http://www.abouttheimage.com/ news for the stock photography industry en brent@abouttheimage.com Copyright 2008 2008-09-05T14:19:00-05:00 http://www.abouttheimage.com/3882/a21s_artselect_launches_posters_etc_college_students/author2 http://www.abouttheimage.com/a21s_artselect_launches_posters_etc_college_students/#When:13:19:00Z a21, Inc. (OTCBB:ATWO), owner of the stock photo business Superstock and the framed art supplier ArtSelect, has launched a new poster site called PostersEtc.com iwith a focus on wall art intended to appeal to college students looking to decorate their dorms. “ArtSelect.com has been providing home decorators with high-quality custom-framed art prints and wall decor for over a decade now,” says Bruce Slywka, General Manager at ArtSelect. “Now, we are expanding our reach into this growing market by introducing a new site with a little more attitude.” PostersEtc.com is focused on offering reasonably priced art prints or posters that reflect current fads and popular trends. With street-smart graphics and content, the new site offers over 50,000 images in all categories, from Music, TV and Movie posters to Novelty Art, Black & White Photography and Vintage Art. Web:  www.PostersEtc.com - www.artselect.com - www.a21group.com A21 Group, News, Stock Photo Companies 2008-09-05T13:19:00-05:00 http://www.abouttheimage.com/3883/1st_annual_visual_culture_awards_extends_call_for_entries/author2 http://www.abouttheimage.com/1st_annual_visual_culture_awards_extends_call_for_entries/#When:09:56:00Z A new international photography competition has been launched in Charleston, SC called the Visual Culture Awards. Founded by Mikayla Mackaness, she explains that “The Visual Culture Awards is not moneymaking: this competition has been created for the sole purpose of encouraging and supporting visual makers in cross-cultural communications”. Awards will be offered in nearly 20 unique categories including Pictorial, Environmental Portrait, Photographic Story, Architectural, Nature, Multimedia, Sports, Self-portrait, and many more.  Winners will prizes valued up to $1000 or more and a host of other benefits including an exhibition of their work at the Chareston Center of Photography and the opportunity to be featured on abouttheimage.com. The Visual Culture Awards are predicting to have over 1000 applicants from a dozen nations within Asia, Europe, the Middle East, Australia, Oceania and the Americas and hundreds of daily website visitors as the winners will be announced and displayed in an online gallery. Web: www.visualcultureawards.com News, Photographers 2008-09-05T09:56:00-05:00 http://www.abouttheimage.com/3879/jupiter_combines_photos_com_micropayment_stockxpert_subscription/author2 http://www.abouttheimage.com/jupiter_combines_photos_com_micropayment_stockxpert_subscription/#When:12:27:00Z Touting that it is now offering the best of both worlds in a single subscription. Jupiterimages, a division of Jupitermedia Corporation (Nasdaq: JUPM), has announced that it is now offering a single subscription product that incorporates the Photos.com collection of more than 360,000 professional images and the Stockxpert collection of more than 1.3 million micropayment images into a single subscription product. The new service will be branded as Photos.com Plus and Subscriptions are available for one month, three month and one year terms (limited to 750 images per month) with monthly subscriptions starting at $249.95. “Photos.com was first to market with a royalty-free stock photo subscription in 2003. Photos.com Plus now offers another first: the seamless combination of microstock content and professionally produced content in a single subscription,” stated Alan M. Meckler, Chairman and CEO of Jupitermedia Corporation. “This is a groundbreaking combination delivering greater convenience to creative professionals.” Web: www.jupitermedia.com - www.photos.com - Click here to view featured image. Micropayment Stock Photography, News, Stock Art Buyers, Stock Photo Companies 2008-09-04T12:27:00-05:00 http://www.abouttheimage.com/3880/the_medical_file_launches_royalty_free_collection_assignment_division/author2 http://www.abouttheimage.com/the_medical_file_launches_royalty_free_collection_assignment_division/#When:11:29:00Z The Medical File, a rights-managed (RM) stock licensing company founded by industry veteran Barbara Gottlieb specializing in medical imagery, has announced that the business is growing in two unique directions with the launch of a royalty-free (RF) image collection and an assignment photography division. According to Gottlieb, “we have made these additions to be able to supply all the forms of medical imagery our clients are looking for: Illustration and Photography; Color and Black and White; 1, 2 or 3 Dimensional and Animation; Stock and Assignment”. The company has stated that it will be offering its RF collection along with its extensive RM archive on its website with a comprehensive offering of medical images including Drugs/Pharmaceuticals, Examinations, Handicapped, Home Health Care, Hospitals, Labs, Micrograms, Patients and Surgery, Etc. In the event that you cannot find what