Another great PhotoPlus Expo has come and gone, and I figured the best way to recap would be to use some pictures.

We were a sponsor of the inaugural Magnum Expression Award, which had a really neat display of photojournalism in the main entry way to the Expo. Over 17,000 images were submitted from photographers in 170 countries. And the winner is a fantastic Belgian photojournalist Bieke Depoorter. You can view all the finalists.

Daryl Lang at PDN reported that Getty Images is shutting down its wholly-owned stock division. This division was staffed by researchers, producers and photographers who shot specific themes which were considered to be trendy or evergreen (e.g. a NASCAR-like racetrack shoot without logos or other IP problems). The intent was to own the images outright so that royalties need not be paid to photographers.

It's been just over a year since we shut down the PhotoShelter Collection - our ill-fated attempt to bring diversity into the stock photography market while giving the photographer the majority of sales. At the time (and probably still), many photographers felt duped, and hurt that we didn't give it more time to mature. But now that we're many months away from that traumatic event, I can restate the following: Stock photography sucks. I'm not talking about the people who shoot it. I'm talking about the state of the industry. But let's digress for a moment.

A brief primer on the California Gold Rush. In 1848, a guy found some gold near Sacramento. Despite attempts to keep the news quiet, word got out pretty quickly, which set in motion a migration of some 300,000 people to California around 1849 to prospect for gold.

The early entrants into the scene made some money, and the merchants that were supporting the Gold Rush (anyone heard of Levi's?) also did quite well. Innovation thrived as prospectors looked to become more efficient at finding gold. But as the field got crowded, and the gold became increasingly harder to extract, many people actually ended up losing money. And today, to be a player in the gold market, you need a massive infrastructure to mine and extract gold (and apparently a lot of acid). (and sure, gold is selling for $1000/ounce, but that's arguably a reaction to currency fluctuations in an uncertain economy rather than usable demand).

Oh yeah, about stock photography....

A small group of people used to make a lot of money in stock -- as they should have. It was hard. It was often expensive to produce. There was no digital and there was no Internet. But around the turn of the millennium, things changed dramatically. Technology intersected with a business model (namely, microstock) and created a massive disruption. You want paradigm shift? This was a paradigm shift.

The hobbyist had a marketplace, and he had the tools (in-camera and in Photoshop) to rival/exceed the quality of many pros. He had disposable income to buy equipment which the manufacturers loved. Stories about guys making $100,000s/year emerged. Social networks like flickr helped create a community for the photo enthusiast -- a term that used to conjure up "guy with camera" taking creepy nudes at a camera club down by the shore. First movers of these new marketplaces like iStock and Fotolia made millions. Most importantly, the people who traditionally paid a few hundred dollars for an image, were now paying $1 because budgets were getting slashed.

The average stock photo simply isn't worth what it once was.

I consider myself to be a pretty decent photographer, but when I search for an image on iStockPhoto, I'm blown away. There are some very good photographers with Photoshop skills that make up for any lack of talent or equipment. And the proof of the paradigm shift to me? I've purchased iStock images when I've determined that I can't shoot something better myself. Why spend 2 hours setting up a shot to come up with something inferior, when I can buy something for a few bucks. Should I be hung? Next time your spouse asks you to help throw together a marketing brochure for his/her company, what are you going to do to get that nice photo of a clock?

So as I was saying, stock photography sucks. It's not that you can't make money. It's just much harder than it used to be. Generalists won't survive. We have enough yellow rubber ducks against seamless. You have to specialize and understand who's buying to really succeed. Guys like Masa Ushioda will be fine. But maintaining a staff with salary and benefits to produce seasonal content while facing downward pricing pressure from another one of your properties....forget it.

Where does that leave us? There are probably enough stock photos out there already to satisfy most needs for a long time -- at least at the price that buyers are now willing to pay. So photographers who are reliant on checks from Getty should get used to it getting smaller (I know, you already are). If a buyer can't find what they want, they'll probably still commission photography. But if you want to compete at that level, you really need to be a good photographer, not just a guy with a camera. There are fewer individuals making enough money from stock photography to support themselves. The traditional marketplaces like Getty are reaching around the darkness, and while they were still a public company, the only bright spot was iStockPhoto.

(The one bright spot in the Getty announcement, if you can call it that, is that this ends "wholly owned" content and puts the rights back in the hands of the photographer -- at least as far as Getty is concerned)

Don't enter a market at the end of the lifecycle. You'll always get burned. If you want to play the stock photography game, don't leave it up to chance to make sales. Understand who is buying the images you're shooting, and make sure your marketing plan includes them. This might mean building a clientele and licensing directly. It might mean moving to footage. It might mean none of the above. Like so many creative endeavors in life, the best creatives aren't necessarily the ones who succeed. The average photographer with superior business sense will continue to dominate.

