MESSAGE FROM OUR PRESIDENT
Maria Kessler
Why Should I Care about the Google Books Settlement?
On March 13, the literati of the publishing and media worlds gathered at Columbia University Law School in New York to discuss the Google Books Settlement (The Authors Guild, Inc. et al. v. Google Inc.- October 2008). The day's focus was what the settlement would mean for the future of rights holders directly or indirectly involved in the settlement agreement.
Looking around the auditorium of 200 seats, nearly every chair was filled. The room was teeming with authors, scholars, publishers, agents, attorneys, and a number of representatives from trade associations advocating copyright (AAP, ASMP, ASPP, and PACA). The attendees all had a common purpose. They were concerned about the topic at hand and they needed to better understand how the settlement would affect their day-to-day business going forward.
The day opened with a brief, chronological synopsis, beginning with Google's scanning books at university libraries as early as the fall of 2005. Google claimed a Fair Use defense and continued to scan without permission. These actions were met with a class action lawsuit. Ultimately, after two years of negotiations, the Authors Guild, the Association of America Publishers (AAP) and Google hammered out an amicable resolution. While the settlement does end the arduous and costly litigation, it only involves three parties and has far-reaching ramifications. [A copy of the settlement document is available online. The facts and parties are far more complex that I can describe here.]
Marybeth Peters, the Register of Copyrights at the U.S. Copyright Office, raised her first issues about future concerns with the settlement. At the heart of her concern was whether the settlement obviated the work of legislation. Usually settlements look backwards and correct an injustice. This settlement goes into great detail to establish a new working model for licensing in the publishing industry. Ms. Peters raised the question as to whether the settlement becomes de facto legislation that did not go through Congress. Ms. Peters went so far as to intimate that the settlement could be seen as a compulsory license for the benefit of one private company, Google. Another notable concern was whether the settlement attempts to bypass years of constituents contributing to carefully crafted language in Orphan Works legislation. There were other major issues, but these are the most notable items that pertain to our industry and the work we have been involved in.
The next discussion, led by a University of Chicago Law professor, tackled issues of antitrust. With a six-year head start and over six million books copied, who else but Google could legitimately compete? The settlement does establish that other organizations can compete, but it is restricted to the same terms as Google, under a “most favored nations” clause that extends for ten years. This was a complex discussion that did not favor one conclusion over another, but the points raised certainly made one wonder whether the Department of Justice has looked into this.
A key focus of the settlement establishes a Books Registry. The Registry is balanced by an equal Board of authors and publishers, and is meant to govern equitable royalty payouts and arbitration matters. However, a close look at the new Books Registry raised some eyebrows. The initial selection of Board members, the continued neutrality, and the transparency of such an organization were squarely in question. The Registry is clearly governed by the Authors Guild and the AAP, but has no obligation to appoint members of the Freelance Writers or any other trade association. It was not lost either that the Copyright Clearance Center (CCC), a clearinghouse for content for the past 30 years, was not even consulted or advised during the Registry discussions of the settlement. The CCC currently has the working infrastructure, search engine, and sophistication to manage complicated rights clearances and royalty payouts (between multiple and consecutive rights holders) but the CCC was not even considered and the settlement creates a new registry.
And now to the whole Orphan Works issue: Under the settlement, an author who may have had a work scanned/copied as part of the six million books already copied needs to a) have registered the work by Jan. 5, 2009 and b) provide notice of their intent to opt out of the settlement by May 5, 2009. If registration is not provided, they may have lost their protected status. If notice is not given by May 5, they are considered “in” the settlement. If their works go unclaimed for five years, the corpus of the royalties are not turned over to benefit the public good, but the royalties are distributed to the other rights holders who did come forward. So some authors get a windfall at the expense of the still orphaned works. Isn’t it the point that an orphan work is such because the author is unknown? How on earth would an author have known to opt in by the deadline? While the attorneys for the settlement parties defended their extensive notice program, this still seems to be a head-scratcher. Another important point on the Orphan Works issue is that this settlement allows Google to use books that are essentially “orphan works” without any legislation. It is significant because all legislation proposed has required the user to do a diligent search of each work and would discourage wholesale uses of orphan works. In this settlement, Google can make full display use of out of print books unless the copyright owner affirmatively claims the works. Again, deadlines for the unknown author to provide notice determine the outcome. Have you seen one of these notices looking for authors? I certainly have not.
