The World Wide Web, often referred to on TV
commercials as “The Web,” will be the way your children
and grandchildren will be marketing and delivering the
pictures you took this week. This, of course, assuming
your offspring will inherit your collection of images, and
assuming that you are developing extensive coverage of
certain specialized subject areas.
Photo researchers are already using the Web as their
method of choice to find and buy photos. You can position
yourself so that your photos are among those they find and
buy.
Are you on the Web. When I ask this question of
photographers, many respond no, because they’ve heard
it’s a dangerous place to display their photos; someone
will steal them.
It’s true that
ever since the
Information Age
developed
technology to
reproduce
copyrighted
work, we have
become a nation
of intellectual
property thieves.
As soon as the
new technology
was introduced,
hordes of us made
the “finders-
keepers”
assumption. If it’s
out there, it must
be free. Take it.
Each new
decade in the last half of the century introduced a new way
to copy:
1950’s -clip a newspaper article
1960’s -photocopy a page from a book
1970’s -audio tape a song from the radio
1980’s -video tape a TV segment
1990’s -download a software program
info@photosource.com
www.photosource.com
Focus On Key Issues For Editorial Stock Photographers
October 2003
Week Three
Number 397C
Volume 11
To Display Or
Not To Display
2000’s- copy and paste a web image
Is it any wonder that members of the Nintendo-fed
generation of today have no problem with swiping a photo
from the Web.
Fifty years of illegal copying, either by amateurs of
innocent intent, or pros with commercial purposes, have
not stopped producers of intellectual property from
moving forward. They recognize thieves will always be
gnawing away at the doorstep of creative work. To give in
and simply remove art, photos, and writing from the
public, is no solution.
Yes, displaying your pictures on the Web is a risk. But
it’s a much greater risk to not display them. It’s a financial
risk. Those pictures sitting at home gathering dust in your
files are not out earning dollars for you.
——————————————
“Fifty years of illegal copying, either by amateurs of
innocent intent, or pros with commercial purposes, have not
stopped producers of intellectual property from moving
forward.”
———————————
In the early days of our marketletter, The
PHOTOLETTER (the late 1970’s), photographers would
tell us, “I don’t want to send my photos to an editor I’m
not familiar with. They’ll use them without my permission
and never pay me.”
Has this ever happened. Yes, a few times, but in more
than 25 years of publishing our marketletters, I can
remember only two cases.
Will it happen on the Web. Probably. And probably very
rarely. But when it does, the trade media will fan the fires
to give it major publicity.
In the meantime, successful stock photographers will
quietly and contentedly continue to use the Web as a
showcase, to display their pictures, to both share their
talent with viewers and to make sales. -RE
Note:
Our
PhotoSource International
website contributes in
the challenge to educate about copyright infringment with our
Web section called, “Swipe This Photo.” Visit the site at
>http://www.photosource.com<.
Key words in this issue: Display |
Copying | Kelly | Conglomerates |
Disposable Art
NEWSWORDS: Wildlife | Jail
Sentence | Free Photoshop | Ban |
Animals | Jack Kerouac
“Your services are great I’m a member of the
PhotoSourceBOOK
and
its electronic version, PhotoSourceBANK. In the past, I had to rely on
three different stock agencies that required loads of film. The
PhotoSourceBOOK
has truly changed my marketing ability. In the
past, I depended on others to distribute my images. Turning to
PhotoSourceBank
/
BOOK
resolved my logistics problems. My
production expenses are far less. It has opened the world to my
work.Now I do my marketing myself with the help of the
PhotoSourceBOOK
and its referrals. My sales have dramatically
increased significantly.”
-
Charles P. Gillespie
, M.D., Photographer, Albany GA
PHOTOPLUS EXPO COMING
October 30 – November 1, 2003. Jacob Javits
Convention Center, New York City, NY.
Join the community
of photographers, designers, manufacturers, retailers, reps
and art directors and get hands-on with new technologies,
learn the latest techniques, be inspired by and meet top
photographers. Explore over 200 manufacturers and
suppliers of photographic capture, storage, output and
display equipment and services. For more information go to:
http://www.photoplusexpo.com
.
