was no longer worth it. While it won a judgment against Chris Usher for losing thousands of his negatives and paying back a ridiculous $7 per image,it couldn’t do anything against the French legislation that is more pro photographer (and certainly more against big American businesses)

More on the fate of Sygma will be known at next Tuesday’s hearing.

Posted in finance, photojournalism, copyright, celebrity, transaction, editorial, corbis, news, law, france, Uncategorized | Print | No Comments »

Photo organizations sue Google

April 7, 2010 by pmelcher.

American Society of Media Photographers, the Graphic Artists Guild, the Picture Archive Council of America, the North American Nature Photography Association, Professional Photographers of America, photographers Leif Skoogfors, Al Satterwhite, Morton Beebe, Ed Kashi and illustrators John Schmelzer and Simms Taback  have filed a class action suite against Google, not only for their rights Grabbing Google project but also for other of Google’s mistreatment of photography’s right. This is great news a first worldwide.

The “do no evil” company has been scanning millions of books and magazine to repurchase them for online usage ( including paid) without even asking for copyright clearance from photogrpaher over content. Millions of images are thus available or will be available online without anyone paying an additional license fee, required for such usage.

This class action will reopen the doors to the fame  11 year long legal action of  Greenberg VS National Geographic that terminated when the Supreme Court denied Greenberg’s petition for a writ of certiorari, which lets stand the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decision holding that the National Geographic Society – and by extension, other publishers – have the right to reproduce their magazines’ archive in digital format without paying any additional royalties to freelance photographers.

Certainly this judgment will be used by Google to obtain clearance to  continue their trampling of copyright, thus they are not the original publishers.

Obviously, nothing will be resolved quickly but it is the right step in the right direction. One question is, will this group have enough money to pursue this legal battle ? Will this push publishers to use more Royalty Free image as to avoid such issue? Will this impact what publishers are currently doing with reproducing their print publication for Ipad without paying any additional license fees?

More details on the legal move here.

Posted in copyright, magazine, technology, google, web 2.0, law, finance, Uncategorized | Print | 1 Comment »

Image Search : The Future

April 5, 2010 by pmelcher.

The surf wizard. the Photo bot. Give a keyword to a bot, it comes back with the image. Better, enter a concept, or a description. it will then surf the whole wide web and return with an image. Whether from an amateur or pro, it won’t matter. Because the image matters. Like information, the image will come to you, instead of you having to got to the image. That is the future of image search.

If you are not in a rush, it could scout for days, weeks, waiting for the perfect image. It could even us knowledge base intelligence to return the exact photograph, based on thousands, millions, gazillions of queries and rejects/approvals.   It would be hard not to find the right image anymore, extremely hard.

Sure, it could use similar search, as well of graphical input. The technology exists already, it just has not been out in place.  The reason is that technology would not be profitable for anyone but a geek who could care about revenue.

Just imagine : You send a email with a photo description, and like a dog, it comes back with the right image. All you would have to do is license it properly and your done. No more webs browsing in multiple password protected photo collection, no more spending hours on Flickr, Google images or others looking at irrelevant images. You would continue your work as the bot would do the search for you.

It shouldn’t be long before we see this, or very similar product.

Posted in license, focus, technology, commercial stock, Search, keyword, filter, flickr, google, Uncategorized | Print | No Comments »

Time to take a stand

March 16, 2010 by pmelcher.

Dear Copyright Advocates,

The Obama Administration is asking to hear from YOU, the creative backbone of our country, about how intellectual property infringement affects YOUR livelihood. The Administration is also seeking advice on what the government could be doing to better protect the rights of artists and creators in our country.

  HERE’S A CHANCE FOR YOU TO BE HEARD!

BACKGROUND:

Last year President Obama appointed and the U.S. Senate confirmed Victoria Espinel to be the first U.S. Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator. Her job is “to help protect the creativity of the American public” by coordinating with all the federal agencies that fight the infringement of intellectual property, which includes creating and selling counterfeit goods; pirating video games, music, and books; and infringing upon the many other creative works that are produced by artists in this country.

As you know, the unauthorized copying, sale, and distribution of artists’ intellectual property directly impacts the ability of artists and creators to control the use of their own creativity, not to mention their ability to receive income they have earned from their labor. This impacts U.S. employment and the economy, and our ability to globally compete.

As required by an Act of Congress (The PRO‐IP Act of 2008), Ms. Espinel and her White House team are preparing a Joint Strategic Plan that will include YOUR FEEDBACK on the costs and risks that intellectual property infringement has on the American public.

Here’s how to make yourself heard!

 

1. Send an email to Ms. Espinel and the Obama Administration: intellectualproperty@omb.eop.gov and copy the Copyright Alliance on your email: info@copyrightalliance.org

2. Begin your letter with “The Copyright Alliance has informed me of this welcome invitation from the Obama Administration to share my thoughts on my rights as a creator.”

3. Include in your email: your story, why intellectual property rights are important to you, how piracy and infringement affect you, and what the U.S. government can do to better protect the rights of creative Americans.

4. Also include in your email: your name, city, state, and what type of artist you are 5. DO NOT include any personal or private information as all comments will be posted publically

on the White House website. All comments must be submitted by Wednesday, March 24 by 5:00 p.m. EST.

Don’t be shy! Take two minutes today to make your voice heard, and don’t forget to spread the word to everyone you know. Forward this notice using this short URL ‐ http://bit.ly/cjDZJt ‐ by email, MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, and more!

Best,

Lucinda Dugger

Posted in license, copyright, technology, google, web 2.0, news, law, Uncategorized | Print | No Comments »

Tilt shift and Time Lapse

January 27, 2009 by pmelcher.

