Here is the official statement from PhotoShelter, regarding Digital Railroad:
PHOTOSHELTER CLARIFIES DIGITAL RAILROAD SITUATION WITH DIABLO MANAGEMENT GROUP: COMPLETE DRR SITE SHUTDOWN PROBABLE AT 11:59PM PST ON OCTOBER 31
Photographers & agencies to get more time to save their work
New York, NY, October 30, 2008 – In an effort to bring some clarity to the Digital Railroad shutdown situation, PhotoShelter CEO Allen Murabayashi has engaged in multiple discussions with Diablo Management on behalf of the community of over 1,500 Digital Railroad customers. The outcome of these discussions is an understanding that more time will be provided for Digital Railroad customers to access their work. The official statement from PhotoShelter and Diablo Management reads:
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“As part of the process of terminating the business operations of Digital Railroad, Diablo Management Group has informed PhotoShelter of their intent to shut down the DRR site as early as 11:59PM, PST, on Friday October 31. After this point, it is very likely that all the images located on the Digital Railroad servers could be permanently inaccessible. Given the strong possibility of this event, PhotoShelter, on its own initiative, is strongly suggesting that customers migrate their files from Digital Railroad immediately. Digital Railroad, at the present time, has no plans or resources to accomplish this task.”
Upon announcing the termination of operations on Tuesday, DRR stated it would provide only 24 hours of server access. Across the industry, this tiny window of time was deemed unacceptable. Although the extension through October 31 is brief, it will provide more time to help photographers find backup options and transition their online presence. This statement also represents the latest definitive information to be shared with impacted customers, directly from the group that is controlling DRR. Both parties stress that the situation is highly fluid and this deadline could be altered with little or no notice.
Since the announcement, PhotoShelter has welcomed DRR customers with a special 3-month free offer and ftp solution to help migrate their images. The offer can be found here: http://www.photoshelter.com/mkt/200810/drr.html.
PhotoShelter management encourages all DRR photographers to use this time extension to access their images and ensure backup using any chosen method. And, PhotoShelter calls on photographers industry wide to help contact peers travelling in the field who may not yet have heard the news. Please post your comments by clicking the link below. If you've got questions, please pose them in our Photo Business Forum Flickr Group Discussion Threads.
So, my good friends at liveBooks have got a great deal for you, and I'll just put the number out there, so as to not bury the lead:
25% off a liveBooks site if you survived Digital Railroad's demise and now need a web presence.
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You have until November 14th to take advantage of this deal. Previously, you had to be a member of a trade association to get a deal, and that maxxed out at 15%. liveBooks is NOT PhotoShelter, and PhotoShelter is the best solution for archiving, and image licensing/sales. For a website, liveBooks is a top notch solution.
“Many Digital Railroad clients have come to rely on their DRR archives as de facto websites, thanks to the ability to easily upload photo galleries and share high resolution images with clients,” said Andy Patrick, president and CEO of liveBooks. “With Digital Railroad recently ceasing operations, these photographers face the prospect of a substantial disruption in their client workflow, as well as the loss of potentially their only online presence. By extending this offer, we can help DRR clients create a professional, powerful web marketing presence that will enable them to sustain and build their businesses, and also maintain some continuity in their work with clients even in these difficult economic times.”
Of course they have a great website capability, but you can also produce galleries on the fly from a shoot that are password protected, and also deliver images via FTP. So, check them out. If you were looking for the best discount possible to make this happen, you've just found it. Please post your comments by clicking the link below. If you've got questions, please pose them in our Photo Business Forum Flickr Group Discussion Threads.
Well, it seems that Fast Company is none-to-concerned about Jill Greenbergs' bad reputation (Jill Greenberg: Open Mouth, Insert Foot, 9/12/08) and has assigned her to photograph Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane for their latest cover story.
It surely helps, that the opening paragraph of the article ( Seth MacFarlane’s $2 Billion Family Guy Empire, 11/08) describes MacFarlane's work - "Much of the animated sitcom's purpose seems to be to stoke the opposition, to offend the easily offended." So, perhaps they are two peas in a pod? Kindred souls?
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The online article includes other images Greenberg produced as well as her signature (and dare I say, now looking a bit passe) lighting style.
Perhaps, though, Greenberg shot this piece back before the controversy erupted? As we move forward in these interesting editorial times, it will be interesting to see if Greenberg remains "assignable." Certainly, if this was done after "the incident", MacFarlane surely has no problems with Greenberg, since 10 days ago, his Family Guy show had this suggestion that McCain/Palin supporters are Nazi's, with this in it: If you'd like to see the video segment with that in it, click here. Please post your comments by clicking the link below. If you've got questions, please pose them in our Photo Business Forum Flickr Group Discussion Threads.
If you are looking to preserve your website's look and feel, in order to transfer to a place like liveBooks, or hire a designer, while your site is still up, go into Adobe's Acrobat Professional program.
Go to the "Advanced" drop-down menu, and choose "Web capture". Choose "create PDF from/Append web page...", and enter in your URL, and how many clicks in you want it to capture.
Good luck.
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Digital Railroad Suspending Operations – Added Oct. 28, 2008
To our valued Members:
We're sorry to inform you that Digital Railroad (DRR) has shut down.
On October 15th we reported that the company had reduced its staff and was aggressively pursuing additional financing and/or a strategic partner. Unfortunately, those efforts were unsuccessful. Therefore Digital Railroad has been forced to suspend all operations.
Digital Railroad has attracted a loyal set of customers and partners, and we regret this unfortunate outcome. Without sufficient long-term financial support, the business had become unsustainable.
Thank you for allowing us to serve the photographic community these past few years.
All questions pertaining to claims should be addressed to:
Digital Railroad, Inc. c/o Diablo Management Group 1452 N. Vasco Road, #301 Livermore, CA 94551
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Please post your comments by clicking the link below. If you've got questions, please pose them in our Photo Business Forum Flickr Group Discussion Threads.
There are 1,900 or so of you out here that need to read this message. The rest of you can just ignore it. The problem is, those that need to know what I am writing about have buried their head in the sand. As I am writing this, my own migration from Digital Railroad to PhotoShelter is in progress. I am benefiting from under-utillization of the DRR bandwidth, but you will not, because the doorway you all will be trying to pass through is only so wide, and only so many people can fit through the door at the same time. Where are you in that line? How long do you have?