The American Society of Media Photographers Inc. (ASMP) was also featured as a member on a panel. The main position taken by AMSP was“How do I get my share?” Photographs were specifically excluded for a majority of the works covered by the settlement (except children’s books, which are likely to be predominantly image based). While my instinct recoils at holding out my hand for a cut of a cut in this whole settlement process, I believe that ASMP has a point and our rights have been trod upon indirectly as well. The works copied exclude many of the images that complete these works. How will we be ensured of fair compensation?
Admittedly, Google makes no secret that at the heart of the case is their desire to improve the Google search. When performing a search and receiving your best results by finding books and seeing the available text, this improves the customer experience. Being able to provide the entire book with pictures and inserts improves the search experience even further. Hmmm, nothing was mentioned about what happens when Google alone decides to change their algorithms (which could benefit or impair certain works). Nor did Google mention their Google-reader that may be a “Kindle-buster.”
So, this is a long article that only reviews a mere portion of the discussions and issues that were raised on the March 13. My views are certainly biased towards the rights holders; however, I have tried to be as objective as possible. So, why should we care? You should care because this settlement will create a change in the way contracts are structured in the publishing industry. It changes the players and it does nothing to stop Google from continuing their program of scanning books under what they determine is Fair Use. Does this little opening of the door lead to further erosion of copyright? Does this little fissure change how our laws are written or approached? Indeed, the future is quite uncertain. Unfortunately, PACA was not consulted nor were we a party to the decisions made in the settlement.
To be fair, there were a number of panelists who were happy about the settlement. They see this as a means to possibly re-monetize “out of print” works, and a means to disseminate works to a whole new global network of potential readers. It was mentioned a few different times that “books are created to be read.”
On June 11, 2009, the Court will rule whether the settlement is fair and reasonable. There is no reason to believe the Court will determine otherwise. Certainly, this issue is not the foremost issue in our lawmakers minds at the moment. Marybeth Peters was quick to point out that generally in areas that affect the copyright laws, she hears from certain members of Congress. Out of 535 representatives, no one has made any inquiries about the settlement to date.
Do I play the role of a Cassandra here? If this article moves you to read the settlement or explore its ramifications, I have done my job. There is no question that this is a seminal settlement for copyright. I am not sure what role PACA can play here, but we will certainly be following this further. I can only hope that the results invigorate licensing commerce, and do not restrict or put a pall on creativity. I do like to see the future as optimistic. I just wonder who is making the decisions.
I would be completely remiss if I did not mention that this important meeting and discussion was organized in part by our own General Counsel, Nancy Wolff. As you may know, Nancy is also a partner at the firm Cowan, DeBaets, Abrahams & Sheppard, LLP, a law firm that has many vested clients in many forms of media (on both sides of the argument), including publishing, broadcast, audio and photography. Nancy, on behalf of PACA, has been keeping a watchful eye on this evolving case for quite some time now. I thank her for helping “stir” us up.
Merely reporting in my own words,
Maria Kessler
Jupiterimages/PACA President
BYLAW CHANGES PROPOSAL
The Executive Committee is proposing a change to the bylaws for the qualifications of President. Currently, the bylaws require the person who holds the position of President to remain the voting or listing individual for the Member throughout the entire term of office. This is not required for any other position. It is legacy language based on prior bylaws written at a time before there were mergers and so much consolidation within the industry.
With respect to other officers, the operating manual allows the Executive Committee to permit an officer, other than the President, who leaves the employment of the Voting member to retain his or her officer position if he or she becomes a friend of PACA within 60 days. Because of the bylaw constraint, the Operating Manual did not allow the Executive Committee to make this election for President.
