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July 28, 2006
Index Stock Imagery Enjoys New Alliance with Cellfish Media LLC
Index Stock Imagery Enjoys New Alliance with Cellfish Media LLC
NewYork, 2006 – Index Stock Imagery, The Independent Choice for Your Imagination, enjoys a new alliance with Cellfish Media LLC, a division of Lagardere Active. Working with its “small office/home office” division, Photos To Go, www.photostogo.com, Index will provide contemporary and fun imagery for use as cell phone wallpaper for Cellfish worldwide wireless clientele.
Today millions of users are enjoying access to “infotainment” in the form of images, music, videos and ringtones focused on the tech savvy media generation. Photos To Go will supply up to one hundred new images per month that cell users will be able to download and enjoy. Millions of images are downloaded per month worldwide in this industry.
Mike Kaltschnee, VP of Business Development: “We’re excited that Cellfish Media has licensed Index images to use as cell phone wallpaper, and we’ll be providing a wide variety of photos from our 1,700 professional photographers to help keep the Cellfish Media products interesting and up-to-date.”
“We’re constantly looking to bring our customers the most compelling content available. Simply, Index Stock brings us an exhaustive catalog of the highest quality,” says Jonathan Dworkin, VP of A&R for Cellfish Media.
About Cellfish Media LLC
Cellfish Media LLC a division of Lagardere Active, creates and distributes original branded content including ringtones, wallpapers, animations, games and applications. Its divisions feature some of today’s biggest music artists (Lil Jon, Tego Calderon, Q-tip, Pitbull and Emilio Estefan) and includes Barrio Mobile, BlingGames and the widely acclaimed BlingTones, the world’s first wireless record label. Headquartered in New York City, Cellfish Media LLC brings together a team of 250 skilled professionals and generated 2005 revenues of $116 million.
About Index Stock
Index Stock Imagery, Inc.™ The Independent Choice For Your Imagination, is an award winning and innovative supplier of photographs, illustrations, and digital images. It represents over 1,700 professional photographers and 80 independent still image providers and has agents in 70 foreign countries. It represents dozens of domestic collections and has 1,000,000 images available online, of which 250,000 are Royalty Free images. Index was the first stock agency to begin storing and distributing images electronically. It started scanning its collection in 1992 and launched its first e-commerce site in 1994. Index’s million-image library is one of the largest and most complete collections of commercially available images in the world. Its four major Web sites, http://www.indexstock.com, http://www.indexopen.com, http://www.photostogo.com, and http://www.photostogounlimited.com, support emailable lightboxes, e-commerce shopping, prints, posters, postcards, cell phone wallpapers, and customized price grids and high-res comps, for qualified customers in the high end design, Web marketing, small business and consumer marketplaces. Index Open and Photostogo Unlimited are subscription services offering access to over 80,000 high quality images for a set monthly price.
Index Stock Imagery, Inc. is a registered trademark. For more information on the Company, please visit its corporate Web site at www.indexstockimagery.com.
Contact:
Pat Hunt
path@indexstock.com
Posted by Pat at 08:42 PM | Comments (0)
RLG - Unique and Amazing Imagery
RLG - Unique and Amazing Imagery
RLG, or www.rlg.org, is one of those organizations you rarely hear about, but they offer valuable and interesting services on a global scale. RLG is a not-for-profit organization of over 150 members including major libraries, archives, important museums, and various other cultural institutions. Most exciting for the stock photo industry is RLG’s creation of the publicly available web site, Trove.net, indexed by Google and major search engines.
Trove.net offers images from these wonderful and unique collections with descriptive metadata. Trove.net makes these images available for licensing through Index Stock’s Photos To Go, www.photostogo.com and Index Stock Imagery www.indexstock.com Web sites, because of Index’s excellent e-commerce and advanced search capability. Through Index’s commercial marketing infrastructure, these treasured images are easy to access and download.
Index has over 120,000 of the Trove images now on its sites, of which almost 23,000 are available at high resolution. You can see these images on the Index Stock Imagery site at: http://www.indexstock.com/store/search.asp?SearchStr=///direct%204072
The smaller file sizes are available on Photos To Go at:
http://www.photostogo.com/store/search.asp?SearchStr=///direct%204072
RLG was founded in 1974 by Harvard, Yale, Columbia, University of Pennsylvania and The New York Public Library. RLG’s mission is to support researchers and learners worldwide by expanding access to research materials held in libraries, archives, and museums.” Research, innovation and discovery are keywords for RLG, and that has guided their making their unique image collection available to the public. By organizing research information, enabling global resource sharing and fostering digital preservation, they are leaders in information management. Most recently RLG has joined forces with OCLC, the Online Computer Library Center to better serve their respective communities. They share the licensing revenue they generate, with their contributing institutions.
