tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-149907092009-10-29T20:45:58.950-04:00A Business Oriented Blog for Professional PhotographersWiki Pro Photo Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08019442312253874552noreply@blogger.comBlogger198125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14990709.post-44134854532603393342009-07-06T21:46:00.010-04:002009-07-06T22:13:41.611-04:00

Everywhere you look, someone is reviewing one or two books on Free or Freemium. Even today’s NY Times has a rather negative review of 2 books on the topic.But to be honest, the “FREE” debate for professional photographers is just a diversion from the important topic of who is actually shaping the market and how they are doing it. You see no discussion about some very subtle changes that will

Wiki Pro Photo Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08019442312253874552noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14990709.post-71657760954364998112009-06-25T21:45:00.008-04:002009-07-06T22:14:32.421-04:00

Google wants to publish your images and make revenue from the uploads*. Your share: nothing.Orphan Works is back again and it doesn’t look any better for photographers.A building falls down in Brooklyn and the NY Times reports it. In their online report there are photos crediting Google's Street View for a photo of the building and crowd-sourced images and videos. No professional

Wiki Pro Photo Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08019442312253874552noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14990709.post-1209832773481871372009-06-23T15:33:00.004-04:002009-07-06T22:15:43.636-04:00

The NY Times has a new blog directed to small business people. In today's post there was a statement from a small business owner: I’m an artist. I want somebody else to do that stuff.The author's response to that statement was: "There’s a word for people who get to take that attitude; the word is employee."There's too much going on out there. It's time to continue the discussion of the business

Wiki Pro Photo Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08019442312253874552noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14990709.post-36375767216406895482009-06-10T14:38:00.002-04:002009-06-10T14:40:11.905-04:00

By now you've probably all seen photos of the 20" by 24" Polaroid Camera. Some of you have also seen the actual Polaroid photos with the unbelievable detail that they display.  Below is my portrait of a young John Reuter, director and "Keeper of the 20x24 Flame."But here are some shots you've probably never seen.  An ad that features a bald guy and a gorgeous model's photo. This was 1980, well

Wiki Pro Photo Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08019442312253874552noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14990709.post-43855887681429069512009-06-03T06:44:00.003-04:002009-06-03T07:01:27.974-04:00

The 40" x 80" Polaroid camera was basically a room with a hole in it for a lens and a large vacuum easel, inside the room, on the other side of the lens.  There was one built in Boston's Museum of Fine Arts. Others were built around the world, on the fly, with the "room" usually created out of rolls of black vinyl supported by scaffolding.The photos here were shot by me in Boston's  MFA.The photo

Wiki Pro Photo Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08019442312253874552noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14990709.post-73722176033397212822009-06-01T22:00:00.006-04:002009-06-03T06:47:28.649-04:00

Not theirs, but mine.  With all the talk about the death of the company, the film and the folks at The Impossible Project trying to reinvent the film, I went into my deep archives for today's "Show and Tell."  Polaroid was one of my first, and one of my best, photo gigs. John Reuter, Rogier Gregoire and I started Polaroid’s “20 by 24” studio.  After that, I did some internal and PR photography

Wiki Pro Photo Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08019442312253874552noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14990709.post-17391921805637018312008-12-01T10:08:00.010-05:002008-12-01T10:46:53.517-05:00

Now that imagery is readily available on the web, there seems to be a flood of new business models based on re-using your images, without your permission. We last brought this up last March here.Here are three of the new, more popular, social network image "sharing" sites:FFFFound where you can "Find, bookmark and share your favorite images !!FFFFOUND! is a web service that not only allows the

Wiki Pro Photo Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08019442312253874552noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14990709.post-12355682659538572532008-11-20T19:37:00.010-05:002008-11-20T20:01:21.603-05:00

Some companies seem able to create new business models by signing up with Google for licensing, distribution or taking revenues from image search results.Google is now hosting the Life Magazine photo archives and has set up a system where you can order any prints of those images, with fulfillment through the social commerce site: qoop.com.Want this Dorothea Lange photo framed for your wall? A 15