Currently, PACA finds itself in a position where the person who is currently serving as President will not be able to serve the full term because of this restriction in the bylaws, as a result of the purchase of Jupiterimages by Getty Images. However, this problem could face every future Board as persons may change jobs within a two-year period. The rationale for permitting any officer to maintain their position is that if the officer is still active in the industry and retains a membership, even as a Friend of PACA, that officer will ably serve the organization and consider the interests of the industry. In essence, at this time we are asking that the bylaws be amended such that the office of President is not treated differently than the other board offices. Since the Board must elect to have the officer retain his or her position, there are appropriate checks in place to insure that the interests of the organization are being met.
The old language is as follows:
QUALIFICATIONS FOR OFFICE — Any Voting or Listed Individual from any Voting Member in good standing shall be eligible for nomination and election to the office of President, providing the individual shall have previously served not less than two (2) full years as a Committee Chair, or one term as an elected member of the Executive Committee and provided that, if elected, this individual must be the Voting Individual for that Voting member and must remain the Voting Individual for the term of this individual's Presidency and may not be represented by a proxy. Any Voting member or listed individual in good standing shall be eligible for nomination and election to the office of Vice-President, Secretary, and Treasurer or Officer-at-Large.
We propose to replace Section 6.3 with the following:
QUALIFICATIONS FOR OFFICE — Any Voting member or listed individual from any Voting Member in good standing shall be eligible for nomination and election to the office of President, providing the individual shall have previously served not less than two (2) full years as a Committee Chair, or one term as an elected member of the Executive Committee. Any Voting member or listed individual in good standing shall be eligible for nomination and election to the office of Vice-President, Secretary, and Treasurer or Officer-at-Large.
Please contact Cathy Aron at execdirector@pacaoffice.org if you have any questions regarding this proposal. The vote on this amendment will take place Sunday, April 19, at the PACA 2009 "Best Practices" Symposium in Chicago.
strategize and save at “BEST PRACTICES” SYMPOSIUM:
New session added to chicago program
By popular demand, we've added a session to our meeting! "Strategies for an Economic Downturn: Diversification and Negotiation" is a round-table discussion sure to pique your interest. We'll have veteran industry leaders sharing their experiences and participants brainstorming new business strategies that address these trying times.
This session is only one event in an entire weekend reflective of our members' interests. PACA appreciates our members' suggestions and we're putting together a great Symposium lineup, including:
- "Where Did This Image Come From?"—Techniques buyers can use to track down orphaned images and what agencies can do to make it easier.
- Preparing for Court: "If You're Called to Testify"—Whether you're a professional witness or giving a deposition, be prepared for their questions.
- "The Next Best Practice?"—The newest technologies and how they may become tomorrow's Best Practices. Vendor presentations of LTU's visual search solutions, ImageSpan's PLUS-compliant licensing engine, and The Copyright Registry™ for orphaned works and usage enforcement by StockPhotoFinder.
- "Stock 2.0: Next Generation of Stock Photography"—Social networking sites have become the newest place to bring in business. Panel presentation and roundtable discussion on staying current with the Internet.
- Art Buyer's Panel—Our most popular session! Hear what your customers have to say about their buying habits.
- "Copyright, the Digital Economy, and You"—Presented by Patrick Ross, Executive Director of the Copyright Alliance. Covers copyright legislation and education on a broad scale.
To aid you in your strategizing and networking, we've made attending the PACA 2009 "Best Practices” Symposium even more affordable. We've renegotiated the room rates at the Millennium Knickerbocker Hotel down to $139 per night. If you combine this with the early-bird discount that expires on Friday, March 20, you'll save at least $125 on a two-night stay. The hotel discount expires Thursday, March 26, so reserve your room now.
Don't wait another moment. Register today!
Best wishes,
Carissa Fair
Program Chair
Nancy Wolff
TASINI RERUN: CAN A COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT SETTLEMENT INCLUDE WORKS THAT WERE NEVER REGISTERED?
