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 →
So the big buzz these days is all about social media. It started roughly with MySpace , followed by Flickr and now it’s all about Twitter and Facebook. A bit like the “Long Tail” theory has been improperly swallowed by a lot of photography professionals, social media is all but properly understood. It used to … Read More →
One of the hardest and most lucrative task in photography, is editing. It is hard because it is not a science with clear established rules. Trends, fashion, moods, seasons, local culture, a lot can interfere in the process of finding the best image. It is lucrative, not because it’s a profession that pays well (some, … Read More →
Who needs microstock anymore ? Thanks to a new plug in for Microsoft office, it has become child play to easily rip an image found with Google Image and include it into a presentation or word document. There are absolutely no copyright warning and nothing to advise the user that they might be breaking the … Read More →
I was looking at this video of Clay Shirky presentation to TED TV today. It’s a little long ( 17 minutes) but very informative. especially the middle part. What made me thinking is how he portrays the development of media. If you do not have the time to look at the video, here is part … Read More →
Web 2.0 and beyond is all about empowering the consumer. It is no longer a viable business to make a product and sell it. These days, you have to let your customers act upon it to make it more personal. Technology allows this and as we have seen with Nike and it’s sneakers, it is … Read More →
Getty made a huge mistake in blocking Flickr to create its own stock outlet. All they were concerned about was not allowing Flickr to become the biggest commercial stock agency overnight. So they could keep there dominance on distribution. But just imagine, if you will, if Flickr had moved ahead. Everyone and anyone could … Read More →
There is confusion in the heartland of photography…and a lot of budgeting. Today, after a few months of waiting, the legendary LIFE magazine relaunched as a website. Great idea !!. I , personally, could not wait. How great was my deception. Besides the great images of the past, all new images are just Getty and … Read More →
“But one of the — Google — I mean, the harsh way of just defining it, Google devalues everything it touches. Google is great for Google, but it’s terrible for content providers, because it divides that content quantitatively rather than qualitatively. And if you are going to get people to pay for content, you have … Read More →