you are looking for, the company also features the portfolios of key contributing photographers on its homepage and with it’s new assignment division is fully capable of helping you produce imagery to your exact specifications. Web: www.themedicalfile.com - Click here to view featured image. News, Stock Art Buyers, Stock Photo Companies 2008-09-04T11:29:00-05:00 http://www.abouttheimage.com/3881/digital_railroad_partners_with_qualex_to_offer_print_fulfillment/author2 http://www.abouttheimage.com/digital_railroad_partners_with_qualex_to_offer_print_fulfillment/#When:09:31:00Z Digital Railroad, a leading provider of online archiving and marketing services to professional photographers, has announced that it has partnered with Qualex, a wholly owned subsidiary of Eastman Kodak, to allow contributing photographers to offer prints and print-related products utilizing the images currently available in the members Digital Railroad archive. Through the Qualex fulfillment service member photographers will have the opportunity to generate additional revenue from each image with terms where the photographer will receive up to 90% of the gross sale price, less the product fee (a fee meant to cover the cost of production and fulfillment). “Digital Railroad, as a leading e-commerce platform for professional photographers, is an ideal partner for our company,” said David Glover, Qualex Vice President of Business and Product Development. “Given our vast product portfolio of custom print-on-demand products, Digital Railroad photographers will receive the highest quality of photo reproduction over a broad range of product categories. With our network of manufacturing facilities in the US and Canada, Qualex has the capacity to meet high-demand levels and ensure timely delivery of finished work.” “Given the exacting requirements of professional photographers, it was vital to select a partner with quality standards that meet and exceed the expectations of our members,” said DRR CEO Charles Mauzy. “In Qualex, we’ve found a partner who shares our members’ passion for delivering the highest quality possible to their customers and has developed the technology and services to consistently deliver a superior product.” Web: www.qualexjobs.com - www.drr.net - Click here to view featured image. News, Photographers, Stock Art Buyers 2008-09-04T09:31:00-05:00 http://www.abouttheimage.com/3875/photolibrary_age_fotostock_sign_stock_photography_distribution_agreement/author2 http://www.abouttheimage.com/photolibrary_age_fotostock_sign_stock_photography_distribution_agreement/#When:12:09:00Z Photolibrary, one of the leading independent global stock licensing companies, has announced that it has signed a distribution agreement with AGE FotoStock to represent its entire collection of more than 5000,000 rights managed and royalty free images in the United Kingdom, United States, Australia, Asia and the Middle East. In addition, AGE Fotostock will represent content from Photolibrary on a global basis through its offices in Barcelona, Madrid, New York, and Paris and globally through AGE’s THP channel partners. “This latest representation agreement illustrates Photolibrary’s commitment to representing the very best rights managed imagery available, thus continuing our key offer of creative excellence for users of http://www.photolibrary.com” remarked Glenn Parker, Photolibrary Group CEO. Alfonso Gutierrez, General Manager of AGE FotoStock, says, “Nowadays everything is about distribution in our business. Pricing is related to the level of the offer in any market or industry and therefore somewhat unpredictable.  However, while distribution is key in any business it is especially important in stock photography.  The more people that see your images, the more possibilities you have to sell them at market price. This agreement with the excellent distribution network of Photolibrary achieves our goal of increasing the visibility of our images to many more clients still and in many more countries around the world as well.” Web: www.photolibrary.com - www.agefotostock.com - Click here to view featured image. News, Stock Photo Companies 2008-09-03T12:09:00-05:00 http://www.abouttheimage.com/3877/latin_stock_launches_royalty_free_stock_photography_collection/author2 http://www.abouttheimage.com/latin_stock_launches_royalty_free_stock_photography_collection/#When:11:12:00Z Latin Stock, a stock licensing company with more than 20 years experience in image distribution in Central and South America has finally made the leap into the production side of the business with the launch of a new Royaly-Free (RF) image collection offered for non-exclusive distribution through a network of global partnerships.  