The Supreme Court of the United States has begun the long process of granting certiorari over a matter that could well determine the fate of the rights of unregistered works. Just two weeks ago, on March 2, 2009, the Court agreed to decide whether the lack of copyright registration precluded federal courts from settling copyright infringement cases. This issue comes to the court after the United States Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit, in Reed Elvesier v. Muchnick, overturned a $18 million settlement in a class action lawsuit brought on behalf of freelance writers who had had their works reproduced online without their express permission.
The 2nd Circuit found that the majority (upwards of 90%) of the works, within the claim, were unregistered and therefore, precluded the court from ruling based on a lack of jurisdiction pursuant to the Copyright Act, which requires one to register a copyright before being able to bring suit for infringement. The decision by the 2nd Circuit was promptly appealed by both parties, as this case has been recognized as one that presents an issue of extreme importance to archival databases, newspapers and magazine publishers and freelance authors.
There indeed seems to be much confusion surrounding this case, as the settlement reached in Reed flowed from the Supreme Court’s ruling in New York Times v. Tasini, in which freelance writers’ right to compensation for reproductions of their work online was vindicated. The mere fact that the majority of freelance works are not formally registered only highlights the vast importance of the Supreme Court’s decision on this issue. Furthermore, the implications spread further than one might imagine. In the wake of the 2nd Circuits decision in Reed, Google, the Author’s Guild and the Association of American Publishers reached a narrowly tailored settlement agreement for the operation of Google Books, covering exclusively works registered as of January 2009. Should the Supreme Court reverse the 2nd Circuit, negotiations could be opened to include unregistered works into the agreement reached with Google. Indeed, we can only wait with bated breath as Amicus Briefs and oral arguments are hurriedly prepared for the fall.
SHEPPARD FAIREY CHALLENGES AP, AP FIGHTS BACK TO PROTECT PHOTOJOURNALISM
They say imitation is the sincerest form flattery, but many would rather you leave their artwork alone. Indeed, the Copyright Act explicitly prevents those who wish to copy or make derivative works from your original art work without permission. And while some exceptions are made in the form of Fair Use, for the most part absent “transformation” the use of another’s work is forbidden. The question that has been thrown into the limelight in the wake of Barrack Obama’s historic rise to the presidency is how much or rather how little transformation is required to claim fair use. Little did we think that perhaps one of the most controversial issues to stem from President Obama’s campaign would be over the production of a poster, but an important lawsuit has arose pitting the Associated Press against famed graphic artist Shepard Fairey.
Fairey has become known as an artist who skirts the line between stylized copying and fair use. Needless to say he is no stranger to the copyright system. He himself has even asserted that other artists unjustly copied his work, most recently sending a cease-and-desist letter to artist Baxter Orr for copying his OBEY image. Thus, it came as a bit of a surprise when in early February 2009, Fairey filed a complaint for a declaratory judgment stating that his use of an AP image for his poster “HOPE” was fair use after negotiations had already begun between his lawyers and AP for permission. The image in question was originally taken by Mannie Garcia, a staff photographer working AP, in April 2006. It is Fairey’s contention that the Poster conveyed a different message that is not analogous to the original photograph and thus does not require AP’s permission. AP disagrees and on March 11, 2009, filed an Answer and Counterclaim asserting that Fairey and his various companies have done nothing but deliberately copy the photograph, relying on the underlying photograph’s expression as the basis of the poster. As a result of the copying, AP claims that Fairey and his entities have illegally profited off of merchandise that bears the image. Furthermore, AP asserted in the counterclaim that they made efforts to enter into a licensing agreement where proceeds received from Fairey’s past use, would be contributed by AP to the Associated Press Emergency Relief Fund, a charitable fund which distributes grants to staff and their families who are victims of natural disasters and conflicts.