Dan Russelman, President of Index Stock Imagery offers: "Trove.net's amazing collection of culturally and historically relevant material helps Index better serve our professional and consumer market segments. Our editorial customers are excited about the depth of the collection, including subjects not easily found elsewhere like World War Two Japanese-American internment camps, original sketches of patented inventions and historic advertising and packaging labels. Customers visiting the Photostogo.com site can license Trove.net images for posters, cellphone wallpaper and other consumer-oriented applications. So far, Trove.net's great collection of WPA Posters have been very popular with this segment, too."
Just a few recognizable names in the collection are:
American Antiquarian Society
Library of Congress
Natural History Museum
New York University
University of California, Berkeley
University of Oxford
University of Edinburgh
General hard-to-find categories range from architecture and art to literature, medicine, science and technology, along with US and world history. Imagine needing to search for images from such collections as:
-1934 International Longshoremen’s Association and General Strikes of San Francisco.
-Ansel Adams Photographs of Japanese-American Internment at Manzanar.
-Chairman Smiles: Posters from the former Soviet Union, Cuba and China.
-Historic American Sheet Music Collection.
-Glass negatives from the papers of Wilbur and Orville Wright.
-The Discovery and Early Development of Insulin.
-Maps from the National Library of Australia.
-Canterbury Tales.
-Works of William Blake in the Huntington Collections.
-History of Astronomical Observation.
-Russian Children’s Picture Books.
This is just the tip of the iceberg. The treasure “Trove” of collections includes the following:
Anatomia -- Full-page plates and other significant illustrations of human anatomy from 92 rare books, published between 1522 and 1867.
Ansel Adams's Photographs of Japanese-American Internment -- Over 240 important historical photographs taken by Ansel Adams in 1943, documenting the internees at the Manzanar War Relocation Center in California.
Art Education Ephemera -- Probably the largest collection of published material and artifacts relating to art education in America from the early 19th century through the first four decades of the 20th.
Art of Ferdinand Bauer --The most splendid and expensive collection of beautiful drawings of flowers ever produced -- from the original watercolors. They show the range of artistry and the extraordinary level of detail Bauer succeeded in capturing.
Astronomical Observation – Rare historical visual documentation of the history of astronomical observation, from the early pre-telescopic work of Tycho Brahe in the 16th century, through Galileo, to the 19th- and 20th-century work of Hubble, Hale, and the Mt. Wilson Observatory.
California Citrus Labels -- Used for 70 years on the sides of wooden fruit crates, the colorful and decorative 11 x 10-inch labels not only advertised an important agricultural product but also promoted an idyllic image of California aimed at prospective immigrants, investors, and tourists.
Ellesmere Chaucer --The most complete and authoritative source for the text of the Canterbury Tales. 232 vellum leaves, with 23 miniature paintings depicting the Canterbury Pilgrims and many illuminated and decorated borders. Stunning example of an illuminated manuscript.
The Discovery and Early Development of Insulin -- Laboratory notebooks and charts, correspondence, writings, photographs, awards, clippings, scrapbooks, printed ephemera, and artifacts covering this important discovery in 1920-1925.
The First American West: The Ohio River Valley 1750-1820 -- A collection of original historical material documenting the land, peoples, exploration, and transformation of the trans-Appalachian West from the mid-18th to the early 19th century.
History of Chemistry: Images of Scientists, Laboratories, and Apparatus -- Reflects the history of chemistry, particularly before 1850, items on alchemy, early medicine and pharmacology, metallurgy, mineralogy, and pyrotechnics, chemists, the chemical industry, and chemical education.
History of Photomechanical Reproduction -- Spans the history of photomechanical printing to the 20th century. The subject matter is particularly rich in American material, where the emphasis is on what was then new.
Manuscripts of Isaac Newton and His Associates -- Original scientific manuscripts written by Isaac Newton and his contemporaries. Historically and scientifically important documents.
Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts -- These ancient documents delight paleographers, codicologists, art historians, and textual scholars. Lovely calligraphic pages with some illuminations .