Speaking of stock, come join me for Ellen Boughn's panel at PhotoPlus Expo on Thursday at 1:15pm at the Javitz Center in New York. It'll be a great time to learn from the panel or throw tomatoes. Either way, hope to see you there!

With today's launch of the new Canon 1D Mark IV, Vincent Laforet stated in his blog:

"I think it's safe to say that every single filmmaker and photographer has always dreamed of cameras that can see what our naked eyes can see.  This time these cameras can actually see more.   Sure - they may not have the dynamic ranges of our eyes just yet - but they see more than my naked eyes can see in low light.

"Period.

"And that's qualifies as a paradigm shift in my book."

I'm about to make a semantic argument with Vincent.

First, let's state the obvious. Vince's first short film that he created on the Canon 5D Mark II was pretty mind-blowing. While no one was about to hand out an Emmy for "Reverie," and there were surely many professional film guys who probably rolled their eyes, the fact is that it was a defining moment in D-SLR history to have pro-level video output on a still camera. We've been talking for years about "convergence" and "hybridization" and the 5D was definitely an inflection point where talk became reality. And like everything Vince does, thousands of photographers were inspired.

The 5D was a paradigm shift. It allowed for dual (simultaneous) capture on a single device. It spawned a crapload of videos on Vimeo -- some of very high quality -- which made it seem like professional film making could be attained with a $2500 camera. It certainly was a paradigm shift for Vince as he contemplated ways to focus on something other than the still image that had defined his career up until that point.

But let's be clear, the paradigm shift was niche. A hardware paradigm had shifted -- not so much a creative one. Yes, the ante has been upped for professional D-SLRs to include video capture capabilities. But has it really resulted in either a 1) creative paradigm shift or a 2) commerce paradigm shift? In my opinion, no.

Newspapers have, for years, been trying to figure out how to monetize multimedia. The CD-ROM of the early 90s, gave way to the slideshow with audio, to fast cut video with After Effects. But who is really making money with video? Brian Storm? Check. YouTube? Check. Your local newspaper? No. Your aspiring filmmaker? No. You? Probably not.

Does the inclusion of ISO 6400 video constitute a paradigm shift? Are your wedding clients going to suddenly pony up another $2000 so that you can shoot the first dance at high ISO? Are you suddenly going to find an untapped market for stock footage in near-dark conditions?

Here's the thing. While the technology has improved, good movie making still requires:
- a non-trivial investment in additional hardware and software
- a good story and script
- a good director
- good editing
 
But you and I aren't going to pick up a Mark IV or D3s and suddenly become proficient at screenwriting. We aren't going to become expert at non-linear editing. Forget mastery of the software, all of these things require skill and experience. And there is no level of technology that will replace the hours that are required to do something well -- whether it's playing basketball, designing a building, or making a movie.

Do I want a D-SLR with video? Yes. But I don't, for a second believe, that it is going to turn me into the next Polanski Spielberg without dedicating 10,000 hours (wink at Gladwell) to become an expert.

Vince will continue to create films and images that inspire and awe. The Mark V will be better than it's predecessor. But a true paradigm shift will require more than better low light capabilities. A true paradigm shift will alter the consumption of video by the mainstream, and shift dollars and eyeballs from the status quo.

The Mark IV is cool, but what's cooler with today's announcement was this statement from Vince:

"Once again - we had very very little time to prepare.  Just under 72 hours.  And we were
ALL busy working on other jobs as this economy seems to be awakening again."

That's a shift we can all get behind.

I often hate the Internet.

When you make it really, really easy for people to exchange information and communicate, it no longer takes any effort. As a consequence, the most thoughtless stuff -- inane ideas, mean-spirited comments -- show up on the web. But on the other hand, some funny stuff often shows up as well, and that is the top of today's post.

Sexy Executives - http://sexyexecs.blogspot.com/
Let's be honest. It's tough to have your photo taken when you're not a model. But when you're a company executive, you need a head shot. Need I say more?


Tom Mullen, Vice President,
Large Market Development, American Express


Lester Crawford, Board of Directors
Nutrition Physiology Company


Photobomb - http://thisisphotobomb.com/
When I was younger, Maxim magazine used to have a regular feature about people who inserted themselves into photos (usually drunk), and most often ruining enhancing the image. That practice has been named "photobombing," and the awesomeness is when famous people do it.

Here's Daniel Craig photoboming Taylor Swift. Yo Taylor, I'm really happy for you, but Daniel Craig's mustache is way better than yours. [buzzfeed]



And this one is just awkward...



John Keatley is Cool
I swear I used to be hip. I had an Apple Newton. I saw Star Wars: The Phantom Menace before it was released. I owned Whitney Houston's first album on vinyl. But then I got older and now it feels like I'm the last person to know anything. For example, I just *discovered* Daft Punk this year. And I just learned about John Keatley.