Ok, let's, for the sake of conversation, conclude that, for whatever reason, you don't want to go to PhotoShelter. THEN DON'T! But, you better have those files archived somewhere. And you better migrate any that you don't, FAST.
The NPPA sent out this alert to it's members, this morning:
In the past, the NPPA had a partnership with Digital Railroad offering our members a service discount. In light of the current news on Digital Railroad we recommend that if you are a Digital Railroad customer, you take action immediately to protect your work. In researching what is available, your three best options are to:
A) Personally back up all of your work stored at Digital Railroad
Below is a step-by-step for you to begin the process, and remember, those that begin this process FIRST, will get the bandwidth necessary to save their files.
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I am going to do the step-by-step in PhotoShelter. Come on, don't get all uppity - everyone knows these two were the only comparable platforms, and both were competing for customers. So, there's really no other option, unless you're downloading to your own computer at home (and good luck with that.)
The first thing you need to do is set up a "receiving" folder on the PhotoShelter system. Click the "Archive" tab in the Photographer Area on PhotoShelter, as seen below.
Then choose "Create New Folder". Here, I've chosen the name "Digital Railroad Transfer". Might I suggest you create one folder to receive all "Private" groups, and one folder to receive all "Public" groups. If you have any "UnPublished" groups, so too, a separate folder for those too.
That done, next click on the "Upload" tab at the top, and you'll see something new - the "Incoming FTP" option.
Click that (1) and then choose (2) "Add a new incoming FTP user".
Next, you'll see this screen, below. It will have pre-populated the username (1) with something applicable to you, but you may change it to whatever you want. So too, will the password field (2) be prepopulated with a password. Again, feel free to change it to suit your needs. Take extra note of the (3) "Active" checkbox. You are only allowed to have ONE FTP account "active" at a time. As you set up more than one archive folder, you'll want a comparable number of FTP accounts setup, because different logins sent the photos to different destination folders on PS.
As noted, choose the destination folder (4) for this account.
As you can see below, we've got two accounts set up, one for the "Private" files, which go to the generic "Digital Railroad Transfer" folder, and one for all the "Public" images.
Next up you'll want to head to Digital Railroad. Log in, and on the left-hand side, choose the "Syndication Management" link, and choose "Create New FTP Destination".
Choose (1) your Destination Name, and in the "FTP Host" (2) enter "ftp.photoshelter.com", and then (3) the user name you were given (or chose) from Digital Railroad, and so too (4) the password. Make sure you (5) check the "create new folder" checkbox, which will create sub-folders on PhotoShelter that are named what you have them named on Digital Railroad. Once you've done this, click (6) "Test", so that you know it worked. You'll confirm that the FTP test was successful when you see the line (7). Note that if there is an extra space in the FTP (2) field, you could have a problem, so check that if you get an error.
Next, go to your "My Site Production", and choose the group you are working on. I suggest you do as below, and "right-mouse-click" (or control-click if you have a one-button mouse) and open that link in a new window. By doing this, it's easy to keep track of where you are in the process, because with the new window open, you can begin the transfer, and then just close the window and move on to the next one.
Next, from the My Site Production menu, choose "Syndicate Group".
Your options to syndicate come up, and all you have to do is place a check in the "Transfer to PhotoShelter" destination (1), and click the Syndicate (2) button.
Once you've clicked the "Syndicate" button above, you will see the confirmation, as below. Click the "View Syndication Details" text, to see that the FTP is taking place.
The next screen you will see is the details of the syndication. You will see the progress, and if there are any errors. If you see an error, just click the "Retry" button, and it will restart. Where you see "PENDING" below, the other options are "SENDING", "ERROR", and "SENT". Use the "Refresh" button to watch the transfer take place.
If you look at the above screengrab, you will see that the text "syndication management" is clickable. When you click that, you see all of your transfers, not just the single one. Below you will see multiple transfers in progress, from my DRR archive to my PS archive. One thing to note - it was my experience that if you opened too many transfers at once, there was an error in the transfer, and it stopped, and further, did not attempt to re-start. When there is this kind of error, you will see a red number in the "Error" column. Just click the individual group in progress, and then click the "Retry" button.
That's it. Sit back, watch for errors, and retry where necessary with a right-mouse (cntrl) click and open a new window to retry. Please post your comments by clicking the link below. If you've got questions, please pose them in our Photo Business Forum Flickr Group Discussion Threads.
It looks like the VC's that bought into the Orient Express that was Digital Railroad have a bit of a problem on their hands, snapped in half by the mousetrap spring they didn't see coming to crush them. In an effort to stem the burn-rate of what rose at points to be $800k a month, they took out a loan with a bank of upwards of $1M. The problem is, with a burn rate that high, that was a stop-gap solution that did not include the reining on of expenses, or atleast ones that never materialized. What is remarkable too, is that a startup was willing to pay reportedly between $400k and $500k for it's CEO, Charles Mauzy. While there are suggestions to the contrary where we detailed a similar pay structure for it's President, Maris Berens, a review of further documentation shows his salary at approximately $136k, and then under $125k after he took a pay cut as a part of belt-tightening at DRR. What startup pays that amount of money to a CEO? Certainly, both had a track record and contacts that were worth that, but that's bad form for a startup to pay that figure. What's not a part of the reporting of those salaries is what they had as an added equity stake that is now worth less than the paper it was printed on. There is speculation that the development of the DRR platform on an entirely Microsoft solution, coupled with bringing in Mauzy, a Microsoft veteran, was positioning them for an acquisition by Microsoft (and hopefully a big payday), but that never materialized.
One of the messages I overheard several times in the booth at liveBooks, where I spoke for an hour each day during the just-concluded PhotoPlus Expo was how much people wanted an integrated solution not just to facilitate an attractive facade in the form of a website, but to also be able to serve their clients with image delivery, and a licensing vehicle. For over two years, both liveBooks and PhotoShelter have been in talks to have at-least some form of bridge between the two, and it may be that there were also merger talks and the past two years have been just the courting phase. The fact is that you can get a great design integration between liveBooks and Photoshelter today, and if this all goes south maybe more will develop. However, for now however nothing more than visual integration exists.