Pharmaceutical Trade Cards -- 274 trade cards with whimsical imagery produced in the US and France between 1875 and 1895.
Philadelphia Centennial Exhibition Collection -- Printed material from the 1876 Centennial Exhibition. Advertisements, many of them illustrated, displayed all types of machinery and equipment from manufacturers around the country. A glimpse of late 19th Century technology.
Science in Scotland -- Extensive scientific instrument collection, illustrating the work and lives of many famous Scottish scientists including Lord Kelvin, and the wider impact on the world of science, engineering, and technology.
Star Atlases -- A collection of more than 300 star atlases with constellation maps, presenting examples of works from the "golden age" of the celestial atlas.
Steam Motor Development -- Correspondence, reports, patents, drawings, notebooks and photographs relating to the development of twentieth-century steam technology. Illustrative of innovation in general.
Tebtunis Papyri Collection -- Examples from a collection of papyrus documents that were found in the winter of 1899/1900 at the site of ancient Tebtunis, Egypt. Fabulous examples of papyrus.
Tissandier Collection -- The history of lighter-than air flight in Europe, especially ballooning, from the late 18th to the early 20th century. Fine historical graphical images.
U.S. Steel Photograph Collection -- From the time United States Steel established the city of Gary, Indiana, in 1906, until about 1941, company photographers documented the city, the Gary Works, and life in the city and in the plant. A view of early 20th Century industrialization.
William Allen Collection -- Advertisements received by British-born American manufacturer William Allen for manufacturing equipment from the 1840s to 1906. Snapshot of a manufacturing era.
William Gedney Photographs -- Documentary photography throughout the
United States, in India, and in Europe, from the mid 1950s through the early 1980s. These photographs reveal the lives of others with striking sensitivity. Spectacular photography capturing people and places.
Posted by Pat at 08:15 PM | Comments (0)
July 25, 2006
Now I need a web site too?
By Rick Hornick
Fine, you’ve spent tons of money buying camera equipment, lighting equipment hardware,and all kinds of miscellaneous stuff that has just depleted your bank account to barely a few dollars, all in order to conduct a photography business. Next, you have to upgrade your entire platform and workflow to digital, including computer hardware and software.
However, there is another necessary item in today’s high-tech world. After finally getting your business going, who has time to understand all the jargon of HTML, hyperlinks, ISP’s, servers, Flash animation, uploading, downloading, and FTP? I mean, just when you think you’ve got it all down, there’s another technological marvel we photographers have to embrace to keep up with the business world.
I guess I was lucky. I got in early and cheap. When I thought websites were going to be big, I was just beginning to work with digital files, and was always looking at websites that had pictures on them. Yes, they loaded very slowly at the time of early ‘dial up’ connections. There was much talk of bandwidth increasing, so I had a feeling photographers would soon be another business model needing the internet to promote their work.
Most all designers were using computers and viewing low resolution or FPO (for position only) files for their Quark layouts. I figured it was only a matter of time before we’d all be showing our work online, posting and emailing, and, of course, eventually shooting digitally. Using websites and high resolution files would soon become an integral part of our industry. Even print portfolios would be dismissed over electronic portfolios to be viewed online.
I was lucky because not many people were creating sites 10 years ago, but I happened to find a student who used my business as a school project to learn HTML code and web development. I had to wait a year before it actually went live, but I saved a bit and learned a lot. It surely helped my business at the time, and since then I’ve had two more redesigns done by graphic designers and techies. It’s crucial for almost every business to have website now, whether it’s for the creative display of your work, a searchable database of your inventory, or simply a blog. But do you have to hire a designer and a web developer?
As I said to a friend of mine who asked for a freelance web developer to redo his basic site, “ A good graphic designer probably doesn’t know how to develop a site, and a good web developer probably doesn’t know good design.” So what do you do? My last website update was completed via the purchase of a template, which I think is going to be the way for many businesses to go soon. You can Google web templates and see what’s available. Some are simple web templates, and some actually have “back ends” which allow you to load images and change colors and settings on the fly. With these there are definitely some challenges for the non-technical, but it is surely worth it even if you have to hire a tech to help out. Another alternative, and even easier, is to sign onto Apple’s “iLife “and use “iWeb.” It’s easy for everyone, but does have a relatively static feel in the design and navigation used. So, I would seriously recommend incorporating a website for any creative business.
