The numbers are well known -billions of photos shared every day- and the habits well-entrenched- checking social media 40 times a day-. Every concert, every street performance, every incident, accident, spill, fall, weird dance, every anything that is out of the ordinary is filmed and photographed and immediately shared via a myriad of networked channels linked Read More →

It’s not by lack of topics ( there are many). Nor is it by lack of interest. It’s just a lack of time. Sometimes there are not enough hours in the day and if something has to be sacrificed, unfortunately, it is this blog. However, the call is sometimes too strong to ignore so here is, Read More →

Since photography is the simple process of permanently capturing light waves, it is considered a perfect tool to capture reality.  It is, at its core, no different than our eyes. Even with its known limitations ( like less periphery, less color bandwidth or less dynamic range), it has and continues to be used to capture and Read More →

Some acquisitions have far wider implications than others. While it made perfect sense for Shutterstock to acquire a company like Rex Features in order to grab a foothold in the editorial space, it was just that. A simple acquisition of content along with established corresponding sales channels. Shutterstock recent acquisition of FlashStock, however, is vastly different. When a Read More →

The world of photojournalism has changed but photojournalists do not seem to have noticed. Either schooled by tired teachers repeating the same outdated mantra to wide-eyed students or self-taught by blindly following obsolete rules, they are hitting a wall of incomprehension and misunderstanding. The result is an unhealthy combination of painful frustration and very poor reach. Change is long Read More →

Google is about to help sell the content of images found in Google Image Search without sharing a penny with anyone.  Here is how it works: Using content recognition, it will scan all images found in a Google Image search and display the matching items to users that can, in turn, purchase them. In other Read More →

For most of the 80’s and throughout the early 2000’s, the recurring motto in the stock photo industry was “It’s the content, idiot”. Key to any growth of photo agencies and successful career of any photographer was the ability to offer great content. Rule number one was to appeal to clients and crush the competition by creating upscale, high Read More →

Photos and videos are exploding online. Every day, new innovative content is capturing our attention. Marketers are taking advantage of the trend and investing in visual content. The majority of senior marketers say visual content is crucial to their business, and its importance will continue to rise in the future. But what exactly does that Read More →

An Interview with Ulf Schmidt-Funke by Stefan Hartmann for PICTORIAL Magazin 04/2016. It was – actually – a discussion about an entirely different topic. But Ulf Schmidt-Funke was just about to travel to the USA, where he planned to meet with major market players – including Reuters, New York Times and Shutterstock – on behalf Read More →