MacTribe Special Report Part 1
Where is Photography Headed?
Interviews with Getty, Rubberball,
Tetra Images & Masterfile
All businesses have struggled from a long and deep global recession, and stock imaging is no different. To exacerbate the challenge, the imaging industry has been faced with business model changes affected by new technologies, low cost micro pricing and the growing focus on mixed media. In spite of this confusion, there was a definite sense of optimism and opportunity surrounding all of the weekend’s activities. A few top leaders in the industry offer their perspectives and projection for the future.
 Corbis Images
Jason Brown of the Commercial Media Partners division of Corbis Images feels that PACA offers a gauge of where the industry is heading. It allows him to meet with his partner contributors and make alliances with potential new partners. He says there aren’t as many new partners as there were three or four years ago, as it’s a much tougher market in which to invest money as a new potential partner. It’s a changing market with the move toward volume and lower pricing in micro and royalty free imagery (RF).
According to Jason, Corbis is addressing the new lower cost market with Veer Marketplace offering micro pricing. “On the Veer site, we introduced credit based payment and price filtering, so customers can find the best images to fit their budget. Many websites don’t make it as easy for customers to see the price.” He says that only time will tell how different approaches to pricing will play out.
“Images have inherent value, but that value changes depending on a lot of factors. We are always working to innovate our pricing to meet customer needs as they change. We need to be realistic, from a pricing perspective, in attending to the customer’s needs. Until recently, most of the suppliers have been able to demand what they wanted. As image supply has increased with new internet-based business models, and as the aggregated value goes down, the special images will be worth more.”
He says the future for Corbis is bright. Corbis Motion, the footage business, is growing well, and a lot of the still suppliers are looking at motion now. He feels there is a market for crossed media shoots, but it has to be done well.
Corbis still does art direction for its unique, exclusive collections, including the Fancy Premium Royalty Free image collection. They also have four new rights managed (RM) collections - Crush, Ivy, Blink and Latitude. According to Jason, “Corbis is looking to the future because the industry is evolving rapidly. Nothing stays the same.”
Alamy
 Alan Capel is Head of Content at Alamy (Alamy.com), in charge of the images and the people who supply the images. Alamy bucked the trends initially, as they do not do any editing. But they do have quality control and give the lion’s share of revenue back to the photographer, at a 60/40 split. Alan says they use technology to create the best website for searching through a large amount of imagery. They have 17 million images now and there’s no upper target. The commercial image collection is expanding, and will be relaunched as an Alamy Creative collection. It incorporates the best providers that have images on Alamy. Participation will be by invitation only.
Alamy has to remain competitive but does not want to get involved in microstock. According to Alan, “We see that the prices are moving up. So that should be in our favor. We will do deals but we don’t go to ridiculously low price points. We will have three extra small files sizes with lower price points in the future.”
He feels the money spent on going to the PACA conference is well justified, as they sign up new content and catch up with people old and new. “It’s essential to show our face.”
As far as new content, they are in need of news and celebrity images. They have all the stock clichés in RF, but are lacking strong rights managed stock material. They are not looking for exclusivity.
This year’s focus is on penetration of the US market. “We have a Brooklyn, NY office, and we need to get more US content now. “Alamy is looking to make a big splash in the US.” As for the future, the company is cautiously optimistic. Alan says, “The appeal of a good image is never going to die. There are always going to be people who want to use images to promote or illustrate, and that will keep us all in business as long as we continue to deliver the images in a low-hassle user-friendly manner.”
Image Source
 Lisa Curesky is the Director of Photography for Image Source in the Americas, based in New York City. Lisa is excited about their newly launched Cross-Media product, which consists of footage clips and still images shot on the same day on the same set, using the same models and styling. Image Source is the first to market with this product. Lisa notes, “Everyone has been shooting stills and footage, but they are packaging and presenting them separately. We are trying to identify a new market where clients can use matched stills and footage clips across their integrated campaigns.”
Lisa feels that clients are open to new ways of bundling content through products like Cross-Media. For example, if the client is doing a pharmaceutical campaign and creates a POP or brochure, they can have the same production parameters with stock footage on their website and further drive home the point of the print collateral.
Lisa is encouraged that Image Source is forward thinking and has chosen this time to launch a new product. “We are not a traditional stills company anymore – but a Cross-Media company with stills and footage. It puts us in a good position for success in today’s ever changing market.”
Image Source has always stood firm on the high-end of RF pricing, and it still believes in the value of the product. They continue to produce traditional lifestyle, business, health, and beauty. But, today they feel you have to be unique and niche, approaching imaging from a more modern point of view. “We have a great opportunity to set the bar, because there are still barriers to entry, even with the gaining popularity of the Canon 5D Mark II. We have found how to do it in a manageable way while maintaining the production values.” Image Source has been shooting with The Red in New York and says the quality is amazing.
Image Source is positive about the future. They also see opportunity in an economic downturn, and they don’t let the negativity take hold. There have been twenty new productions since May and will be about four productions each month going forward.
Getty Images
Jamie DiVenere is the Director of Creative Services for Footage at Getty Images. Jamie states that you cannot focus too heavily on one category of imagery if you are to have a healthy library. “You have to offer a wide variety of subjects and refresh that constantly.” Some of their many areas of content include, but are not limited to: Aerials, Worldwide Locations, Lifestyles, Business, Industry, Healthcare, Wildlife, Nature and Science & Technology.
Getty Images accepts content from a global contributor base and offers art direction for shoots in North America and Europe. However, Jamie notes, “We have made strides in Asia and Latin America in the last few years as we see ample market growth there for stock footage.”
As far as creating cross media from combining footage with similar still imagery, they have currently seen an uptick in contributors shooting both media because the technology has changed and the costs of production have been reduced in some areas. Recouping the expenses from these shoots is not a short term investment. On average it could take 1.5 years to 2 years to get the money back. This is not a hard rule, but an average, according to Jamie. The key is to keep an eye on the market and shoot a wide variety of subjects. “Clients do not want to see the same thing over and over again. The best producers are always trying to be better than their last shoot, learning from their mistakes and successes.”
Jamie quotes, “We bring in content through a variety of ways which include:
- Collaborating with the filmmaker to shoot content that is self financed. Sometimes an art director will work short arm (on set) or long arm (creative feedback via e-mail or phone).
- Support a Director who is wanting to build their reel content. We generally get our most creative, unexpected content this way. The filmmaker can cut their own spec spot and also use the content to license through stock.
- Sign those contributors who have content already shot. Basically mining the content which they have rights to.
- Working with our image partners like Discovery, Universal and others to bring in fresh new content from their programs and films.
Building for the future, more footage needs to come to the market, as users for video continues to grow. “I think we are just at the beginning of the growth of the stock footage industry,” says Jamie.
From these comments and projections, it’s easy to see why the top players in the industry will remain at the top of their game. They always look to the future, seek opportunities, and put themselves in charge of change management. We are long past the era of dictating a market to the customer, and going forward, these companies will pave the way for customer centric relations and better technology.
Read Part 2
(Pat Hunt is a writer and workshop leader for the stock photo industry, and Managing Director of Huntstock.com in Boston, a lifestyle image production company.)
Image Credits: Corbis, Andia/ Alamy, Image Source.
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