There are about 100 million computer users globally, and we photographers will never know which ones may be in need of photography until we make our services available to them via the web. Maybe you’ve got a website now but how do the millions of internet users know about your business, and how can they see your portfolio? First thing is to make sure you’re website works well, is simple, clean and is easily navigated. Then check the page titles, also known as meta tags which can have certain keywords used by search engines and spiders that actually scan the web constantly looking for these words, so searches will be successful. Make sure you or your tech person have keywords like photography, New England commercial photographer, portraits, still life, or whatever applies to your business, so your website comes up when people use those particular words in a search. BTW- Flash-only websites do not have meta tags unless the opening page is HTML.
Next, make sure your website is listed and registered with all the search engines. This can be done by Googling search engines and registry. You’ll find a few services that will let you fill out one form and send it off for variety of search engines. Some services may also charge a fee and provide a better result. Also, do a search or your own type of photography, and list your website with as many photography and portfolio listing sites and links as possible. Many of these sites will provide a way to list your business for free.
Remember, we’re way beyond the Yellow pages here. There are millions of possible customers/clients all over the world and the internet has really brought them closer than ever before. That is why you have a website.
Rick Hornick has been one of New England’s top Assignment Photographers for twenty-five years, and has worked on national campaigns for clients such as Alaska Airlines, Benjamin Moore, Boston Acoustics, Crabtree and Evelyn, Philips, Seagrams, Thermo Electron, and TJX. He has taught the Business of Photography at The Art Institute and writes regular articles for publication.
http://www.indexstock.com/store/search.asp?SearchStr=///direct 2090
Posted by Pat at 07:29 PM | Comments (0)
INDEX STOCK OFFERS FREE DEBABELIZER
INDEX STOCK OFFERS FREE DEBABELIZER
New York, 2006 – Index Stock Imagery, The Independent Choice For Your Imagination, is pleased to join with Equilibrium® to offer a free DeBabelizer LE ($149 retail value) with any Index or Index Open purchase. Index will include a $75 rebate coupon towards the purchase of a full copy of DeBabelizer Pro 6.0 for either Mac OS X or Windows XP. Equilibrium will offer customers who purchase DeBabelizer Pro or any Equilibrium server product, a free, one-month Index Open LE subscription (25 downloads per day).
Index Open is the perfect product for users of DeBabelizer. Unlike other stock photo subscription products, Index Open users are allowed to download extremely high resolution images (up to 50MB file size). The 85,000 images in the subscription cover all major photo areas, and provide DeBabelizer users with a basic “image toolkit” to feed their image processing work and automatically repurpose their images for multiple uses.
Founded in 1989, Equilibrium® is a pioneer and leader in developing automated media procession solutions – software that streamlines the production and deployment of media assets. Equilibrium’s automated imaging solutions enable companies to increase business productivity and reduce costs associated with digital media production management and storage.
Whether re-purposing images for product brochures and marketing collateral, or powering an ecommerce Website with thousands of images, Equilibrium software can dramatically reduce time-consuming and expensive manual production cycles through dynamic imaging and batch processing. With DeBabelizer Pro you can automatically acquire, edit, optimize and convert unlimited numbers of images, animations and videos with a simple drag and drop.
According to Mike Kaltschnee, VP of Business Development at Index Stock: “DeBabelizer is a valuable asset for anyone that subscribes to our high resolution photo subscription product, Index Open, www.indexopen.com. We use DeBabelizer at Index Stock as part of our image workflow, and we wanted to share this valuable tool with our customers.”
”We’re pleased to partner with Index Open; their product is clearly an ideal complement to ours,” said Sean Barger, Founder and CEO of Equilibrium.” Whether you’re developing content for websites, wireless, multimedia or games, DeBabelizer Pro and Index Open can deliver the highest quality media while saving you time and money.”
Index Open offers thousands of high resolutions images, along with 25 downloads per day of 30mb to 50mb files, and unlimited downloads of 2mb files. Hundreds of new images are added every month in every subject category.
About Equilibrium
Founded in 1989 and based in Sausalito, California, Equilibrium develops and markets automated media processing and delivery solutions for the desktop, workgroup and enterprise. Equilibrium's award-winning DeBabelizer Pro 6 Client/Server and patented MediaRich Server enable content designers and information workers to streamline digital production workflow and reduce costs through automation. DeBabelizer Pro 6 Client/Server customers include independent content publishers and large enterprises such as Sony Online Entertainment, Madacy Entertainment Group, Electronic Arts, Verizon, PG&E, DirectTV, OpenTV, ESPN, The Getty Museum and NASA. For more information, online ordering, demonstration video and free trials, please call +1.415.332.4343 or visit Equilibrium's Web site at www.equilibrium.com.