Indeed, the stage has been set for an epic battle pitting a well-known artist, who has created the one of the most recognized posters to date, and the AP, who wishes to protect the image that they claim is rightfully theirs, preserve income from the use of its works, and acknowledge the creativity that is involved in the art of photojournalism. It should be noted that the AP has a licensing business in which it grants licenses for commercial uses including derivative works based on its images for a fee. As the poster is clearly a derivative work, the issue will turn on the sufficient amount of change or commentary on the original work required to constitute transformation under the fair-use doctrine. As the court must on a case by case basis analyze the fair-use factors proscribed by the Copyright Act, no absolute rules control whether the fair-use doctrine is appropriate or not. And while the word “hope” has been thrown around a lot of late, AP will certainly be hoping that the court finds Fairey’s use to be insufficiently transformative. The AP’s countersuit is worth a read and is located on the AP website at www.ap.org/iprights.
Look for yourself and you decide:
The cheapest way to travel to the 2009 CEPIC Congress is to fly to Berlin and then drive or take the train to Dresden. US or overseas companies in particular may halve their travel costs if they travel via Berlin.
To further support our delegates, we are providing a free bus from Berlin to Dresden, and back. The bus is sponsored by Fotofinder, a Berlin-based company running Germany's biggest online portal for RF and RM photography. At the moment, we have scheduled the bus to arrive at Dresden in the early afternoon on Wednesday, June 3, and return to Berlin in the afternoon of Sunday, June 7. For the ride, Fotofinder will be providing some drinks and snacks.
If you are interested in a one-way or round-trip ticket, and you have not yet registered for the Congress, you may book it during regular registration at
cepic.org/english/congress/2009/booking_open.php.
Delegates who have already registered for the Congress may book their bus seats at eventus.trippus.se/dresden2009/separate_booking. This is also true for other Congress events, such as Golf, the Gala Dinner, the visit of Frauenkirche, the Sunday City Tour...
Fotofinder will contact delegates to confirm their bus booking. Since it is a free service, we need to be sure that seats are confirmed and not taken away from other interested delegates. And we need to plan ahead for a second bus as well!
It will be a fun drive from the dazzling capital city of Germany to the charming capital city of Saxony, and back. For those who prefer the train, information on itinerary, schedule, and costs are provided below.
| Arrival at either TEGEL or SCHÖNEFELD Airport |
Taxi from either airport to station is 15 minutes, and cost € 10 |
| The same schedule applies every day |
The cost of a one-way ticket is € 29 |
| |
 |
Wednesday, June 3 |
|
|
DEPARTURE from BERLIN |
ARRIVAL at DRESDEN |
Berlin Hauptbahnhof |
Berlin Südkreuz |
Dresden Neustadt |
Dresden Hauptbahnhof |
06.31 H |
06.38 H |
09.06 H |
09.07 H |
08.54 H |
09.02 H |
11.14 H |
11.15 H |
10.54 H |
11.00 H |
13.14 H |
13.15 H |
12.54 H |
13.01 H |
15.14 H |
15.15 H |
14.54 H |
15.01 H |
17.14 H |
17.15 H |
16.54 H |
17.01 H |
19.14 H |
19.15 H |
18.54 H |
19.01 H |
21.14 H |
21.15 H |
|
|
|
|
Sunday, June 7 |
|
|
DEPARTURE from DRESDEN |
ARRIVAL at BERLIN |
Dresden Hauptbahnhof |
Dresden Neustadt |
Berlin Südkreuz |
Berlin Hauptbahnhof |
07.04 H |
07.12 H |
09.12 H |
09.19 H |
09.04 H |
09.12 H |
11.12 H |
11.19 H |
11.04 H |
11.12 H |
13.12 H |
13.19 H |
Etc. until 19.04 H … |
|
|
|
Multilingual train reservations available online at www.bahn.de. |
Best regards,
Sylvie Fodor
CEPIC Congress 2009
s.fodor@cepic.org
www.cepic.org
How was 2008 compared to 2007? What are industry trends in the production and sale of stock images? Selling-Stock has launched a survey (www.jimpickerell.com/surveyshared.aspx) to gather information from photographers, designers and illustrators concerning their 2008 income and cost of doing business.
