Tony Stone joins microstock agency Vivozoom

Tony Stone, founder of the iconic stock photography agency Tony Stone Images (now the Stone  collection at Getty Images) has joined microstock agency Vivozoom . He will lead creative strategy at the Jacksonville agency. Industry veteran Stone was brought in by Vivozoom CEO Lawrence Gould, who previously worked as CFO at both Getty Images  and Tony Stone images. Vivozoom prides itself on being 40% cheaper than microstock marketleader iStockphoto and by offering a guarantee on its image files.

Tony Stone Images was a groundbreaking stock photography agency and the first acquisition of Getty Images. The agencies method was to closely target the imagery in its collection to ensure a focus on multiple sellers. This focus on a relatively small number of images was particularly important in an anologue era, where the cost of shipping images across the world was significant. This philosophy may still be relevant in a world flooded with images and this may be what Stone’s brief is for his ne roles at Vivozoom.   Lawrence Gould says:

“We believe in high quality, and that includes honesty to the photographer and legal clearance, at low prices, it’s very simple. If images are taken by creative photographers and selected by well trained editors, a library can create ideas and inspiration for the designer. You don’t need millions of pictures, you need really effective images, beautifully shot, that you can use safely, at a low price. That’s what Tony did for Getty Images – and that’s what we are doing at www.vivozoom.com ”