PhotoStockNotes from PhotoSource International
Federal Appeals Court
Ok’s Online Image
Search Engine
By Stephen Filler, Esq.
Photographers who display
their images on the Internet should be
aware of an important decision in July
by the United States Appeals Court in
California.
In the continuing saga of
Kelly v. Arriba Software
Corporation
, the Court of Appeals for
the Ninth Circuit in California,
affirmed its prior ruling that an
internet image search engine that
copied and displayed thumbnail
images was not a copyright
infringement but rather a fair use. The
Court also reversed its prior decision
and remanded to the trial court the
question of whether defendant’s
display of full-sized images —
through inline links from third party
sites — was a copyright
infringement.
Plaintiff Kelly is a
professional photographer who
displayed images on his website, and
defendant Arriba, now known as
Ditto.com, operated an internet
search engine that searched for and
displayed images.
Arriba used a web crawler to
search the web for images, and then
downloaded copies of the images to
its computers. Arriba then generated
smaller, lower resolution thumbnails
for display, and deleted the originals.
When a user entered a search term
into the query box, Arriba’s servers
displayed thumbnails responsive to
the search. After Arriba copied
Kelly’s images into its database and
made thumbnails returnable by
search on the Arriba site, Kelly sued
for copyright infringement.
The Court found that Arriba
had copied Kelly’s images and
displayed thumbnails without
Kelly’s permission. Nonetheless, the
Court ruled that this was not
copyright infringement because the
copying and display of the
thumbnails was fair use.
Even though it was clear that
Arriba’s purpose in displaying the
images was commercial (e.g., it sold
advertising on its site), Arriba’s use
of the images was “transformative.”
Kelly’s images were artistic works
used to illustrate and esthetically
portray the American West. In
contrast, Arriba’s search engine did
not use the thumbnails for illustrative
or esthetic purposes, but rather as part
of a tool to index and improve access
to images on the Internet. Further, the
thumbnails were of such low
resolution that it was unlikely that a
user would enlarge and use them, or
that their use would harm the market
or value of Kelly’s images.
The Court concluded that
Arriba’s use of the thumbnails did not
“supplant the need for the originals,”
but instead “created a different
purpose for the images” and
benefited “the public by enhancing
the
information-gathering
techniques on the internet.”
Copyright © 2003
Stephen Filler
.
Stephen Filler is an attorney
(
http://www.nylawline.com
) whose practice
focuses on intellectual property, copyright,
trademark, technology, media, contracts,
corporate and photography law. His office is
located at 303 South Broadway, Suite 222,
Tarrytown, New York, 10591, 914-332-4114,
sfiller@nylawline.com
. This column is to be
used for informational purposes only and
should not be considered as legal advice. For
legal advice, please consult an attorney.
Changes
PEARSON NICHOLSON & ASSOCIATES
(3406 Glasgow, Lansing, MI 48911) Contact
person Charles Nicholson, President. Former
phone and fax: 1 517 393 1100, 1 517 393 1101;
current phone and fax: 1 517 663 2000, 1 517 663
2399.
STECK-VAUGHN COMPANY
(10801-N
Mopac Expy Bldg #3, Austin, TX 78759) Contact
person Stephanie Morris, Photo Researcher.
Former phone, fax and e-mail: 1 847 620 7537, 1
847 620 7508,
Stephanie.morris@rigby.com
;
current phone, fax and e-mail: 1 773 327 3960, 1
773 327 3960,
stephmo@comcast.net
.
DAVID TIETZ
, Freelance Photo Research (8509
Daleview Drive, Austin, TX 78757) Former phone:
1 512 527 0291; current phone: 1 512 302 4737.
BACKPACKER MAGAZINE
(135 N 6
th
St,
Emmaus, PA 18098) former contact and e-mail:
Honor Woodard, Photo Eidtor,
honor.
woodward@rodale.com
; current contact and e-
mail: Liz Reat, Photo Editor,
liz.reat@rodale.com
WORTH A THOUSAND WORDS INC
(1022
Ash St Ste 201, Winnetka, IL 60093) Contact
person Paula McLeod, Picture Researcher. Former
e-mail:
paulamcl@attbi.com
; current e-mail:
paula@worth-a-thousand-words.com
.