Click here to review our 2007 Income Survey results. The 2008 survey asks the same questions and will provide comparative numbers enabling creators to make informed decisions about trends.
In this rapidly changing and challenging business environment, many image creators are adjusting their business strategies. Some freelance stock photographers are turning to assignments. For others a staff position, possibly even in a non-related field, is their primary source of income and the revenue earned from freelance work is only a secondary income source. Conversely, amateurs with no expectations of ever earning a living from photography are finding that selling stock can be a lucrative and rewarding supplement to their income.
Many freelance photographers sell into multiple segments of the photography industry. To understand the importance of each we ask photographers the percentage of their gross photography revenue that falls into several segments of the industry. This will help us understand the changing relationships between freelance newspaper and magazine assignment work, advertising and corporate work and pure stock sales.
Selling-Stock encourages every photographer, graphic designer and illustrator who licensed rights to images in 2008—be it for a few hundred dollars or tens of thousand—to respond to the survey’s nine simple questions. The survey will remain open until April 15, 2009. An in-depth analysis of the results will be published in Selling-Stock.
The survey is designed to gather data from individual creators, not agencies or other organizations that represent creator’s work. However, organizations engaged in licensing images are asked to encourage their image suppliers to participate. Image production companies that produce images specifically for licensing as stock are also asked to respond. Those interested can respond to the survey by going to www.jimpickerell.com/surveyshared.aspx. The more data we can collect, the greater the validity of the results.
All individual responses will be held in strictest confidence and no attempt will be made to identify specific individuals.
The Stock Artists Alliance, the only trade association dedicated to the interests of professional stock photographers, is pleased to announce its new Board of Directors and Officers:
- Shannon Fagan, President
- Gandee Vasan, Vice President
- Mark Hall, Treasurer
- Kim Karpeles, Secretary
- Wayne Chasan
- Saxon Holt
- David McGlynn
SAA's leadership represents the diversity of professional photographers involved in stock licensing. This year's board members include both commercial oriented production shooters and editorial specialists. Their stock imagery is represented by major distributors, niche libraries, and via direct marketing. Like SAA's membership, they are geographically diverse, with this year's board members coming from the United States, U.K., and Spain.
SAA President Shannon Fagan states, "These are both exciting times and turbulent times for photographers engaged in stock licensing. The resources and information sharing within the SAA membership, combined with our track record as an effective industry advocate, brighten our prospects for the future and our community as a whole."
Contact:
Shannon Fagan
SAA President
shannon@stockartistsalliance.org
www.stockartistsalliance.org
We are pleased to announce that Picturehouse Chicago has sold out! We'd like to thank all of you who will be joining us at the event.
We are expecting record turn out this year thanks to the addition of Nancy Wolffs' copyright session and to working with a number of the buyer associations who are helping us to promote our event to their membership base. (AIGA Chicago, Chicago AMA, Chicago Advertising Federation and Business Marketing Association)
Stay tuned for the release of our next big event New York, bookings will open the end of April!
With kind regards,
Deborah Free
President, Picturehouse Marketing US LLC
585/768-7880
deborah@picturehouse-us.com
www.picturehouse-us.com
The modern, technologically-savvy African of today is the focus of a new product being launched by Africa Media Online, the South African company that specializes in giving African photographers a voice and an opportunity to tell Africa's story. This CD, called africa@street level, is the second in a series of multiple usage image compilations that enable buyers to reuse photographs a number of times, on a number of platforms, for a one-time fee.
"The market is saturated with the image of the rural, poverty-stricken African," according to Dominique le Roux, Africa Media Online's Media Manager. A group of emerging African photographers was challenged to break that stereotype and the result is a collection of images of urban, healthy Africans in real-life candid moments—on cell phones, listening to iPods, driving great cars, commuting to work, in love in the city, hanging out on the streets or at cafés—all presented here on a single CD.
