New York Times: The image of a shrinking path
The New York Times published an article about the shake-up in the photography industry, this includes quotes by Getty Images CEO, Jonathan Klein
Mr. Eich and Ms. Pruitt illustrate the huge shake-up in photography during the last decade. Amateurs, happy to accept small checks for snapshots of children and sunsets, have increasing opportunities to make money on photos but are underpricing professional photographers and leaving them with limited career options. Professionals are also being hurt because magazines and newspapers are cutting pages or shutting altogether.
“The quality of licensed imagery is virtually indistinguishable now from the quality of images they might commission,” Mr. Klein said. Yet “the price point that the client, or customer, is charged is a fraction of the price point which they would pay for a professional image.” In 2005, Getty Images licensed 1.4 million preshot commercial photos. Last year, it licensed 22 million — and “all of the growth was through our user-generated business,” Mr. Klein said.
Read more: The image of a shrinking path
Picture: Stock Exchange | Slide | Joy-Freschly
I lived and worked in NY for many years and today I live in Rio, Brazil. The same thing is happening here, but one fact is making it even worst: is happening in commercial photography! A lot of clients are shooting catalogs with “photographers” that just bought a basic DSLR kit and know a little of Photoshop. Is enough to impress the client who doesn’t know how to evaluate if the subject is well lit, or if it could be done better. All he knows is that he can recognize his product and that he paid only 10% of the total estimate he had from a real pro. I’m not even mentioning anything about usage rights and etc… for sure he doesn’t know what it is…