The dictatorship of the wallet
Photography, like most industries affected by a center of gravity shift to digital, has experienced more than a migration from film to data packets. One of the most fundamental shifts, however, is how the decision process moved from quality of content to cost. Let me explain: For a long time, the key decision in purchasing a [...]
Corbis puts Sygma to rest
It used to be the recession. Companies would shed dead branches and blame it on the recession even if it wasn’t the real cause. But not Corbis. It missed that boat. Instead, and what irony, it blames photographers. The announcement, at the eve of a long three day week-end, of the total and complete liquidation [...]
How to get paid for free content
Everything costs something and no body wants to work for nothing. This statement of the obvious drives those disturbed by the impact of the Internet on business models for information industries. Individuals declare that they won’t give their work away, critics claim someone has to pay for content, and insiders repeat hoary old adage’s such [...]
Become who you are
You know what would be news? Something different. No, not another microstock “save the world” launch. Nor another “look, we slashed our prices so low, it’s not funny anymore”. I am sure even image buyers must be fed up of receiving another flier, email, phone call, or goddamn tweet about another discount or super low [...]
Value, not usage, to determine picture pricing
Photography is an investment. No, not the “I buy a lot of expensive equipment and resell it later” type of investment. It is an investment for the image buyer. A photograph, or a series of photographs, can increase the value of anything around it, like a multiplier. In its raw format, few images have any power. [...]
The future of search
The acquisition of Plink by Google marks the debut of a potent revolution for the photo world. Not because Plink is a special company, nor that it would mean Google really cares about the photo world, but for the technical implications. As it is frequent with Google, it is not the company they purchase, but the [...]
The future of image search
The surf wizard…the Photobot. Give a keyword to a bot, it comes back with the image. Better, enter a concept, or a description and it will surf the World Wide Web and return an image. Whether from an amateur or pro, it won’t matter, because the image matters. Like information, the image will come to [...]
The only thing to fear is…
One morning you wake up, and it’s facing you; everything that you took for granted and that has made your life so comfortable is suddenly gone, probably forever. Welcome to the economy of fear. What used to be a cosy job, where every day brought you a new batch of interesting challenges, has now been replaced [...]
Is art made by a machine still art?
Photography has a long way to go. Compared to other digitized creative forms, like music, it is light years behind. And, for once, that could be a good thing. Like the youngest brother of a family, it can learn from its elders. For once, it has not yet been touched, at full impact, by the [...]
Of orphans and unhappy faces
In the footsteps of the United States senate, the UK House of Lords is about to pass a law regarding Orphan Works . The UK law is very similar to the US one, apart from a few key elements. Similar to the US, it’s unclear what defines a reasonable search (editor: For a rights holder) and [...]
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