Wiki Pro Photo Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08019442312253874552noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14990709.post-72469528408776132062008-11-02T21:25:00.052-05:002008-11-03T21:41:19.175-05:00

Several years ago some of us warned that mega-companies were building web communities out of blatant infringements of our photos. I detailed it here. We also pointed out that Google was becoming the largest source of imagery on the planet (See: It’s all about Google now . . .).I brought it to the attention of the leadership of the American Society of Media Photographers about 3 years ago. They

Wiki Pro Photo Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08019442312253874552noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14990709.post-21525308883337069032008-04-16T08:24:00.014-04:002008-04-16T09:03:05.255-04:00

So you know all those childhood stories of the Genie granting 3 wishes. The person picks the first 2 wishes, but they are delivered with such extremes that the third wish is to return everything to the way it was.PicScout, a company that is offering an Internet based, image recognition and copyright enforcement system for photographers, has teamed up with Image Source, a London based independent

Wiki Pro Photo Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08019442312253874552noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14990709.post-69592222938788745332008-03-30T21:06:00.010-04:002008-04-01T16:24:58.193-04:00

Paid Content has an interesting article about the Getty Images sale and purchase. Back in September, Goldman Sachs made a presentation to the Getty board. After Goldman Sachs realized that companies like Adobe were not interested in bidding, they started looking for private equity solutions.One interesting graphic from the SEC filing is this chart showing the projected revenue streams over

Wiki Pro Photo Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08019442312253874552noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14990709.post-62122397703074872022008-03-23T22:23:00.003-04:002008-03-23T22:29:30.235-04:00

So here’s how this train wreck of Orphan Works legislation is shaping up. For reasons that escape me, photographers are effectively seceding their rights to any potential royalties from web portals like MySpace. If the legislation passes, it could mean that photographers will be required to pay for registration at the copyright office and then pay additional unknown fees for registration in a

Wiki Pro Photo Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08019442312253874552noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14990709.post-42623476085611984462008-03-16T20:51:00.006-04:002008-04-18T18:50:18.380-04:00

If you speak to the people in the know, you find out that the upcoming Orphan Works legislation could be our worst nightmare come to life. There hasn’t been much published about the strategies of the different sides, but recently two trade associations representing creators have published opinions. Let’s compare the two.On March 14th the Illustrators’ Partnership has posted their thoughts in '"

Wiki Pro Photo Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08019442312253874552noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14990709.post-84302742734383328662008-03-11T12:42:00.003-04:002008-03-11T13:35:44.529-04:00

Last Fall I was at a breakfast meeting with 2 key leaders of 2 large pro photo trade associations. While I was chewing, they were discussing their growing fear of the possible passage of some “Orphan Works” legislation in the future. I asked what were their plans if the worst happened: the legislation passed and photographers were given a really bad deal. From their stares, it appears as if no

Wiki Pro Photo Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08019442312253874552noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14990709.post-68472672828183256702008-03-09T08:58:00.017-04:002008-03-09T09:21:45.513-04:00

I for one have been relatively quiet during this ASMP election period. But all around us, companies have been developing even more businesses based on the use of your photos, with no thought of compensating (or even crediting) you.Here's another one: Cooliris, featured in today's NY Times. Take their video tour to see how their business model is based on using other people's intellectual

Wiki Pro Photo Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08019442312253874552noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14990709.post-27476063326919221722008-02-12T12:15:00.001-05:002008-02-19T08:14:47.881-05:00

(ASMP members, please start with our previous post: "How we can create positive change in the industry?")There are some very bright people working at some very large companies who are the well-paid futurists of those companies. These people have to be on the bleeding edge of both the market and technology.While they rarely discuss where they are going, they sometimes telegraph their moves. For

Wiki Pro Photo Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08019442312253874552noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14990709.post-5528692765786696582008-01-22T22:00:00.001-05:002008-02-21T18:27:06.202-05:00

First a quick recap of a year’s writing on this blog.This blog was aimed at professional freelance photographers whose work is for publication, whether it is annual report, magazine, advertising or electronic or web publications.The world of publishing has dramatically changed. 300 dpi offset print is being surpassed by 72 ppi screen distribution. The market forces are leading this change and we

