Photography is an act of reduction. Besides the obvious like sound, touch, smell, when we photograph, we take a conscious decision to subtract elements of reality. Framing is not so much about what to include but rather what to exclude. Everything we decide not to include in our frame is considered a distraction and non-essential. … Read More →
In light of the ongoing conversation about the issue of the nature of government photographer produced images supplanting independent photojournalists, on December 31st Dutch newspaper The Volkskrant (circ 250k) published a full page spread placing side to side images from North Korean leader Kim Jung Un and President Obama – in … Read More →
Today, or yesterday, Google made a little change to its image search engine that could have great consequences. Apparently responding to a blog post by Lessing – the leading advocate for a copyright free world- who was complaining that Bing Images search offered better functionality, Google decided to move the license search filter to the … Read More →
Instagram knows more about photography than Getty Images does. Or Corbis. Or Associated press. Or even Shutterstock. In 3 years years, it has aggregated more information about which photograph works better than the combinations of the best photo editors at any photo agency. It is not just Instagram. Flickr does too, although they might not … Read More →
During this period of the year, like many of us that write about photography, I receive many well wishes from a wide variety of photographers, photo galleries, photo agencies and pretty much anyone involved in the photography business. They all come via email mostly from people I have never communicated with in my life. Under … Read More →
Photography has established itself as a critical fiber of the human social network, transferring energy from one human being to another beyond both space and time. … Read More →
The Gods of copyright are satiated . With the recent judgement calling for AFP and Getty Images to disburse $1,2 million to Mr Morel for copyright infringement, they have been offered reverence. Or have they ? … Read More →
I organized a panel at the recent PACA ( the Digital Media Licensing Association) conference around mobile photography and image licensing. I invited 4 companies representative of what is going on in this space, in an effort to show and explain that the next major disruption in the professional image licensing world will come from your mobile … Read More →
Publications are no longer the place where photography is consumed, social media is. The so called professional market has become an infinitesimal portion of the marketplace. The big Internet companies have understood it and are waging a take no prisoners battle to control it. They want it all. They want to be the place where photographs … Read More →
The misconception of the pro photography world is that, without their content, publications, blogs, and other companies cannot be successful. They believe that they are in a position of power in an economy that is rapidly doing without them. True, a decade or plus ago, it was very hard, if not impossible, for a print … Read More →