While the concept of a CD of such images, traditionally referred to as 'royalty-free', is not a new one, the company has gone a step further than most. Not only are all images model-released, but many of the models share in the proceeds from the sale of the images. And, of course, all the photographers involved are Africans, too. This philosophy of sustainable profit sharing is very much at the heart of what Africa Media Online as an organization is all about.
The africa@street level CD, like all those that will be launched in the coming months, is available as an actual physical CD, or as a downloadable collection from Africa Media Online's image library at www.africanpictures.net, and includes high, medium and low-resolution versions of each image.
To view the images, go to www.africanpictures.net. To order, contact pictures@africanpictures.net.
To thank PACA for their support for the last two years, we are pleased to offer a special keywording price to all General and International PACA members from now until the end of April. We are offering 30% off our standard keywording rates if you send 3000+ images by April 30th. These images/spreadsheets (in the case of Alamy) will be returned to you in May/June.
You will soon be contacted with the details of the promotion, however if you have any immediate queries please email Marketing Manager Suzie Espie at Suzie@keedup.com or call on +64 9 5245885 and she will be happy to assist you. Also, please ensure you email us your company name and number.
With the recession upon us, this is a great opportunity to get a stand-up keywording job done at excellent rates. As we all know, images sales can’t be made if you images are simply not found.
We look forward to hearing from you.
Keedup Ltd
www.keedup.com
www.keywordingcentral.com
+64 9 5245885
+64 21 2789433
Acclaimed professional automobile and animal photographer, Ron Kimball, has won the prestigious award of “Most Beautiful Book of the Year” at the Festival Automobile International held February 11-15, 2009, in Paris, France. Now in its 24th year, the Festival was established to recognize innovative and artistic auto design. The annual event presents awards for “Concept Car of the Year,” “Most Beautiful Supercar of the Year,” and other various awards to top industry leaders.
The 200-page, oversized book—rightfully named "Automobiles: Elegance on Wheels" —features spectacular studio imagery of some of the most important and inspiring automobiles ever made. The astounding photography celebrates the essence and innovation of fine automotive design. Automobiles is a breathtaking look at a broad range of vehicles photographed with Ron Kimball’s unique perspective.
In his 30+ year career, Ron Kimball has been recognized as one of the world’s premiere automotive photographers. He has succeeded in capturing strikingly detailed images of vehicles dating back to 1897, and has one of the most comprehensive image collections in the industry. He has accomplished great feats in photography including running Ron Kimball Studios, a highly successful photography studio, and opening a stock photography agency, Kimball Stock. Both service the print and digital needs of ad agencies and publishers around the world. The company’s million-strong image collection includes all of Ron Kimball’s automotive photography, as well as animal photography from other high-profile wildlife and domestic animal photographers.
For more information, please visit www.kimballstock.com and www.kimballstudios.com.
Photos/multimedia gallery available at www.businesswire.com/cgi-bin/mmg.cgi?eid=5919311&lang=en.
Environmental issues are in the spotlight again at an exhibition by OnAsia photographers (www.onasia.com) opening on March 20th at Foreign Correspondent’s Club of Thailand (www.fccthai.com) located in the Maneeya Building in central Bangkok.
The images are by OnAsia photographers working in different parts of Asia and constitute an eye-opening visual account of the environmental destruction being wrought throughout the region, often in the name of progress.
The pictures were selected by OnAsia's editors from a wide range of environment-related imagery contributed by 14 of the agency’s photographers.
Documentary in style, the exhibition illustrates key environmental issues such as air and water pollution, deforestation and global warming. It also includes photographs depicting the effect that rapid development and the destruction of the natural environment is having on indigenous wildlife. One particularly arresting image shows a wheelbarrow full of baby orangutans at a rescue centre in Borneo, where these fascinating primates are being increasingly threatened by deforestation.
"At OnAsia, we're lucky to be working with some of the leading photographic talents in this region and this is certainly one of the most pressing issues there is to cover, not just in Asia, but globally,” said Olivier Nilsson, the agency's Senior Editor. "We have a significant and growing photographic archive depicting many different aspects of environmental degradation in Asia and felt that the time was right to show it as a coherent exhibit."