John Keatley's style is sort of like Peter Yang or Dan Winters -- i.e. a very contemporary portrait style that uses awesome lighting. John not only has a cool portfolio, but he blogs too, and sometimes reveals his lighting set-ups so that you too, can be John Keatley.

Keatley shot the cover of Sarah Palin's upcoming biography, Going Rogue, so he got a little press kick from that job. I personally found him much more interesting...

PhotoPlus Expo
The photo tradeshow of the year is coming to the Javitz Center in New York next week from October 22-24. Photographer consultant Ellen Boughn asked me to join her panel on Selling Stock Direct, so if you'd like to see me speaking in the nude a nice button down, please join us on Thursday, October 22 from 1:15pm - 3:15pm.

Have a great weekend!

This weekend was the 22nd incarnation of the Eddie Adams Workshop in Jeffersonville, NY, and I drove up to spend a little time re-connecting with some old friends and meeting some new ones. Pulitzer-Prize Winner, Eddie Adams, started the photography workshop for 100 top, up-and-coming photographers to come together for a weekend of inspiration. I had the opportunity to hear two fantastic speakers, Al Bello and Platon. Al is a Getty photographer whose work I'm very familiar with, but I hadn't had the opportunity to hear him speak before. He is a very funny, extremely talented sports photographer who has shot everything from cock fighting in Puerto Rico (his first multimedia project) to eight Olympics. He said that he always works the angles at a sporting event because he was never good at getting the "peak moment" shot that other photographers can get (I don't believe you, Al). In his words, peak action is "hard....friggin' hard."

And of course, Platon is one of the contemporary kings of the portrait, who I got to hear at last year's workshop, and is still fantastically entertaining.

The "usual suspects" of amazing photographers were there -- Douglas Kirkland, Carolyn Cole, Deanne Fitzmaurice, Howard Schatz, Clay Patrick McBride, Yunghi Kim, Bill Eppridge, Bill Frakes, and more. It always feels like "how many Pulitzer Prize winners can you fit into a barn."

I bumped into Gina LeVay, who told me that her Sand Hogs project (the guys who build the tunnels under New York) was being produced into a book this Fall. Can't wait for that. Suzy Allman who attended as a student with me in 2003 was now a producer for one of the teams. Ah, the student becomes the master....

The friendly folks from Nikon Professional Service cleaned my camera, and replaced a rubber focusing ring on one of my lenses. I even got to play around with a 200-400mm f/4 lens. *drool*

This year the farm was invaded by bunnies. No one know where they came from, but I guess they've been breeding like, er, bunnies. I don't know much about bunnies -- I think they can be a pest, but they sure are cute.



As the students came back from their shoots, they started to ingest their cards and sit down with their team leaders and editors to discuss their imagery. As I walked around in the cramped quarters, I noticed all the hand gestures that people made as they critiqued the photographs. I even learned about Photo Mechanic's great slideshow feature (which I knew existed, but never tried -- fullscreen, here I come).


Eddie Adams Workshop Hands - Images by Allen Murabayashi


I also picked up an X-Rite ColorChecker Passport from the guys at the Mac Group, which is a passport-sized white balance and color card. Been needing something like it for a while to neutralize some of the color cast in my studio work. I was talking to photographer Nelson Chan, who helps them out each year, and said "I don't think I've ever come here without buying something from you guys." He grinned and said, "I think you're right." I keep hoping gadgets will make my photography better (it doesn't, but it sure is fun).

And two weekends ago, I ventured back to New Haven, CT to attend the centennial celebration of the Yale Whiffenpoofs, the countries oldest collegiate a cappella singing group, of which I was a member. I figured now that "Glee" is a big hit on FOX, I can brag about having been in the a cappella scene for the brief moment that it is cool.



600 of 800 living Whiffs from the class of 1939 - 2010 attended the reunion, and I have to say, it was quite moving to be a part of a legacy. There was a lot of singing, drinking, and memorializing. And even though the repertiore of songs has changed over the past 100 years, we still have a few songs that every alumni know, including the eponymous, Whiffenpoof Song.

We are poor little lambs,
Who have lost our way,
baa baa baa

We are little black sheep,
Who have gone astray,
baa baa baa

Gentlemen Songsters off on a spree,
Damned from here to eternity,
God have mercy on such as we,
baa baa baa

Did you ever find a photo on the Internet, and you wish you knew who took it?
Have you ever found your photo on someone else's website without your consent?
Have you ever lost sleep over the potential Orphan Works legislation?
Do you just love Canada?

We're happy to announce a little partnership between PhotoShelter and TinEye -- a reverse search engine created by the good people over at Idée in Toronto. Their CEO, Leila Boujnane, and I grab lunch in New York City every few months at Republic Noodle shop, and enjoy talking about synergies between the companies.