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Months ago, the VC's of Digital Railroad were shopping around the platform, but too much in the way of expectations for what they would get for the sale, as well as a number of unreasonable (relatively speaking) demands were made, and they failed to realize that the clock was ticking, and ticking fast.
As we reported last week (Digital Railroad Likely Being Liquidated, 10/15/08), DRR is likely being liquidated. Every member of the board has, in fact, resigned, and the company is controlled by Diablo Management, with a few of the former senior management or officers remaining on as just employees, with no official officer roles. Yet, that changes today, Monday October 26th. With a negative balance in the bank account, there is no more money, we are told that all staff were sent an e-mail from Diablo telling them not to report to work today. Yet, Andy Parsons, and a few other senior staff apparently will stay on, through the week, as volunteers, without pay. What a new month brings, remains to be seen. Absent the spigot being opened at PhotoShelter to receive FTP'd files as we'd provided advance how-to on, approximately 1% of the 2,300 DRR photographers have either cancelled their accounts, or migrated their files off of the DRR platform. It seems that everyone that is a paying member there is in denial about the realities of the dire situation DRR is in. Just like Uber.com, the clients have been asking what they can do to help this ship from sinking.
DRR has just two options - file for bankruptcy, or get acquired at firesale rates. The decent rate on this nosedive is just too severe. There are just a few possible players for the company at this time - PhotoShelter, former senior management member Mark Ippolito, and, PictureMaxx. Perhaps too, this could be of value to liveBooks.
Surely, the opportunity to pick up this platform at a firesale rate is attractive. However, PhotoShelter doesn't need it since they have, what is in effect, certainly a better user interface, and cleaner programming code, as looked at from a code jockey and software engineering standpoint. That doesn't mean that the DRR platform is bad per-se, but a central question will be what work needs to be done by the acquiring company. All PS needs is to bleed the lifeblood out of DRR in the form of the free migration for DRR members between platforms, and that is expected to ramp up this week, as PS flips the switch on that capability. How many people do that remains to be seen. Further, DRR has an active Marketplace for aggregating and licensing images, a capability that PhotoShelter launched a year ago, and closed down last month. An acquisition of DRR by PS would mean that they would be back in business with PhotoShelter Collection v2.0, and I don't see them liking that idea at all.
The altruistic and well meaning Ippolito is no-doubt having a hard time securing financing, but he's facing a far less insurmountable challenge, with the company worth less than $1m, and VC's having invested over $20m, all together. Where Ippolito could find $1m, and also the money necessary to continue the company, remains to be seen. Evan Nisselson, the company's founder, tried to re-acquire the company, and failed. Ippolito could do a good job, but won't likely get the chance.
PictureMaxx, which we recently wrote about here (10 Questions for Tom Tinervin, 10/21/08), is not likely to be interested in the acquisition. They have their own, completely different platform, and the ability to integrate the features of Digital Railroad into the PictureMaxx platform is highly unlikely. Further, they would be entering into direct competition with some of their current customers, so that's not likely either.
So, that leads us to this question - is there any real potential buyer out there? Perhaps the final player in the game could be liveBooks. Within the past year, liveBooks was approached by DRR, but there were some unreasonable requests and a starry-eyed valuation that, at the time, probably turned liveBooks off to the idea. LiveBooks certainly could use the platform, since their "Client Access" feature for their websites is clearly lacking in the robust capabilities that both PhotoShelter and Digital Railroad have to offer. Yet, both PhotoShelter and Digital Railroad do not have the functionality and optimization that liveBooks' platform offers for a facade. If liveBooks were to acquire the platform - and that looks like a decision that will based upon how well the liveBooks CTO can untangle the coding that is within the DRR .net platform, and integrate DRR into the liveBooks architecture. In doing this, they then would have a solid platform that could meet prospective clients' needs, and provide a monthly revenue stream from the DRR monthly fees, beyond the pay-once website design model, giving liveBooks a true archive capability and a more complete solution. However, what is liveBooks willing to pay? It's highly unlikely that liveBooks will write a check, but perhaps they don't have to. With sufficient cash-positive flow, and a healthy company, they could take over the code, clients, and, perhaps even run the Marketplace, and do so in exchange for a small equity stake in liveBooks, taken in lieu of payment by WTI. Their acquisition of the company would also give them a possible revenue stream from Marketplace sales, where 20% of the sale goes to the company. One question though, would be that since liveBooks is so single-photographer-centric (they only have a few agencies), how would all the agencies that DRR has on-board, be handled? There are few solutions out there. Surely, they could jump ship to PhotoShelter, code-it themselves, or, then, as noted above, there's PictureMaxx, which we previously wrote about, and DRR's Tom Tinervin is bringing PictureMax to the US, so that's quite a possibility too, since providing a platform for each of the current DRR agency clients would not be as much of a conflict as running the Marketplace themselves.
Whomever acquires the assets, they will get a core code worth, at best, $500k, and you can expect the name to go away. There will be no more Digital Railroad. This will be no merger. This will be the acquisition of the assets of a company. The bank holding the note - WTI - will have the final say. Since they're a secured creditor, and the only real one, they will be the recipient of whatever proceeds come from the dissolution of the company, from a platform sale, as well as the sale of the designer chairs by the auctioneers. The VC's are SOL.
So, will the second mouse get the cheese, in the form of a debt free company with an existing paying client base and image licensing platform? Will liveBooks be the savior of the potentially-soon-to-be-left-at-the-station Digital Railroad subscribers? And what will the fallout be between the very friendly companies of PhotoShelter and liveBooks, who would now be competing - in one way, or another? Or, will Ippolito pull a rabbit out of his hat? Or, will a bankruptcy happen, and PhotoShelter drains the subscribers from DRR, and PS and liveBooks will continue their courtship for synergies? Hang on friends, this is going to be a bumpy ride, and this will be happening fast, since this likely needs to be wrapped up before November. Please post your comments by clicking the link below. If you've got questions, please pose them in our Photo Business Forum Flickr Group Discussion Threads.