About Index Stock
Index Stock Imagery, Inc.™ The Independent Choice For Your Imagination, is an award winning and innovative supplier of photographs, illustrations, and digital images. It represents over 1,700 professional photographers and 80 independent still image providers and has agents in 70 foreign countries. It represents dozens of domestic collections and has 1,000,000 images available online, of which 250,000 are Royalty Free images. Index was the first stock agency to begin storing and distributing images electronically. It started scanning its collection in 1992 and launched its first e-commerce site in 1994. Index’s million-image library is one of the largest and most complete collections of commercially available images in the world. Its four major Web sites, http://www.indexstock.com, http://www.indexopen.com, http://www.photostogo.com, and http://www.photostogounlimited.com, support emailable lightboxes, e-commerce shopping, prints, posters, postcards, cell phone wallpapers, and customized price grids and high-res comps, for qualified customers in the high end design, Web marketing, small business and consumer marketplaces. Index Open and Photostogo Unlimited are subscription services offering access to over 80,000 high quality images for a set monthly price.
Index Stock Imagery, Inc. is a registered trademark. For more information on the Company, please visit its corporate Web site at www.indexstockimagery.com.
Index Stock Contact:
Pat Hunt
path@indexstock.com
Equilibrium Contact:
Cheryl Popp
Popp Inc. Public Relations
+1.415.331.4331
popp@equilibrium.com
Posted by Pat at 04:21 PM | Comments (0)
July 19, 2006
Our Newest Images - July 19, 2006- Summer, Children, Tools, Moving into home, Agriculture, Dogs, Ruins in Cambodia, Italy, Neurology, Anthropology
We are always adding new, fresh images to our already spectacular collection. Take a look and see the newest images we have added.
Our newest Rights Managed Images
Our newest Royalty Free Images
Check back to see a whole new set of images next week.
Posted by Valerie at 04:46 PM | Comments (0)
July 17, 2006
ONLINE COPYRIGHT REGISTRATION GAINS MOMENTUM
ONLINE COPYRIGHT REGISTRATION GAINS MOMENTUM
The American Society of Media Photographers has long been working
to promote the copyright registration of images from within
various digital asset management programs. At the Microsoft Pro
Photo Summit, held on June 28 & 29, 2006 in Redmond, WA, this
effort gained additional momentum with interest from such major
developers as Adobe, Apple, iView, Extensis, Photo Mechanic and
Microsoft.
"With on-line registration by the Copyright Office on the near
horizon, this feature will make it much easier to actually
register your copyright and more fully protect your images," said
Richard Anderson, the chair of ASMP's Digital Standards Committee
and a principal author of the Universal Photographic Digital
Imaging Guidelines (UPDIG) document.
"It has never been more important for photographers to take steps
to protect their images and ensure their future value. Copyright
registration is essential to this effort," said ASMP president
Clem Spalding.
ABOUT ASMP
Founded in 1944, the American Society of Media Photographers
(ASMP) is the leading trade association for photographers who
photograph primarily for publication. ASMP promotes
photographers' rights, educates photographers in better business
practices, produces business publications for photographers, and
helps buyers find professional photographers. It has more than
5,000 members, including many of the world's greatest
photographers, in 40 chapters nationwide.
For more information on ASMP, visit http://www.asmp.org
Editorial contact: Eugene Mopsik, Executive Director
215-451-ASMP (215-451-2767)
email mopsik@asmp.org
Posted by Pat at 03:46 PM | Comments (0)
July 13, 2006
Stock Artists Alliance Delivers a "Metadata Manifesto"
Stock Artists Alliance Delivers a "Metadata Manifesto"
To raise awareness about metadata and encourage its adoption, SAA has published a "Metadata Manifesto." It provides guiding principles and practices for anyone who creates, uses or manages digital images, as well as those developing supporting technology and services. Highlighting the efforts of international standards bodies and industry groups, the Manifesto stresses the urgency of metadata adoption, especially by the stock photography industry.
______________________________________________________
ASMP SUPPORTS SAA METADATA MANIFESTO
The American Society of Media Photographers (ASMP) has announced
its active support for the Stock Artists Alliance (SAA) and the
SAA's recently published "Metadata Manifesto."