FINE EDGE PRODUCTIONS LLC
, former
address: 13589 Clayton Lane, Anacortes, WA
98221; current address: 14004 Biz Point Lane P.O.
Box 972, Anacortes, WA 98221.
SPECTRUM STOCK INC
(239 McRae Drive,
Toronto, ONT M4G 1T7, CABADA) former
phone: 1 416 425 8215; current phone: 1 905 309
8517.
SHEILA NORMAN
, Freelance Photo Editor,
former address and phone: 2192 Surrywood Drive,
Dublin, OH 43016, 1 614 799 2918.
MCGRAW-HILL
(4530 W 77
th
St Ste 350,
Minneapolis, MN 55435) former contact and e-
mail: Jeanne Schacht,
Jeanne_Schacht @mcgraw-
hill.com
; current contact and e-mail: Jim Bauer, Art
Director,
jim_bauer@mcgraw-hill.com
.
NATIONAL EXAMINER
(5401 NW Broken
Sound Blvd, Boca Raton, FL 33487) contact
person Linda Makel. Former e-mail:
lmakel@globeft.com
; current e-mail:
lmakel
@nationalexaminer.com
.
ADVENTURE CYCLISTS
(Box 8308,
Missoula, MT 59807) former contact and e-mail:
Dan D’Ambrosio, Editor,
ddambrosio@adv-
cycling.org
; current contact and e-mail: Mike
Deme, Editor,
mdeme@adventurecycling.org
.
NIESHOFF DESIGN
(15 Depot Square,
Lexington, MA 02420) former contact and e-mail:
Susan Gilday, Graphic Designer,
s.gilday@verizon.net
; current contact: Heather
Shaw, Graphic Designer.
AMERICAN JUDICATURE SOCIETY
, former
address, phone and fax: 180 N Michigan Ave Ste
600, Chicago, IL 60601, 1 312 357 8814, 1 312 558
9175; current address, phone and fax: 848 Dodge
#468, Evanston, IL 60202, 1 773 973-0145, 1 773
338 9687.
ALP COMMUNICATIONS
(1240 Bay St,
Toronto, ONT, M5R 2A7, CANADA) former
contact: Jane Evans, Designer; current contact:
Christine Wong, Designer.
BUGLE/ROCKY MOUNTAIN ELK
FOUNDATION
(2291 W Broadway, Missoula,
MT 59808) former contact and e-mail: Mia
McGreevey,
mia@rmef.org
; current contact and e-
mail: Dale Harness,
dharness@rmef.org
.
“I’m really amazed at the variety of subjects you manage to cover.”
-
Tor Eigeland
, Photographer, France
“You guys have been a valuable resource to me over the years.”
- Jack Hamilton
, Photographer, Milwaukee, WI
“Your 2003 Photobuyer Survey Report was extremely helpful.”
-
Judy Taylor
, Photographer
O
PhotoStockNotes from PhotoSource International
GoodStuff
The Think Tank futurists must’ve figured it out in the 1970’s: With
illiteracy rampant in the country and TV being the absentee educator and
babysitter, pictures would soon compete with words as a means of
communication in our society.
In the early 90’s, probably picking up on this research, Kodak
announced that it had expanded and bought
The Image Bank
. Bill Gates
stepped in forming his
Corbis Media
agengy, and then along came Mark Getty
whose
Getty Images
recently announced their best quarter ever. Bahar
Gidwani, also, like Getty a former investment banker, bought a few stock
agencies and set up his
Index Stock
in New York.
If I’m reading this right, these corporations are saying, future +
pictures = hard-core profits. And if pictures are becoming a second language
for us, I have a question, “Who is writing the dictionary.”
