Stockphoto Blog

Michael Arrington’s Article over at Techcrunch about the Photomagazine „JPG Mag“:

They are doing so many things right. The fact that the community decides what photos end up in each issue has resulted in a ton of activity on the website. Photographers are uploading their best work to showcase their stuff - if a photo gets picked for the magazine it’s just icing on the cake for them. Finally, every issue of the magazine is available, free, as a PDF download. More print magazines should be doing similar things to embrace an online community instead of just copying their print content to their website. Periodic news magazines have no chance over the long run against their own online competitors. But magazines like JPG Mag, which people want to keep and display over the long run, can be successful. If they come up with the right way to bridge the online and offline worlds.

The latest issue covers:

What do photographers see when we shoot ourselves? In our Self-Portraiture theme, you’ll find 26 photographers’ takes on themselves, plus an interview with Noah Kalina on his eternal self-portraiture project, 10 tips for better mirror shots from Heather Champ of The Mirror Project, and a conversation with Michelle Howley on Self Portrait Day.

I just downloaded it and the magazine features some really nice photos. Maybe you want to try it out (and don’t forget: it is free!)

jpgmag.com

Gary Shenk, new Presi of Corbis, in an interview:

Chris Ferrone: What’s your take on the micro-stock phenomenon? Where, if at all, does micro-stock fit into Corbis’ plans?

Gary Shenk: Looking at the industry over-all, micro-stock is a very small part of the business, but growing fast. Corbis has most of our business at the higher end of the market and as a result we haven’t felt a huge hit from micro. We know only a few of our customers also use micro-sites. Most of our customers want greater quality and rights protection than the micro sites are able to provide.
While I believe micro-stock will continue to grow I don’t believe it will evolve into a huge market anytime soon or have a cataclysmic effect on our industry. The “scary math” will apply to a certain low end of the customer base, but at the same time it potentially brings new customers into the market who have never bought pictures before. It’s also an interesting way to source photography — a way to find the next great stock photographer and pull them up to higher price points. It becomes the “farm club” of the future.

Full interview on aboutheimage.com