The company touts an innovative approach has allowed them to produce a unique collection of more than 3,500 images with 100% of the collection produced in LatinAmerica, with Latin models, Latin photographers in authentic Latin settings. The images will be offered at prices starting at US $49 for web resolution US $129 for lo-res files. The company officially introduced the new collection in Malta last June 2008, at the CEPIC Congress. Leading the effort is Distribution Manager Matt Stetson, who claims that the collection is already represented by over 40 leading picture agencies in different regions but is still actively seeking new distributors interested in the collection. Web: www.latinstock.com - Click here to view featured image. News, Stock Art Buyers, Stock Photo Companies 2008-09-03T11:12:00-05:00 http://www.abouttheimage.com/3876/peter_arnold_launches_royalty_free_stock_photo_collection/author2 http://www.abouttheimage.com/peter_arnold_launches_royalty_free_stock_photo_collection/#When:09:11:00Z Peter Arnold Inc. a specialty library from NYC featuring an eclectic collection of Medical, Nature, and Science imagery, has announced that it has just launched a Royalty Free (RF) image collection. The images can be licensed online and download in file sizes ranging from 1 to 50 Megabytes.  The Royalty Free line will complement the more than half million images already available for Rights Managed licensing. Web: www.peterarnold.com - Click here to view featured image. News, Stock Art Buyers, Stock Photo Companies 2008-09-03T09:11:00-05:00 http://www.abouttheimage.com/3873/new_approach_from_down_under_affordable_stock_photography_com/author3 http://www.abouttheimage.com/new_approach_from_down_under_affordable_stock_photography_com/#When:11:42:00Z While reporting on an industry rife with new business models, we’re always on the look-out for new approaches to the business of selling and marketing stock photos.  Photographer David Ewing of Melbourne, Australia, has recently taken over a small on-line stock photo agency which offers a slight variation on the standard way of marketing of royalty free stock photography: he offers the images at only one, medium file size.  Contributing photographers set their own prices for their images.  Ewing began as a principal contributor to the agency called Affordable Stock Photography (ASP) originally founded in 2003 by a US (Texas) search engine optimization company called Subia Creative. He assumed control of the business when Subia decided to exit the stock photo business, earlier this year. Ewing says the one-size offering makes ASP’s web-site easier for his clients to use. “My site takes out the unnecessary options of small medium and large,” Ewing says. “If a client requires a larger file then they are welcome to contact the site and we can fulfill this requirement with a large file.  Our size images are perfect for web and print set at a price that each contributing photographer or agency feels appropriate for their collection.  Making the site automatically dispatch purchased images to the buyer makes it an easy site to shop at and this usability keeps the customers happy and returning.”Ewing admits the image database on the site is still quite small, numbering less than 75,000 images from four supplier companies and 24 individual photographers.  He seeks other contributor partners to help build the archive.Web-site: Affordable-Stock-Photography.com - Click here to view featured image. Micropayment Stock Photography, News, Stock Photo Companies 2008-09-02T11:42:00-05:00 http://www.abouttheimage.com/3874/mary_evans_now_representing_castle_howard_image_collection/author2 http://www.abouttheimage.com/mary_evans_now_representing_castle_howard_image_collection/#When:09:29:00Z Mary Evans Picture Library, a specialty library from the UK featuring historical images, has announced that it has signed a deal to be the exclusive global licensing agent for the official image collection of Castle Howard in Yorkshire. Castle Howard is one of Britain’s finest and best-loved stately homes. The construction of Castle Howard took more than 100 years before it could be said to have been finally completed, and spanned the lifetime of three earls and numerous architects and craftsmen. Castle Howard, known to film buffs as the fictional Brideshead in Evelyn Waugh’s “Brideshead Revisited”. “Castle Howard is not only a landmark synonymous with history, art and culture,” says Paul Brown, Managing Director of Mary Evans, “but it is also one familiar to many because of its continuing association with “Brideshead Revisited”. With a new feature film out this autumn we’re sure that Castle Howard will be in the spotlight once more. However, as a picture library, we’re particularly proud to be working behind the scenes to bring this prestigious but relatively undiscovered collection to light, and in the process offer our clients such a superb, historically significant set of pictures.” The collection, which is being scanned and photographed by Mary Evans on an ongoing basis, includes treasures from this Yorkshire landmark’s superb interior and archive. The core of the picture collection was built up by the 3rd, 4th and 5th Earls during the 18th century, notably during their travels in Italy on the Grand Tour. Although some of the works were later sold, or destroyed by fire in 1940, valuable later additions were made by George, 9th Earl of Carlisle, the last with this title to live at Castle Howard. Web: www.maryevans.com - www.castlehoward.co.uk News, Stock Art Buyers, Stock Photo Companies 2008-09-02T09:29:00-05:00