This, the November 3rd issue of Time Magazine, has on its cover a Diebold voting machine, shot on a white seamless. Or, was it?
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It looks like it wasn't. Here's the first issue - the two adjusting clips on each leg do not form a cross-bar, yet the "shadow" that was laid down suggests that it is a cross-bar. If the light were coming from the left, as the shadow suggests, there would be nothing that connected the two legs. Each of those clips wrap around the leg.
Next up is the leg highlight. It is coming more from the center, and ever so-slightly from the right, as shown in the highlight on the leg. That shadow that Time created, clearly skews significantly to the right. Further, the shadow clarity - the edge and so forth, is just much too crisp and clear.
None of this would be a problem if the photo credit inside read "Photo Illustration", yet here's how it reads:
Clearly, it's listed as a photograph. Once I did a little more research, and I couldn't find it on the Getty site, I stumbled across the exact image in an article here, from 2006.
Here, we see that the shadow is at the top, in a severe fashion, and not likely a cover candidate. Further, the background seamless that photographer Henry Leutwyler used is right up against the back of the machine, not in some spacious studio, as appears in the cover image.
Time Magazine had an issue a few years back with the alterations of shadows, as commented on by the NPPA here: Now, this shadow adjustment on the Diebold machine here doesn't have the racial implications of the OJ cover, or does it? Are we to believe that Diebold will be the reason that Barack Obama loses? That somehow the Republicans would dictate to Diebold how to throw the election? That that is even actually possible?
I am of the opinion that this image does not meet the ethical test of being a photograph. It is a photo illustration, and should have been identified as such. Please post your comments by clicking the link below. If you've got questions, please pose them in our Photo Business Forum Flickr Group Discussion Threads.
Yes, let's call it what it is. Corbis, not content with taking 50% of a stock sale for housing images on it's servers, has decided that that's not enough, and they now want another 10%. What with Bill Gates having retired from Microsoft, he's likely paying more attention to his other daliances, and now his attention is directed more towards Corbis, which he wholly owns.
This won't happen overnight, but when a Corbis photographer's contract comes up for renewal, they'll get a letter dictating that they'll be earning less during the next contract cycle. As laughable as it sounds, the man charged with delivering the news, Don Wieshlow, conveyed, as reported by PDN's Daryl Lang (Hard Times for Stock Continue: Corbis to Cut Royalty Rate, 10/25/08):
... he {Wieshlow} stressed that royalty rates are not the same as revenue. He said Corbis hopes the change will eventually lead to higher payouts for photographers – as Corbis invests in growth, expands its market share, and earns more revenue.
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I wish I had been inside the room where that sentiment was conveyed. Anyone I spied nodding their head in agreement to that malarky I would have shared with them my super-secret deal on Florida Wetlands, before loading those bobble-heading onto a bus so I could show them what piece of the Brooklyn Bridge I was offering for sale as well. Other than preserving their own salaries and bonuses, what goes through these executives' minds when they decide to take more money from their content producers?
The one upside is that the contracts were fortunately written so that the percentage was not changable during the duration of the contract. So, those of you who have 6 months to three years to get out better start looking for other platforms to license your work. Hopefully, in a year or two those platforms will mature more and produce substantive revenue for stock sales.
Then, as Lang reports, Corbis CEO Gary Shenk said “This is not our company” and gestured to the four other Corbis execs. He then gestured to include the audience. “This is our company together.”
Actually, no, it's Bill Gates' company. More specifically, it's Gates' servers, desks, and chairs, and the valuable content is owned by the photographers. Unless, of course, the new contracts will actually give photographers an equity stake in the company. That remark was an attempt at a kumbayah moment that really sounds more like psyco-babble. Paul Melcher has a comparable take on Shenks remark that's worth a read here.
I call shenanigans on this one folks. Be thankful that Corbis' legal department was incompetent enough to write a contract that precluded them from lowering these percentages during the term of the contract, or you'd all be stuck with a change effective immediately. Get while the gettin's good folks. Please post your comments by clicking the link below. If you've got questions, please pose them in our Photo Business Forum Flickr Group Discussion Threads.
Photographer Tim Mantoani is working on a labor of love - Behind The Photographs. A an auspicious project documenting the photographers behind well known photographs, along with the photographs themselves. He writes on his blog about them here - and we had a chance to catch up with him while he was inbetween portraits during the 2008 PhotoPlus Expo, and then were able to see him make an image of photographer John Reuter, who has run the Polaroid 20x24 studio since 1980. It's a remarkable process to see one of these images processed and produced - yes, still in 90 seconds.
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The final day of PhotoPlus Expo 2008 brings interesting information from ImageSpan, and more from the newcomer on the Pro SLR block - Sony.
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Day 2 brings several other interviews, including a chat with Contact Press Images Founder David Burnett, Christina Mittermeier and Sony's new camera, Grover Sanschagrin of PhotoShelter with some amazing new technology, and Quest Couch of Lumiquest with a neat flash adapter.
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So you're probably asking yourself - What's that photo of? Sadly, that's my laptop bag, containing one 17" Apple laptop, and one Macbook Air - my backup laptop. Why, pray tell, is it sitting in the middle of the sidewalk on 34th Street, next to a construction site and FedEx? Because that's where it fell of my equipment cart being pulled to the Javits center in New York for the photo show.
HOW THE HELL DID THAT HAPPEN, you ask?
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It happened because of the assistant pulling the cart - #1 - was pulling it, not pushing it; #2 - didn't want to be pulling it, because she thought that manual labor was beneath her; and, among the other reasons, #3 - she wasn't paying attention to her responsibility - the safe transport of the photo equipment.
It wasn't until we had walked all the way into Javits, and were in an elevator, that *I* eyed my bag, and instantly recognized that it was missing. "Where the F*ck is my laptop bag?" I demanded? Looking up at my crews' faces, I jammed my arm into the closing elevator door, and began a full sprint out Javits, south on 11th, looking at every persons' shoulder to see if someone had picked it up. As I ran into oncoming traffic, at top speed, I was re-tracing my steps to where we were, at the Skylight Diner across from B&H on 9th, having breakfast. I was praying that it had just fallen off the cart amongst the tables and chairs there, and was (semi) safe. As I was running across the corner of 34th and 11th, I spied the bag. Sitting right there. For once I was thankful that this post-9/11 era meant that people were less likely to pick up a black bag with unknown contents. I breathed a sigh of relief that it was safely back in my hands. Please post your comments by clicking the link below. If you've got questions, please pose them in our Photo Business Forum Flickr Group Discussion Threads.