______________________________________________________
July 11, 2006. Photographers losing money from copyright infringement; editors scrapping photos from layouts because they lack caption information; librarians struggling to make burgeoning digital asset collections publicly available-Diverse problems, but they share a common solution: metadata.
Anyone who has searched for images on stock photography web sites has benefited from metadata, but once the image is removed from the site, that information is usually lost unless it's been embedded into the image file. That metadata can provide critical ownership and usage information, as well as descriptive caption information that can be used to help search and identify image subjects.
To raise awareness about metadata and encourage its adoption, the Stock Artists Alliance is releasing its Metadata Manifesto. The Manifesto provides guiding principles and practices for anyone who creates, uses, or manages electronic images, as well as those developing digital hardware and software. Highlighting the efforts of international standards bodies and industry groups (such as IPTC and PLUS), the Manifesto stresses the urgency for industry-wide metadata adoption.
As an advocacy group for stock photographers, SAA is especially concerned about the impact on the stock photography industry. As images are disseminated, their underlying information is often lost. With the continuing fragmentation of the stock photography market and proposed copyright law changes that would undermine protections for owners of so-called "orphan works," SAA believes it is now critical to increase metadata use and support.
"This is SAA's wake-up call to the photo industry," says David Riecks, Chair of SAA's Imaging Technology Standards committee. "Photographers need to add metadata to their digital images now, or risk losing future income. Without metadata, they may as well be putting their images in a black hole."
Adds Riecks, "We need industry-wide commitment to metadata. We need technology that makes it easy to embed it, preserve it, and facilitate tracking and rights management. Without a dedicated industry-wide effort, using and managing digital assets will continue to be problematic, and photographers stand to lose more than anyone."
A PDF of the Metadata Manifesto can be downloaded at: http://www.stockartistsalliance.org/pdf_docs/SAA_MetadataManifesto_v1_0606.pdf
You can weigh in on the Manifesto and metadata at:
http://MetadataManifesto.blogspot.com/
About Stock Artists Alliance:
SAA is a not-for-profit trade association dedicated to the protecting the rights of stock photographers worldwide. Information about SAA's programs and initiatives at http://www.stockartistsalliance.org
Contact:
David Riecks, SAA Imaging Technology Standards Chair
Betsy Reid, SAA Executive Director
Posted by Pat at 04:48 PM | Comments (0)
July 12, 2006
Heungman Kwan
Heungman Kwan is as fascinating and elusive as his artistry. Enjoy Vision magazine’s interview:
VISION: What sparked your interest in photography?
-Actually, film was my first love. However, during film production class in college, I realized that I was not comfortable to direct a crew of 30 people in order to complete my film project. Then, I slowly switched to photography. The good thing about photography is that you can see the process from beginning to end.
(c)Copyright Heungman
VISION: When did you start thinking this was something you could do professionally?
-I entered Art Center College of Design without knowing that it’s the best and the most well known art school worldwide. Once I was among the best and with a dedication to be the most innovative, I knew that’s what I would end up doing my entire life.
VISION: You work in both black & white and color, do you personally have a preference?
Copyright Huengman
-I don’t have a preference, but I have curiosities. I’d try to explore elements that are edgy, non-mainstream, and even unacceptable. I’m totally believed in breaking rules and turn mistakes into beauty.
VISION: Tell us about working as a fashion photographer in New York. What is the funniest thing you have experienced in your work and what is the worst thing to be a photographer in NY?
-Photography in NY is very international and highly competitive. On my way entering NYC with a truck loaded of belongings, a wise man told me that the minute you stop working on your art there are possibly over hundred artists trying twice as hard as you.
There’re lots of fun moments, but NY photographers are very serious about what they do and they have a very high standards. Happy moments are usually seeing the result after a hard working day.
NY is for photographers who specialize in a look/style. Photographers able to shoot all things and do well are rare to find in this city. It has its pros and cons. Go and develop your signature style, it’s NewYork City.
VISION: If you are not a photographer, what would you be in New York?
-I’d like to read…. then criticize. I love popular culture. So, I’ll be a pop-critic….. I might be good enough to write for Vision.
VISION: I have noticed that you made lots pictures like “people in motion”. Do you have a preference on people in motion? If yes, why? Is “people on rest” boring?
-Once I’m comfortable with a certain look, I’ll move on to the next. I guess ‘people in motion’ is a newer challenge to the old way of my picture taking.
Copyright Huengman
VISION: How do you find your models?