In the past, with family-owned stock agencies as the shepherds of
our pictures, we could assume they would be handled in good taste. Now
what. We have only to recall what happened to the quality of content of former
family-owned magazines and newspapers after corporations bought them up
in the late 70’s and early 80’s.
In the not too distance future, there won’t be any family-owned
stock photo agencies. The picture content (remember, it’s a language) will
be controlled by corporations. Royalty Free clip art and commercial stock
photography will become supreme fabricators of the commercial myth.
And what of the individual photographer who doesn’t care to
cooperate with this scheme. Not to worry. There will always be a need for
good editorial photography, by publications that cannot afford, or don’t want
the contrived look, of conglomerate stock photography.
Rohn Engh
is Director of PhotoSource International and Publisher of
PhotoStockNotes
.
GETTY IMAGES
, 601 North 34th Street, Seattle, WA 98103, http://www.gettyimages.com;
THE IMAGE BANK, 111 5th Avenue, New York, NY 10003, http://www.imagebank.com;
CORBIS MEDIA, 6011 30th Avenue NE, Seattle, WA 98115, http://www.corbis.com; INDEX
STOCK, 23 West 18th Street, New York, NY 10011, http://www.indexstock.com.
Stock Agencies of the Future...
FAMILY-OWNED vs. CORPORATE
CONGLOMERATES
PHOTOSHOP FOR PHOTOGRAPHY:
the art of pixel processing
, by Tom Ang,
Amphoto Books, 2003, ISBN 0-8174-5373-
3, $24.95, 128 pages. This book, which
requires no previous familiarity with image
processing, covers everything you need for
adjusting your images: color correction,
system calibration, levels, curves, channels,
sharpening, resizing image files, and other
topics. It includes especially good
discussions of dodging and burning, plus six
pages of timesaving tips for accessing
Photoshop’s many tools and commands. All
this is aided by more than 600 illustrations.
—
David Arnold
http://
www.photosourcefolio.com/
bookstoreone.htm#0817453733
THE BEST OF PORTRAIT
PHOTOGRAPHY
,
Techniques and
Images From The Pros
, by Bill Hurter.
Author Hurter has compiled methods of
portraiture used by more than forty top
photographers. From nuances of posing, to
composition and lighting techniques, to
methods for eliciting that priceless
expression, photographers share their
professional secrets. Featuring over 150
portraits by the leaders in the industry, this
book is a must for anyone interested in
creating portraits that are both marketable
and memorable. ($29.95; ISBN: 1-58428-
101-4; 128 pages) Contact: Amherst Media,
155 Rano St, Ste 300, Buffalo NY 14207.
Phone: 1 800 622-3278. Fax: 1 800 622-
3298.
http://www.photosourcefolio.com/
bookstoreone.htm#1584280921
.
OLD FRIENDS
,
Great Dogs on the Good
Life
, by Mark J. Asher, a book celebrating
older dogs. Each portrait is accompanied by
each dog’s name, age, and longevity secrets.
Their pearls of wisdom are mostly sassy,
presumptuous, hedonistic, nonchalant, and
reckless. These are dogs that know how to
live life to the fullest, recognize its priorities,
and are still going strong. This book is a fine
example of how a stock photographer can
choose to photograph a focussed aspect of a
topic which will appeal to a certain segment
of the public. ($14.95; ISBN: 0-8118-4002-
6; 96 pages; hardcover) Contact: Chronicle
Books LLC, 85 2
nd
Street, 6
th
flr, San
Francisco, CA 94105. Phone: 1 415 537-
4200.
http://www.photosourcefolio.com/
bookstoreone.htm#0811840026
LIFE IN THE WILD
,
A Photographer’s
Year
, by Andy Rouse. From January’s visit
to India to March’s Arctic journey to
December’s African safari, each month
includes valuable information on planning a
trip, packing equipment, and taking the
actual shot. ($29.95; ISBN: 1-86108-268-1;
192 pages) Contact: Sterling Publishing
Co., Inc. 387 Park Ave S, New York NY
10016-8810. Phone: 1 800 805-5489.
http:/
/www.photosourcefolio.com/
bookstoreone.htm#1861082681
.