Day 1 of the PhotoPlus Expo in New York City, featuring interviews with Vincent Laforet, Brad Mangin, and equipment insights about the new Hensel Porty. Have a look.
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Do you feel bad when you see a crook who just held up a little old lady at gunpoint and shot her, while fleeing, gunned down by an off-duty police officer? "Gosh, that man shouldn't have been shot....". No, of course not. (ok, well, maybe just a little). Instead, most people would say the crook got got his just punishment. As Berretta used to say, "if you can't do the time, don't do the crime." So, Watching Getty Images and JupiterImages come together is like watching Bonnie and Clyde in their jalopy headed towards the cliff's edge, and their brakes are out.
Why should I care?
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Frankly, I don't. It would be one thing if the green-eyeshade-wearing fools at Getty were taking a particularly decent photo agency, and applying their time-tested methods of devastating a stock photography model, which was one component of their plummet from a near $100 high in the stock market to a $30-ish embarassment that made them an easy takeover for a breakup company. Make no mistake here, this is a consolidation of the deep-and-cheap portals so that your results for any given figure are no longer 41,000+ at Getty for "white house", or the 9,200+ at JupiterImages for the same term, but instead, over 50,000 for that search term, and many other consolidated searches. That isn't going to sell more penny images of the White House.
I see these two companies that have devastated the industry rate structures under the "let's sell 100 for $1 instead of $1 for $200", are two silly little delusional peas in a pod. All their private owners are trying to do is further solidify the market. Boo hoo.
These two are made for each other. Getty bought them at a sub-$1 figure, which is a small fraction of what the company has been worth (albeit declining) over the past eight years. They just bought servers and servers full of images, all keyworded and ready to sell. All aging rapidly, and depreciating as times, hairstyles, and technologies change. It was one helluva price to pay, as it wouldn't surprise me if JUPM ws facing delisting because they were below a $1, so they had a firesale price, and Corbis wasn't interested. It was rumored as late as last February that Getty was interested in buying Jupiter for the princely sum of $450m.
No dout Jupiter's principals had tired of their fancy photo agency, like the king who has tired of the court jester's antics, and orders "off with his head." So too did those in-charge of JUPM decide it was time to sell their body on life-support for parts. A liver here, a kidney there. Who cares about the body as a whole, we just want out of this bad deal.
To those at Jupiter who were salivating at that $450m, and now are getting less than 25% of that value - I posit the notion - "What goes around comes around, and it's clearly come around and whacked you upside the head." Now you have a bit of a taste of what the photographic community experienced in the loss of far more than 75% of it's revenue stream when you all started selling "subscriptions", and photographers were seeing "$0.48" as the commission rate for a use of their photograph.
The final question is - what does the Justice Department think about this aquisition?
Please post your comments by clicking the link below. If you've got questions, please pose them in our Photo Business Forum Flickr Group Discussion Threads.
So today is "Day 0" of PhotoPlus Expo. It's Press Preview Day, and we took some time out Wednesday night to check in with a few folks at the reception. Here's a look.
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Please post your comments by clicking the link below. If you've got questions, please pose them in our Photo Business Forum Flickr Group Discussion Threads.
I spent a few minutes recently with Carson Kressley talking about covering the presidential campaign and politics, as well as a few tips for Nikon's "Look Good In Pictures" series.
If you're so inclined, after the jump is a second video on executive portraiture.
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Thanks for watching!
Please post your comments by clicking the link below. If you've got questions, please pose them in our Photo Business Forum Flickr Group Discussion Threads.
Turnabout is fair play, of course, and when PhotoShelter closed their PhotoShelter Collection last month, Digital Railroad promoted their services as a solution. Now, the worm has turned, and it is PhotoShelter's robust Personal Archive, which has a monthly service fee, that is offering shelter to current Digital Railroad members. So, while we contemplate the likelihood that Digital Railroad is (or is not) going out OF business, PhotoShelter is going out FOR YOUR business.
Here's the gist of the offer: - Sign up for an annual PhotoShelter Personal Archive 2.0 account - Provide us with proof that you're a DRR member - We will then credit your PhotoShelter account with an additional 3-months free - We will provide you with FTP instructions on how to move your archive to PhotoShelter
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So, how hard is it to migrate your images? Here's screen grabs of the step-by-step on the Digital Railroad side:
First things first- you need to create the destination where you want your images to go. On the right is your "My Site Production", which you are familiar with as a DRR member. As someone who does syndicate my images, I have used the "Syndication Management" tool before. Incase you have not, here's a screen grab. Select "Create New FTP Destination".
Below is the next screen. I have chosen to call this syndication name "Transfer to PhotoShelter", but you can, of course, call it anything you'd like. Next, is the FTP Host. When you set yourself up to transfer to PhotoShelter, seperate and distinct from your PhotoShelter login and password, they will give you a different login and password specifically for this non-secure FTP. The problem is that these FTP transfers (between DRR and PS) are done without encryption, so it's easy for a hacker to "sniff" your password and gain access to your account. All normal transfers to PhotoShelter are done in what's called FTPS, which is a secure FTP transfer mode. So, don't use your PhotoShelter login and password, be sure to use the one specifically for this purpose. Also be certain that there is a check-box where is says "Create New Folder". This way, each folder you have on your DRR account, as you've already divided them, will maintain their structure over at PhotoShelter. The one downside, is that if you have, as I will show you below, 53 images in total, 2 listed as "published", and 51 listed as "unpublished", you will loose that designation during the transfer. The fast workaround to this if this is something you used extensively on DRR is to apply a temporary metadata entry, like "DRRpublished" in one of the fields, so you can easily sort them out later. Active transfer mode should work for most people, but if you get an error, try changing it to Passive, which is meant to work with firewalls and tricky networks. Also, if your internet service provider has blocked port 21, you may need to select a different port, and talk to the PhotoShelter people about accepting an inbound FTP on a port other than 21. Now, you're all set with your FTP destination. See below:
Once in the group you want to transfer, choose from "Production Tools", the option "Syndicate Group". Below you will see I have 2 Private images, and 51 unpublished, in this group.