Watch it full screen. very cool :Metal Heart from Keith Loutit on Vimeo.Also, this one, from Israeli photographer Eyal Landesman.

Posted in Uncategorized | Print | 1 Comment »

Mind you

June 6, 2008 by pmelcher.

Great gallery from MSNBC.com this week. Drop by and enjoy if you have time  : Photos of the week

Posted in Uncategorized | Print | No Comments »

Citizen photojournalism richer than most agencies

July 31, 2007 by pmelcher.

NowPublic, a Community driven web 2.0 Canadian website has scored $10.6 million in funding in the hope of becoming successful. If a traditional photo agency, with an existing and proven business model, with photographers under contract would try to get such funding, they would be escorted out the door while hearing laugher in the background.

So what makes NowPublic so special ? Or any other Crowdsourcing powered site so special to investors ? well, part of it is the free labor. In the case of NowPublic it is unclear what percentage they will offer if and when they license an image. Images seems to be held in the Flickr happy Creative Common arena right now. Maybe those “news ” photographers will be happy just to see their credit, and why shouldn’t they ? Or license via AP, as NowPublic offers as an option. But then, why send your valuable images to NowPublic when you could send them directly to AP and cut the middle man ?
What amazes me is that publishing news images taken by amateurs is as old as the photo agencies business. It is called “pick up” in English, and “recup” in French. What everyone seems to forget about the now infamous London bombing images is that, if wasn’t for the professional photo agencies that licensed them, no one might have seen them. It is one thing to get an image, it is a whole different world to know how to license it.

Even NowPublic, who has a licensing deal with AP, knows that.

But no one ever thought of making “pick ups” their unique revenue stream, and for a good reason. Events of a magnitude big enough to justify hunting down an amateur for coverage are rare and few. Certainly not enough to run a business.

Photo agencies have been aware of this for a long, long time and thus have paid professionals to cover the more regular news. Apparently this information has not hit Canada, nor some venture Capitalist. However, the fact that they can sell the company to a Getty or a Corbis as did Scoopt.com could be the motivation behind the investment.

Once again we see the continuing trend of building a website where everyone can participate, make a lot of marketing noise, get some venture money and hopefully sell it to someone before it crashes: that is Web 2.0.

Photography is a prime target since Yahoo bought Flickr. It is also very easy to set up and operate. There is plenty of freeware that makes it cheap and available to anyone.

I suggest the next multi million dollar user generated, community driven platform should be one where users can exchange images of cows.

NowPublic article

Posted in flickr, corbis, getty, Uncategorized | Print | 1 Comment »

The Beautiful Kingdom of Photography

July 24, 2007 by pmelcher.

“community driven” is another word for free labor. What was once a nice idea for online collaboration between designers, post and use images from each other, has become, thanks to the whole Web 2.0 false aura of mutual benefaction, a form of workers abuse.

While the business world is trying hard to find ways for their workers to have more say, control and protection from their companies, Web 2.0 and their photographic association, microstock, are doing quite the opposite. At 20% to 40%, at the most, on images selling on average for $2.50 a piece, with absolutely no job security, the only winners are the new robber barons of the photography industry.

Sure you hear stories of housewives liberated from the constraints of their horrible cheap husbands making in the $100,000 of dollars a year. At 30%, the company makes $300,000 of pure, unaltered, organic and fat free benefit. Considering the low cost of bringing these images to market, as everything as automated as possible, the profits are extremely high. Isn’t the idea of community to share EQUALLY ?
If a company were to do the same to its workers, even its free lancers, especially in Europe where the social laws are stronger, we would have a revolution in our hands. And for a good reason. It is no big surprise that these so called community sites flourish in the United States where social laws are almost inexistent.

The real question for these businesses, relying on user interaction is how long will the users will be willing to play the game. After all, would you start a car factory where workers come when and wherever they want to ? Sure you would pay them less, but what happens if no one shows up ? Once the novelty of making a few bucks a month out of a pass time dies down, where will these micro stock companies will go for images?

Granted, the ones now owned by big publicly or not held companies can also be a trash can for existing images ( ie Getty, Corbis) . Others will have to increase their compensation plan if they really want to remain freshly fed with new images. Because $100 a month, even for housewives, as we are taught to believe, is not enough to feed a family. And they spend almost as much time as a pro to deliver images.

Or international worker legislation might interfere, especially in Europe, as they start smelling a quite rotten fish in the beautiful kingdom of photography. In France, for example, a photo agency is required to pay social security for every free lancer that submits images, out of their commission. A company like Fotolia, created in France, probably gets away without paying by declaring itself a software company. How long before other photo agencies scream unfair competition and drag them, and other microstock companies, into court. Both Corbis and Getty images have offices in France too.

We are in the medieval ages of photography, after all, with its serfs and lords. And we are living the same worker’s abuse that we had thought our civilized western world had abolished.

Posted in Royalty free, Microstock, Uncategorized | Print | 9 Comments »

New google news

June 27, 2007 by pmelcher.

While most of the photo community seems to have been trapped in the launch of Corbis ‘ microstock extension like a deer into headlights ( did anyone asked them how much it cost to launch? another $500 million ?), while others find it funny and amusing when people explicitly steal images for monetary gain ( freedom of speech should NEVER be confused with freedom to steal images), Google unveiled yet another product with a soft launch.

It is a sort of news photo portal, where images take a large part (half) of the page. You can now read headlines by selecting an image you like. It is a very interesting approach, as it clearly puts photography at the same level as text. The very first impression one gets is that of the poor quality of images used to illustrate stories.

What would be captivating, however, would be to see the percentage of stories that are read because of the images rather than the headlines. If it is a majority then maybe news outlets will finally put some more effort in selecting compelling images.

see it for yourself here

Google News

Posted in Uncategorized | Print | 1 Comment »