-It’s usually through modeling agencies. Lots of time magazines has a particular face in mind….. However, my series NeoNoir is all hungry NewYork actors…. The project leads me to conclude that models tend to be superficial while actors are full of substance.
VISION: What defines a good photograph? What is sexy in your point of view and what is not sexy?
-I don’t recommend anyone to define good/bad. What’s good technically might be bad conceptually, while technically bad could be brilliant in concept. There’s an on-going revolution in photography. The history will simply make it clear.
I’m not quite clear about sexy since I have never explored the subject fully. I’m afraid when given the opportunity I’ll be in big trouble.
VISION: What is your next project?
-I’ve just done NeoNoir, so I’m now just happily resting…. Since I’m planning to be in China for 2 years, I’d think China would be a possible subject matter…. subculture, musicians and artists are always excited me.
VISION: Imagine you are a sculpture, what will be the material you
prefer to make a portrait for yourself? (ex: wood, wax, metal)
-I’m totally unfamiliar and not too interested in the process of sculpture. However, metal sounds an interesting challenge …… As for self-portrait, I wouldn’t mind the idea of photocopying myself over the machine.
For more images:
http://www.indexstock.com/store/search.asp?SearchStr=///direct 1647
Posted by Pat at 04:35 PM | Comments (0)
Our Newest Images Part 1-July 12, 2006-Summer, Couples, Mature Adults, Young Adults, Wedding, Christmas, New Years,
We are always adding new, fresh images to our already spectacular collection. Take a look and see the newest images we have added.
Our newest Royalty Free Images
Check back to see a whole new set of images next week.
Posted by Valerie at 03:04 PM | Comments (0)
Our Newest Images Part 2 -July 12, 2006-High School students, Business people, Office workers, Paint, Real Estate, Italy, India and New York City
We are always adding new, fresh images to our already spectacular collection. Take a look and see the newest images we have added.
Our newest Rights Managed Images
Our newest Royalty Free Images
Check back to see a whole new set of images next week.
Posted by Valerie at 03:01 PM | Comments (0)
July 11, 2006
James Levin Photographs Kids
James Levin Photographs Kids
James Levin is the consummate photographer of children. He captures their spirit and he discovers their personality. The design of his images makes them colorful, graphic and fun. What makes a child laugh, learn, grow and change? James will find this in his relationship with the camera and the child. As he laughingly states: “On the job training has given me an unofficial degree in Child Psychology.”
James’ expertise is the challenging pre-school years, which is the “age of discovery and independence.” The ability to develop instant rapport reflects his twenty years of working with kids. He stresses the importance of flexibility and being quick on one’s feet. The most important aspect of his people skills is the ability to be intuitive and to learn. “The significant thing for me in this industry has been the fact that - being a children’s photographer has made me a better parent, and being a parent has made me a better children’s photographer.”
(c)Copyright Levin
James’ skill is in working with children to bring products to life. He is best known for his award winning work with such companies as Fisher-Price, Mattel, Scholastic Publishing, Random House, and Doubleday. Some of the most interesting experiences and learning curves include working with animals and children at the same time. That constitutes, “two unpredictable forces meeting head on, and a client that wants something ‘natural’.” We’re not talking just dogs and cats. James’ studio has been populated by birds, reptiles, bunnies, a “smelly donkey”, and a llama. James can even lay claim to a shoot with the famous, Lassie, a few years ago. He says the dog was smarter than most humans, and really did understand everything that was said to him – just like on TV!
James’ next big skill is the fine art of “toy rigging.” That means incorporating kids, toys and products for the client so they all look natural, even though they are “locked in position.” Having the main elements locked and others still moving to keep the model involved requires armature wire, hot glue, sticks, shim and tape, and lots of it.
(c)Copyright Levin
His most clever shoot was aligning five and six year olds in the shapes of the alphabet letters. It was shot straight down from overhead, with all the kids in primary colors. He drew all the letters into a schematic and pre determined how the shapes would look to decide how many kids would be needed. It was a challenge to get the kids to be still for the length of time necessary to complete the shoot. As James put it: “I keep things moving quickly, and I always try to make it fun. I can behave like a kid – just ask my wife.
Posted by Pat at 04:39 PM | Comments (0)
July 10, 2006
Update on Jim Oltersdorf - Author and Outdoor Photographer
Jim Oltersdorf - Author and Outdoor Photographer
The Discovery Channel producers have contacted Jim Oltersdorf from Montreal, Canada. They are creating an 18-part series entitled, "The Risk Takers", stories about people who are involved in high-risk work of which in many cases, risk their lives to preform their job.