Here, you can choose to send all 53, just the published ones, or the unpublished ones. Another workaround to seperating these out if you don't want to do the metadata addition, is to transfer this once into a folder with the added folder "-Published", and then a second transmission of the same group with the added name to the folder "-UnPublished". Also choose "Original", and then in the lower left corner, place a check box next to "Transfer to PhotoShelter" , under "Choose Destination(s)". Following that, click the "Syndicate" button.
You will get a "CONFIRMATION: GROUP SYNDICATION" screen, and you can then click the "View Syndication Details" link, to watch the images as they transfer.
Below is the first screen you will see (note, you should click the image to view it in a new window larger). It will tell you how many are pending, the percentage complete, and the status. It's a pretty handy view on what's happening.
When the transfer is complete, you will see the screen below ( (note, you should click the image to view it in a new window larger). This is your confirmation that all the images have been safely delivered to PhotoShelter.
Next, I would head over to the PhotoShelter Archive Management screens, and confirm that the files are, in fact, in place, and verify the counts. The best thing about the Digital Railroad FTP setup is that you can begin the FTP for one folder, and then head over and start more transfers, since you are not using your own bandwidth to accomplish this transfer, and you don't have to wait for one to finish before starting the next. It would be no problem to take an hour to start 20 or 30 transfers, and then head to bed. You can wake up the next morning, and view the syndication details, and confirm that everything was sent.
So, there you have it, a step by step on how to transfer your Digital Railroad files to PhotoShelter, or anywhere else, for that matter. Even on the off chance that Digital Railroad remains in business, transferring your files to PhotoShelter for redundancy purposes is your safest move. I encourage you to get started on this right away. It will take a few days to get your account set up, and customization templates for your site (if you're a new subscriber), and also getting a general feel for PS. THis way, on Monday, when they give you the FTP information, you will be all set and ready to go. Lastly, you can't know if they will just plain shut down one night, or not. So, to be forewarned is to be forearmed. Please post your comments by clicking the link below. If you've got questions, please pose them in our Photo Business Forum Flickr Group Discussion Threads.
With all the discussion and debate about Search Engine Optimization, and the concerns about Google search results that included you vanishing and then re-appearing, I thought it would be a good idea to give a seminar on SEO, and yes, friends, it's FREE. No punches pulled. No Holds Barred.
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The good folks at liveBooks have a spot for me in their booth at PhotoPlus to talk about this. I'll show you how to build your presence - and remain vigilant in your efforts to keep it, and the nuances that will make your efforts even better. In addition, I'll show you a real case study of a photographer going from zero to #1 on Google, and exactly how that photographer achieved those results, and how you can too.
No, this isn't a late night infomercial where you have to buy something to do what I'll be teaching. It's giving you the direction and insights to go out and do it yourself, for your own existing website. Check with the folks at the liveBooks booth for times each day. We will, of course, be reporting from PhotoPlus for the blog, and otherwise checking out the show ourselves to learn about all the latest and greatest gear that's out there. It's Thursday, October 23rd, Friday the 24th, and Saturday the 25th.
Here's the program description:
From Zero to #1 - Search Engine Visibility - Real World Edition Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is all the rage and there's plenty of mis-information around. John will not only de-mystify SEO for you, he will provide several highly effective examples of how you can get your current site to page 1 of the search engines for your chosen keywords. With a real-world (and on-going) case study, John demonstrates how he aided in the shift from "invisible" to position 1 on all three search engines for a young and aspiring photographer. If you too aspire to exist on the search engines, you will walk away from this presentation with concrete steps to build your visibility and position.
Be there, or be invisible. Register here for FREE access to the Exhibit Hall, (or visit PhotoPLUS's website here and use VIP Passcode: lbks554) Please post your comments by clicking the link below. If you've got questions, please pose them in our Photo Business Forum Flickr Group Discussion Threads.
In a report by Crains Business (Obama to media: pony up for election night access, 10/21/08), a memo that went out details charges starting at $715 for a credential, and goes upwards towards $2,000.
Yikes!
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It is not unusual for events such as the conventions, and the Presidential Inauguration, to have the media paying for the construction of risers, tents, and so forth. When traveling with the President, the media outlets pay for their transportation, hotel, airfare, and filing center space, as managed by the White House Travel Office. But to charge for credentials, in my experience, is offensive, at best. In this case, you are paying for the access to cover the event, not for facilities, and that's where it's just gone wrong. Please post your comments by clicking the link below. If you've got questions, please pose them in our Photo Business Forum Flickr Group Discussion Threads.
Tom Tinervin was among those that felt the swift, sharp, and severing blade of the axe that fell last week for those running Digital Railroad, like a sling blade coming from out of nowhere. Yet, for those on the inside, apparently, the light they were seeing wasn't the end of the tunnel, but the bright light of the locomotive barreling straight for them. There's a saying - "the train is leaving the station, do you want to be on it, or under it?" Well, Tom found out he was under it, but in the end, he was better off because the VC team that drove many of the problems at Digital Railroad are riding that rail straight out onto a rickety bridge that is missing the "bridge out" sign.
So, with a week to reflect, I thought I'd talk to Tom about his past, and his future plans, and got some surprising answers. Here we go with 10 questions:
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1) So, what happened with you and Digital Railroad?
As one of the founding members of Digital Railroad, it was our intent to offer the community of photographers, collectives and photo agencies an opportunity to level the playing ground with the dominant forces of the photo industry (Getty, Corbis and Jupiter). To provide an affordable and efficient web based tool for photographers and agencies to manage their business WHILE more importantly introducing buyers to a new channel of photography AND flip traditional royalty contracts on their heads by giving photographers 80% of the sale. The old adage of the big three having 40% of the market, represented a huge opportunity for companies like DRR and PhotoShelter to make a run at the other 60%.