Wiki Pro Photo Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08019442312253874552noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14990709.post-77071352979296295282008-01-22T09:55:00.000-05:002008-01-22T09:55:55.607-05:00

Dan Heller points to a burgeoning problem: amateur photographers posting snapshots online and having them appear in advertisements without permission. The amateurs don't register their work with the copyright office, so the corporation is not saddled with a major legal challenge. Actually it’s probably cheaper for a company to scour Youtube, MySpace and Facebook to rip off photos and see if

Wiki Pro Photo Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08019442312253874552noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14990709.post-50834830628155660362008-01-21T22:11:00.000-05:002008-01-21T22:32:49.147-05:00

Over the past year I’ve been posting suggestions for new business models for professional photographers. Last March I posted: “New Business Models: We make it up on volume . . .”It’s a quick and easy read. Check it out.Since then there have been many influential voices out there reinforcing that post.Chris Anderson, the editor in chief of WIRED magazine and author of The Long Tail, has been

Wiki Pro Photo Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08019442312253874552noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14990709.post-34390809986169795372008-01-14T16:10:00.000-05:002008-01-14T16:30:24.121-05:00

This is a continuation of Part 2a.While the music industry is moving away from Digital Rights Management and creating new business models for music, the movie industry is still looking to DRM for a solution to copyright infringements, while also developing new business models. And formerly net-neutral ISP's are beginning to offer solutions of DRM for content.Today's NY Times reports that AT&T

Wiki Pro Photo Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08019442312253874552noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14990709.post-54687641197952131752008-01-14T07:00:00.000-05:002008-01-14T16:11:04.674-05:00

Last week Sony was in the news because it appears they won the Blu-Ray vs. HD DVD battle. But they also announced that they will be selling music in the unencrypted, MP3 format. Apparently they realized that Digital Rights Management doesn’t work. So now all 4 major music labels have given up on antipiracy measures and they have begun looking for alternative distribution channels.This is a

Wiki Pro Photo Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08019442312253874552noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14990709.post-57026685573457551842008-01-11T14:49:00.000-05:002008-01-11T15:08:50.829-05:00

We all know that the results of the writer’s strike will reverberate throughout our industry. But there are also some very subtle industry shifts that can reshape the long-term future of the photography industry. Some of these shifts reinforce my calling on trade associations to hire outside consultants to lead them through this very tangled web that is being woven. These changes are far too

Wiki Pro Photo Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08019442312253874552noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14990709.post-84065613884781685572008-01-10T11:11:00.000-05:002008-01-10T11:30:57.052-05:00

Every once and a while we get someone yelling from the rooftops reminding us that we are slipping down the quality slope. Accepted standards change from great, to good enough. The 1976 movie, Network featured Howard Beale, who yelled from the rooftop that he was as mad as hell and he wasn't gonna take it anymore.Here's David Lynch on the iPhone (rated "R").I'm waiting for a similar response for

Wiki Pro Photo Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08019442312253874552noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14990709.post-3503031962349847392008-01-01T22:00:00.000-05:002008-01-02T07:29:09.263-05:00

Pt 2: The Ghost of Xmas Future:If Putney Swope was the Ghost of Xmas Past, here’s the Ghost of Xmas Future:A pretty provocative video with a pretty compelling argument. Professional photographers can either choose to fight the future, and 'Just Say No,' or figure out how to exploit the future and create revenue streams, especially out of tiny, inconsequential uses of our work.For 2008 let’s make

Wiki Pro Photo Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08019442312253874552noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14990709.post-68551167729440399082008-01-01T09:43:00.000-05:002008-01-02T07:28:16.502-05:00

Pt 1: The Ghost of Xmas PastHere's a scene from the 1969 movie, Puttney Swope. We can see that almost 40 years after this movie came out, and after spending millions of dollars educating professional photographers, we have had little change in the overall health of the industry.Some of our education problem is due to the fact that we have photographers teaching photographers and running the

Wiki Pro Photo Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08019442312253874552noreply@blogger.com1