Launched at the Perpignan International photojournalism festival in 2003, OnAsia has become the leading Asia-specialised editorial photo agency. OnAsia has an online archive of over 180,000 high resolution images that has become a preferred resource for leading publications around the world. The agency also represents around 180 photographers living and working throughout the region. Its photographers cover a wide variety of subjects from political and social trends, through gritty photo reportage to more colourful, and even humorous, travel and illustration imagery. OnAsia also has a growing historical archive.
OnAsia's environmental exhibition will run until April 10. Opening times are Monday-Friday 10:00 a.m. until 11:00 p.m.
For more information please contact info@onasia.com.
Munich-based picturemaxx AG, operator of Europe’s leading network for media purchasing and marketing, is characterised by growth even in times of global economic turbulence. March 31, 2009, will see the German technology provider open up its headquarters for Northern, Central, Eastern, and Southern Europe in Vienna—picturemaxx CEE GmbH. In the future, Vienna is to be the base from where all existing publishing and picture agency customers, such as those in Scandinavia, Austria, and neighbouring countries in Eastern Europe, are to be serviced on an even more demand-oriented basis and from where new market potential is to be developed.
“In Germany, we have achieved a penetration of just under 90% in the picture market," explains Bernd Czichon, CEO at picturemaxx AG. “It therefore seems only logical that we make our product portfolio accessible to a wider customer base in the future.“
The German technology company has brought on board as a partner Austrian media consultancy Page Seven, headed by Gerhard and Eva Bauer. Gerhard Bauer will also assume management responsibilities for the newly founded picturemaxx CEE company. With around 15 years experience in the publishing house business, the consultancy duo brings comprehensive expertise to the partnership.
Most recently, Gerhard Bauer was Managing Director of Bull Verlag (owned by Red Bull founder Dietrich Mateschitz) as well as Managing Director of Red Bull Creative. Before that he was Head of Publishing at mobile communications provider Hutchison as well as business editor for the Format magazine.
Eva Bauer has many years experience as chief photo editor at publishing group News, at the Seitenblicke magazine and lastly at Red Bull Creative. In her consultative role, she will make her expertise available to customers of picturemaxx CEE. “In just a few years, picturemaxx has established itself as the de facto standard for picture sourcing and picture marketing in the European media market. On the one hand we are helping media businesses to radically sink their research overhead, and on the other we are offering content providers, such as publishing houses, photo agencies and TV broadcasters, the ability to market their images, graphics, video clips, audio files and texts within an international network," says picturemaxx CEE Managing Director Gerhard Bauer, describing the product range to be offered to future customers.
The network currently comprises of more than 250 affiliated picture and media agencies, amongst them international giants like AP, dpa, AFP, Corbis and Getty Images, as well as more than 7000 customers from over 500 magazine and newspaper publishers, advertising agencies and communication departments of large corporations.
Contact:
Britta Milde
britta.milde@picturemaxx.com
The German stock agency vario images freed from work its media and information service apprentices to help to manage the incurred damages of the collapsed Historical Archive of Cologne.
The main part of this work is to prepare the papers and documents from the archive for the subsequent lyophilization. As a concrete plan of action, cleaning the works and packaging the historical documents are on the agenda for both vario trainees.
vario images is a well-established German stock agency. Since 1989, the German agency has been producing and distributing editorial images, then under the name vario press. Since 2006, the owner-managed agency has been trading under the name vario images, mainly because of the creative extension and the consequent enlargement of its image content. The contemporary portfolio is characterized by a variety of image styles and contains creative and editorial imagery just as current news pictures. vario presents surprising eye-catchers with an outstanding and exceptional image language under its sub-label Coverpixx. The wide-ranged image stock implicates Rights Managed-licensing as well as Royalty Free-photography. vario images is a member of the German association of picture libraries and agencies (BVPA).
For further information, contact presse@vario-images.com.