For four years my team and I traveled the US and Europe working with industry associations (APA, NPPA, ASMP, WHNPA) educating photographers and buyers alike about digital workflow and teaching the sales and marketing strategies needed to compete in the "digital age." It was an invaluable and rewarding experience and my thanks goes out to all the photographers and agencies that we spent time with.
Unfortunately last week I was terminated in the beginning stages of the liquidation of DRR along a majority of the senior management. Due to an unsustainable revenue model in Marketplace, lack of funding post restructuring in Jan 08, and compounded by the macro economic climate DRR was unable to maintain overhead. DRR's Andy Parsons and Tom Grina (perviously CTO and CFO respectively) remain engaged and are working hard to close on a positive outcome for Digital Railroad members.
2) When did you first learn about Picturemaxx, (where you've recently been hired?)
Picturemaxx is a company that's been on my radar for over four years. One of the imitations of DRR was the need to duplicitously upload images amongst photographers, agency and subagents around the world that shared DRR as their core platform. For years I had heard from photo agencies like Redux and Laif that desperately wanted DRR to create "mini portals" amongst DRR archives to eliminate that redundant process. Picturemaxx was the software solution that everyone pointed to as the example. Likewise, Picturemaxx has a monopoly on the German picture buying market and several of DRR members were enjoying a steady injection of business sustaining revenue from the German market alone through their participation in Picturmaxx.
I often thought Picturemaxx would have been an ideal partner for growing DRR Marketplace and increasing image licensing revenue abroad, but ultimately Picturemaxx was always seen as competitive to DRR Marketplace.
3) Is PictureMaxx just another Digital Railroad, or is it a larger concept?
Picturemaxx is a much larger concept. Envision a client-relationship-management program + DAM program + subagent manager + distribution channel all in one web based environment.
Our industry of content providers and buyers have been burned on early stage technologies. Our understanding of what "we need to do" to attract buyers is constantly redefined with every new technology released. I am a very firm believer that you can wrap your "offering" in as much technology as you want but at the end of the day that technology will never be utilized unless you have the relationships. Technology is meant to create efficiencies once a relationship already exists...but it will never passively generate business sustaining revenue in the photo industry.
I speak with photographers and photo agencies alike everyday that are inundated with digital workflows that didn't exist back in the days of film. They invest thousands of dollars on the latest buzz (like SEO refinement) and outsourcing of scanning and keywording. They are crippled with indecision about where and how to store their digital media. They are forced to play by the rules of the dominant forces in the photo industry because alone they do not have the ability nor resources to be content producer, manager, marketer, and seller all in one.
In over 10 years of selling images commerically and editorially for Corbis and Getty and in over 4 years speaking with thousands of photographers and agencies from over 80 countries....one thing is clear; there are those that are successful and there are those that are not....and there is absolutely no in between.
Picturemaxx is a service that will allow you as content provider or buyer to reduce overhead and increase production. Picturemaxx does not take royalties and does not interfere in the licensing of your content. Picturemaxx simply helps you perform that tasks you have to do more efficiently.
4) So, images from both individuals AND photo agencies are returned in search results?
At this time only photo agencies are participating.
5) Is PictureMaxx up and running in the US, I've never heard of it?
Yes Picturemaxx is up and running in the US; picturemaxx currently aggregates the portfolios of over 250 photo agencies , media portals and archives, making them available to a user community of several thousand editors and creative professionals from over 500 magazines, newspaper publishers, companies and advertising agencies in the domestic market and abroad.
6) What is your new role at PictureMaxx?
Managing Director, Picturemaxx USA. I will oversee all day to day operations of the Picturemaxx USA team while fostering adoption from content producers and buyers alike.
7) Is PictureMaxx an image archiving solution, or a sales/licensing platform?
Both.
Photographers and agencies spend their time between a series of applications; Extensis, CS3, Bridge, LightRoom, Aperture, PhotoMechanic, Fetch, Transmit, DRR, PhotoShelter, Livebooks, etc, etc,.
While photographers, agencies and buyers alike have become quite proficient in the ways of digital workflow, they still lack the efficiencies needed to manage their client and partner relationships while expanding their reach to a network of global digital media buyers.
Picturemaxx literally has the opportunity to aggregate all content from around the world in one place replacing legacy agency models by simply referring business directly to the provider rather than taking a percentage.
Likewise most photographers, agencies and buyers do not have the resources to pay for a CRM (client relationship management) program, and their businesses suffer because of it. Picturemaxx will reduce the need for costly overhead by streamlining the processes we repeat everyday.
8) Who collects and recieves the funds, and what percentage does PictureMaxx want?
Picturemaxx is a subscription based service that only charges you for usage of their products and DOES NOT take any percentage from license of digital media. All licensing is done directly with the content provider.
9) Is this a costly service, and where will my images actually be housed?
picturemaxx is very affordable. picturemaxx opengate is a communications server that can be used to connect various databases, file systems and image search engines even if they are not part of the picturemaxx platform.
The picturemaxx opengate server solution provides you with the resources you need to make your image assets available to other applications, add external image assets to your catalogue or combine your data with other suppliers.
picturemaxx opengate provides you with a server application that acts as a mediator and translator for any number supplier and recipient networks. The flexible scalability of picturemaxx opengate and, most importantly, the freedom offered by the open interface on the development side enables independence and maximum protection of your investment.
10) When will individual photographers have access to use the service, and are there any tentative costs for them to do that?
Immediately. I will be giving presentations during PACA NY this weekend as well as Picturehouse NY on Oct 29th. PictureMaxx has a fairly customized solution set, so pricing can be dependent upon the choices they make. That said, for around $300 or less a month, a photographer will have about 100GB in storage. But remember, there's zero commissions paid for this service, AND, buyers too are paying for access, so a magazine with four photo editors is paying for their access to the network too, at a comparable rate, so there's literal buy-in on both sides here, with PictureMaxx as the facilitator world-wide.
PictureMaxx's PDF, with more information about them, can be found here. UPDATE: Andy Parsons, of Digital Railroad, writes in response to this piece:
"First, the entire senior management team was not let go." He goes on to remark that Tom Grina, " and myself remain fully engaged and are working hard to close on a positive outcome for our members. We continue with a full complement of engineering, support, and Marketplace sales."