IS IN THE EYE OF
THE BEHOLDER
— with a fat wallet
.
Until recently, historical
photography has not brought prices
this high. Neither has fine art
photography.The consideration of
photography as an investment has
had a slow growth. It wasn’t until
1989 that the sale of a photograph
broke the six-figure mark.
Historical and rare photos are
usually purchased by museums.
But today photo brokers are
finding increasing numbers of
individuals who are entering the
world of serious photo collecting.
If you don’t mind
payment coming 150 years from
now, some of your photos may
eventually be worth six figures. A
world record price for a single
photo was set a couple years back
when Gustave Le Gray’s 1855
moody seascape, “Grande Vague-
Sete,” brought $840,370 in a
Sotheby’s London auction.
Another “beholder” saw beauty in
a 1920’s photograph by Charles
Sheeler of a Ford Motor Company
plant. The photo sold in September
’99 for $607,500. Will any of your
photos sell for such high figures.
PhotoStockNotes from PhotoSource International
Manning wildlife photographer publishes book - “ My specialty is waterfowl,” Doug Gardner said. “I really love to
photograph them and their habitats.”
http://www.clarendontoday.com/Pages/100903/News/book.html
Longer Jail Sentence for Sex Attack Photographer - A seven-year jail sentence on a glamour photographer for a
series of sex attacks on young models at his agency was increased to eight years by the Court of Appeal today.
http://www.news.scotsman.com/latest.cfm.id=2038929
Adobe offers free Photoshop Album.
http://news.com.com/2100-1046-5086198.html
Reborn Polaroid Betting on Digital Kiosks - Now Polaroid is back, reconstituted and trying to refocus under new
ownership by Chicago-based BankOne. And it’s betting its future on digital - on printing kiosks, that is.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news.tmpl=story&u=/ap/20031012/ap_on_hi_te/polaroid_s_kiosk_bet_1
After Death Of Founder, Rwanda Project Lives On - Contact Press photographer Kristen Ashburn, ad agency
partner Joanne McKinney and R. Todd Hoffman, Jiranek’s brother and a professional photographer himself, will
lead the project through its next phase.
http://www.pdnonline.com/photodistrictnews/headlines/article_display.jsp.vnu _content_id=1998685
MacCallum is in full flight with seagull photos - Walking amid the 8,000 or so nests that invariably dotted the
landscape from April to June of each year, MacCallum watched intently, listened carefully, and made
photographs.
http://www.globeandmail.com/servlet/ArticleNews/TPStory/LAC/20031011/GALLERY11//.query=photography
Web Site Covers Low-Cost Road Trips The New Trend in Vacations
http://www.editorandpublisher.com/editorandpublisher/features_columns/article_display.jsp.vnu_content_id=1979724
Ban on photography at airports lifted - The Civil Aviation Ministryin New Delhi has decided to remove the ban
on photography at airport terminals and entrances.
http://www.ndtv.com/topstories/showtopstory.asp.slug=Ban+on+photography+at+airports+lifted&id=12931
Photographer shares his journey - Subhankar Banerjee wasn’t looking for controversy when he embarked on a
photographic journey across the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge two years ago.
http://www.news-miner.com/Stories/0,1413,113~7244~1689382,00.html
Topics in Greek photography Kythera Photographic Encounters is aimed at promoting the study of the history of
Greece’s photo-imagery Kythera is an island of dispersed small towns, with varied landscapes and deserted,
almost ghostly sites in between. It is a beautiful and strange place, at times austere but enticing, an island with
impressive changing skies and rapidly moving clouds, especially at this time of the year.
http://www.ekathimerini.com/4dcgi/news/civ_&xml/&aspKath/civ.asp.fdate=13/10/2003
IT’S TIME TO SIGN UP FOR OUR DIRECTORY, The PhotoSourceBOOK 2004. If you dont get a phone call
from us, please call us for details at 1 800 624 0266 or check it out at
http://www.photosourcebook.com/44
Watch for developments in the field of stock photography in PhotoStockNotes
PHOTOGRAPHY IN THE NEWS
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