Jim has been asked and accepted being featured in a one-hour long show for TV on The Discovery Channel. In early August, the French director, assistant director, sound man, gaffer and producer will fly specifically from Montreal to Alaska to begin filming Jim for 10 days. Most of the filming will be done in very remote areas of Alaska which will include him photographing wild and giant Alaskan brown bears, hanging off of shear cliffs to photograph flowers and lichens and shooting an active volcano while in the air a thousand feet above it.
Out of the approximent 40 hours of raw footage that will be shot, after editing, the results will be a one-hour special.
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highrisk@acsalaska.net
Posted by Pat at 07:14 PM | Comments (0)
July 05, 2006
A Hello from Delhi!
Walter Bibikow is a world class travel photographer and contributor to Index Stock. While on the road he writes his “missives” about his colorful adventures in new lands. Ongoing we will enjoy a series from his recent trip to India.
A Hello from Delhi!
Transcendent Greetings!
Well, one thing is for certain, one can never get too lonely in India.
(c)Walter Bibikow
One gets a bit too much attention, and by the hundredth “hello!” of the day one starts feeling very un-Gandhi-like. Also despite the outsourcing of high tech and the export New York City sewer manhole covers, I really believe after being here this last week that India leads the world in street excrement . I have never seen such copious amounts and varieties. If it ain’t the cows (they are holy and there’s plenty of them), the elephants (plenty on the streets of Jaipur, where I am today), the monkeys (holy as well and all over the streets), dogs, pigs, donkeys… there’s the residents. I had a number of experiences already where my shoot companion (these people turn up out of nowhere just to watch any stupid white man do anything) spent a bit of time art directing then dropped trou and went about his business. And, not to be left out, tonight’s night shot atop one of the major markets in Jaipur happened to be in what I found out was the impromptu “Ladies”. Everyplace is amazingly polluted too, especially Agra, home to the Taj Mahal. I know that my life expectancy is dropping by being here but breathing in Agra was a thousand pack a day scene!
(c)Copyright Walter Bibikow
So the place is a major dump, right? I’m crazy for going…Everybody else who has gone before me is equally or even more insane? BUT… despite the filth, the traffic, the air, and the in-your-face staring and touting… the place is a mind-bend that is indescribable. Women walk around in day-glo orange saris, here in Rajasthan the men tend to wear turbans of canary yellow or cerise. Even the elephants on the streets are “tricked out” with day glo paintjobs! I asked one of the “mahouts” why his elephant had lime green polka dots and magenta stripes and he told me it was just so not “on” to have a plain old dingy grey one! I mean, how fashion forward is that? And the food has been great, surprisingly, and have even gone to a few places called Starbeans that are a rip-off of Starbucks. The lattes have been great but since everybody in India is both pierced and tattooed, the baristas were soberly dressed and all looked like Presbyterians! Even in Technicolor sari land, one must always stand out!
So back to Agra and the Taj, which despite its grubby surroundings is one of, if not THE most beautiful structure I’ve ever seen. It’s all made of white marble and the tomb of the King’s wife (the Taj is a memorial to her, but I think the King also got a good sell job from a real “closer” of a marble salesman) is all done in translucent white alabaster. Rock solid and light as a meringue…pretty cool!
So, am sending some snaps of the Taj and adding one last story. Today is November 22 while I still remember JFK, in India it is Hindu marriage day. One my way back to the hotel in my “Tuk-Tuk” I saw one of these impromptu pre-wedding celebrations in the street and had to join in. The groom (looking like a cross of John Travolta in “Saturday Night Fever” and Dame Edna) sits on a horse while the wedding party is entertained by a band playing something that sounds like a cross of Dixieland and Klezmer and the whole thing, in the street, is lit by about twenty guys carrying electric chandeliers. I started snapping and noticed that only the men were dancing and got asked to dance with the boys. Now I know how you girls feel, you get all dressed up and the last thing you want to do is get asked to dance by a fat bearded guy in a turban!
Hope you enjoy the snaps, I’m off to Pushkar’s Camel Fair tomorrow. Ever since I sold my 911 I really have been hankering for something sporty and sleek, and you know those camels can run fast, really, really fast! Toodles…
Walter
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Posted by Pat at 09:14 PM | Comments (0)