"Second, we are very actively seeking a partnership or acquisition that takes the business and the technology forward, not liquidating."
Note - Tom has provided clarifying information and we have modified his answer based upon *his* revisions.
Please post your comments by clicking the link below. If you've got questions, please pose them in our Photo Business Forum Flickr Group Discussion Threads.
With all the fear and loathing going on regarding Digital Railroad, a fresh dose of solutions came over the transom last night, in the form of an announcement by PhotoShelter. No no, they're not merging. Cats and dogs will procreate before that happens.
As Digital Railroad is likely liquidating (Digital Railroad Likely Being Liquidated, 10/15/08), PhotoShelter is innovating. They've announced PhotoShelter 2.0. Get this - you can create a custom website from your online images in just six clicks. Check this:
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Check this:
Log in to your PhotoShelter "Photographer Area".
Click: from the My Website dropdown, choose - My Homepage
Click: Featured Galleries
Click: Add Gallery
Click: Whichever gallery you want on your home page
Click: from the My Website dropdown, choose - Customization
Click: In the Customization box, choose Theme, and "view site"
Copy that URL, and you're done. Six clicks.
Here are a few recommendations to tweak that:
A Six-Click Modification:
Click: from the My Website dropdown, choose - Customization
Click: In the Customization box, choose My Homepage
Click: choose "Display Featured Gallery" and select "As a Flash-based slideshow"
Click: uncheck sub-feature Galleries"
Click: uncheck "List of Recently Updated Galleries"
Click: save settings
Here's that resulting gallery: John Harrington. Pretty sweet, eh?
Now, to quote either Adobe Evangelist Julianne Kost - "But wait, there's more...", or Steve Jobs, and "oh, and one more thing..." (I can't decide which), go to your galleries (or make one specific to your needs), and click the "Embed Gallery" link, as shown below:
Then this window comes up with the preview, and the arrow in the lower right, when clicked, gives you the embed code:
And here's that pretty sweet looking widget in action:
Or, you can embed a single image (instructions here), like this:
CHECK THAT COOL "BUY" LINK AT THE BOTTOM!
And you can just take that code, and embed the video or single still image in blogs, and other places where you can embed a video, just like YouTube. What's extra cool, is that if you took the embed code, and posted it somewhere, suppose I opted to change/add images to the gallery - since the content is pulled from PhotoShelter in real-time, those changes would be reflected across the web wherever the widget was embedded.
PHOTOSHELTER LAUNCHES PERSONAL ARCHIVE 2.0, INCLUDING “30 SECOND WEBSITE” TEMPLATES
New features enable instant website creation, more self marketing tools, streamlined user interface and community forums
New York, NY, October 20, 2008 – PhotoShelter, an online community where thousands of independent photographers find success through image sales and archiving technologies, today unveiled Version 2.0 for its flagship product, the PhotoShelter Personal Archive. Today’s release establishes PhotoShelter as the industry’s most affordable solution to easily create and publish robust e-commerce photo-friendly websites, by providing a menu of pre-set templates designed to instantly “skin” a public Personal Archive account. The result is a standalone website with a unique, professional and clean aesthetic, powered by PhotoShelter, complete with galleries, search, and shopping carts, plus lightboxes, slideshows, and client login/password protection.
The new website templates complement PhotoShelter’s existing Seamless Customization feature, which puts all of the powerful PhotoShelter features into photographers’ own websites, while maintaining their unique look and feel. These new templates allow users to leapfrog any complex design or integration activity by instantly laying themes and styles atop the user’s existing Personal Archive. PhotoShelter users can create a new website in no more than six clicks.
“Every serious photographer’s website should serve as their digital storefront, yet too many photographers have avoided adding e-commerce, search, and security features because integration has been both complex and expensive,” said Allen Murabayashi, CEO of PhotoShelter. “PhotoShelter now makes it simple and affordable to instantly convert a photographer’s archive into a comprehensive, robust website for offering stock photography, prints, and other photo products. And, the templates can be applied in literally 30 seconds. We’re constantly looking for new ways to create success for our community and this is a huge step forward.”
“There are many web template companies, but none offer the same features as PhotoShelter,” said wedding photographer Eric Hegwer (www.erichegwer.com). “PhotoShelter lets me to make sales to clients, including prints and direct digital downloads of images, and provides a rock solid archiving system for all my weddings. Now, with their easy-to-configure websites, I simply choose the photos I want to be on my website, and a few clicks later they are there.
PhotoShelter also today unveiled new features that enable photographers to market their images beyond their personal websites. New Flash-based widgets enable users to embed slideshows and individual images into any website or blog – with functionality that helps every image retain critical metadata and direct links back to the photographer’s Personal Archive account, where images can be sold as prints or stock photography.
“Photographers must take advantage of all possible opportunities to expose potential clients to their work,” said Allen Murabayashi, CEO of PhotoShelter. “These new features enhance a photographer’s self marketing toolkit, enabling their images to spread virally across the web all while maintaining control of the image. At the same time, Orphan Works legislation makes it critical for content owners to track and establish ownership of imagery via metadata. We’re taking the lead by helping photographers ensure images disseminated across the web can always link back to their Personal Archive account.”
Also announced was an upgrade to PhotoShelter’s innovative “Virtual Agency,” which allows independent photographers to join together in groups with similar interests to market their work collectively as a niche stock agency. Monthly fees for use of the Virtual Agency have been removed, so users can group together without hesitation.
PhotoShelter also enhanced its community features available to Personal Archive subscribers. Starting today, a user forum is available to help subscribers interact for networking, technical discussion, and friendly banter. Included is an Image Critique Forum where subscribers can share images and obtain feedback from their peers.
The feature updates were also accompanied by a complete overhaul to the Personal Archive site navigation, including homepage and tour. While no functionality was removed, the design changes provide a streamlined, more logical user interface in response to customer feedback.
PhotoShelter will be demonstrating the new Personal Archive features at the PhotoPlus Expo in New York, October 23 through 25, in booth #1808.
Please post your comments by clicking the link below. If you've got questions, please pose them in our Photo Business Forum Flickr Group Discussion Threads.
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Here is the official statement from PhotoShelter, regarding Digital Railroad:
