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Permalink Reply by Ryan Armbrust on July 8, 2008 at 11:10pm

DAMN!

I would hope that the images are screened in some way for quality.
Can't wait to hear Matt Stone's take on this.

Kinda wacky!

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Permalink Reply by Lunatock on July 8, 2008 at 11:33pm

I don't think this'll go over well with some people.

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Permalink Reply by Matt Stone on July 8, 2008 at 11:36pm

DOH! Well, Getty editors WILL be sifting through the rough to find some gems.

I guess Getty wants to get into even more stock work and Flickr images probably will be a cheap way for them add to their library. Hopefully they will offer photographers a fair rate for their work and not "penny stock" it. Obviously, as Bil recently posted, the cream will rise to the top -- probably around 2% or 3% of the images will be chosen out of the millions that Flickers offers...I could be wrong, though.

I'm sure Getty photo editors will be the ones choosing the work. I know one Getty photographer who is based locally but travels all over the nation just shooting sports. He's very good at what he does, so I doubt Flickr images would ever replace his work.

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Permalink Reply by Jacob Zimmer on July 9, 2008 at 1:51am

Correct me if I am wrong, but isn't flickr mostly an amateur storage site like photobucket?

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Permalink Reply by Bil Brown on July 9, 2008 at 2:25am

Sort of... it is used for that, but there are also MANY very good photographers that use it for self-promotion and SEO.

I know many, many notable national and international photographers that use Flickr regularly to showcase new work instead of having a blog. You have the instant appeal and instant access to a group of peers of your choosing (you add friends just like you would a social network, and have a profile like one as well). Plus, it is run by Yahoo now and is effective in pushing your name up in Google rankings.

So, to answer your question. Not quite like Photobucket. It can be a very serious tool.

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Permalink Reply by Bil Brown on July 9, 2008 at 3:06am

Here is a interesting article on what is happening, that I posted along with others in the WAR thread... but it fits here even moreso:


http://www.sportsshooter.com/news/2014
"With this recession as opposed to ones the industry has faced in the past is the fact that the public at large DOES have alternatives. There is now more content than ever before online, more television channels, and it's easier and cheaper to publish and share content on the web than ever before, and in fact the vast majority of it is available for free. Not only is it available for free - people expect to get it for free...

As newspaper and magazines disappear - so will a lot of the photography - forever. The truth is that while photography is one of the most popular hobbies and growth sectors out there - most people seem to want a richer media experience on the web."


And Flickr just started to offer video uploads too...

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Permalink Reply by Bil Brown on July 11, 2008 at 11:31am

My favorite stock site, Photoshelter, is vehemently against this merger.

http://blog.photoshelter.com/corp/2008/07/how-getty-is-killing-the-...

"As much as Getty would like to position this move as an open embrace of the community, it's not. Instead, it's a way to lock out competition, and allow them to continue with status quo. They're hopeful that this infusion of content can somehow staunch the flat/declining growth of their traditional licensing revenue, and why not? Their growth has historically been predicated on acquisition of boutique agency content until they bought virtually everyone up, and alienated thousands of photographers and buyers in the process."

To a degree, I agree. Of course... Photoshelter is a competitor of Getty.

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