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 →

We often hire photographers at PictureGroup for shoots all over the United States. In order to find the appropriate ones, we use a combination of tools. Our number one remains recommendations. To us, there is nothing more valuable then when an editor, or another photographer that we like and trust recommends another photographer. There is 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 →

We hadn’t heard from the PLUS coalition for a while. This loose organization of visual professional who has been tediously trying to create a standard for licensing has suddenly burst out of its silence with two important announcements: 1) The ASMP has dug into its $1,3 Million  fund it had received last year ( we Read More →

If you have a few precious minute to throw away today , you HAVE to visit http://www.livinggalapagos.org/. A school project from the University of North Carolina, it is an amazing multimedia reminiscent of MediaStorm’s Kingsley’s Crossing by Olivier Jobard. It is refreshing to see young photojournalist taking the current tools of reporting and putting all 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, as it reaches $200 million dollars a year in revenue, Istockphoto is pushing the production of stock photography to its rim. The traditionally strong categories for stock imagery, like Lifestyle, Health, Parenthood, Teens, Green, Business are all being more than very well covered by the astute production of 100,000’s very smart microstock producers. For Read More →

20 minutes to better understand what my earlier post was about. Chimamanda Adichietalks about literature but photography is as much a guilty member of this . We should no longer be the instruments of intellectual colonization. Next time you embark on a photo shoot, think of where your story will fit in the perception of Read More →