As it turns out, they have a fantastic fingerprinting algorithm (more on this in a second), and we have a lot of photographers with tons of images. So we decided to work together to ensure that all of our photographers' public images were indexed by TinEye.

What is a fingerprint?
If you watch the casino specials on the History Channel like I do, you know that gaming industry has employed facial recognition systems for a while to find suspected card counters and cheats. That technology is based on creating a "fingerprint" of facial characteristics like the distance between the eyes, nose, etc. If you've ever used "Shazam" on the iPhone to listen and identify a piece of music, then you're also familiar with another type of fingerprinting.

The TinEye fingerprint is similar. They analyze an image, find some distinctive characteristics and build a fingerprint. The cool thing about the fingerprint is that it doesn't matter if the image gets cropped, converted to black and white, or altered in any other way. Here are some good examples of matches that TinEye can find.


It's the same image, but used in a variety of ways (did we really have to go there with the Yoda, guys?).

So as of October 7, TinEye will fingerprint and index all the publicly searchable images in your PhotoShelter account ensuring that there is a record of an originating publisher.

How accurate is the fingerprint?
It's accurate enough to discern photos from two photographers shooting the same subject standing next to one another. But like any search, a "match" is really a confidence score of a certain threshold.

It's like a TV cop show. "Ma'am, are you sure you saw the perpetrator wearing a Boston Red Sox cap?" "I'm 99% sure."



I know someone is using my image, but TinEye didn't find it. What's up with that PhotoShelter?
The Internet is a very large place, and TinEye is methodically indexing it. But let's face it, not even Google can index the entire Internet. So have some patience.

I can add my images to TinEye myself, what's the big deal?
Yes, it's true, you could add your images yourself. But since you've already uploaded them to PhotoShelter, why spend the time? We automated it for you. We were wrong. You can't add your images yourself! So PhotoShelter is a great way to ensure that your images get crawled and indexed.

What does this mean to me?
The TinEye servers regularly crawl the Internet and compare images they find against the images they've fingerprinted and indexed. So you, the photographer, will be able to find where your images are appearing on other sites. And a consumer will be able to find you through TinEye.

At this time, we haven't built in any automatic notifications. We realize that this is a logical next step, but we are moving forward in a stepwise process, and the first part of that is indexing.

As we (both companies collectively) gain a better understanding of how people are using the service, we'll be able to develop more utility in the future. So get started today, and stay tuned for more exciting announcements!

Apologies to Leica, but the best camera is the one that's with you. (I'd still like that M9)

Our buddy, Chase Jarvis, has just launched an iPhone app that ties into a website and book project named after a little phrase he coined. It's a cool little idea which bring photography and the sharing of photography to everyone.



You might remember Sean Rocco's cellphone project. Grover had one too. And you might find it surprising that the most popular camera on Flickr (based on number of images originating from that camera) is actually the iPhone. So while the image quality of a cellphone will never rival that of a D-SLR, its ubiquity can often make it the "best camera."

And the only thing better than taking a nice photo is sharing it with your friends. Congratulations to Chase on cool concept.

Download the iPhone app today!

We talk to a lot of photographers, and one question that never goes away is "how much should I charge?"



For answers to this and more, you might want to run over to Adorama's Workshops tomorrow, and see John Harrington's presentation entitled The Art of Negotiation: Pricing, Negotiating and Licensing. John is the author of the Photo Business News blog , and author of several photography business books that should be on your required reading list.

By the way, Adorama has great workshops every month, so check out their full schedule.

I'm also speaking there today about using photo books to market yourself, but you're too late! It's already sold out!

Hey hey! Who wants a look at some wonderful photography? Today we're delighted to announce September's PhotoShelter Featured Photographers! Their selection of images will be displayed in the "Images" tab of the product tour.

There's a distinct international flair among September's featured photographers. In fact, 12 of the 20 are based outside the US. So, you'll see images like:

• Rafa Rivas' (Spain) intense images of unlucky matadors
• Sephi Bergerson's (India) unique approach to Indian weddings (not to mention a very nice integration of PhotoShelter with his custom WordPress website)
• Carl Pendle's (UK) high quality collection of lifestyle, food, and travel stock photography
• Dave Walsh's (Ireland) travels aboard several Greenpeace expeditions

And we were captivated by so much more. Many of these photographers sell their work through PhotoShelter as prints, products, stock photography and personal use licenses. Their websites are great examples of how you can customize PhotoShelter using our templates or your own designs.

Like what you see? Embed our September featured slideshow in your own website or blog by clicking the up arrow in the lower right of the slideshow.

Want to submit your images for consideration for the October slideshow? Here's how. Images must be submitted by the 20th of the month, and winners are posted on the first Tuesday of the following month.