Hard times
Last year was a rough year for the big players in stock photography, and I hope 2008 brings them better fortune. Because the three giant picture libraries - Corbis, Getty and Jupiterimages - for so long held responsible for the end of photography as we knew it, now look like the professionals' unlikely saviours.
As Peter Rigaud, one of Corbis Outline's latest recruits, put it in this week's cover feature: 'Trying to sell your own photography doesn't work any more because syndication has become much more important, and much more professionalised.' Syndication has become more important for photographers such as Rigaud because the amount they earn from editorial shoots has declined so much. And, as Getty, Corbis and Jupiterimages' speedy domination of the stock image market shows, small image libraries and individual photographers have struggled to keep up with the 'professionalisation' of the market.
The internet, and initiatives such as Digital Railroad, may help smaller players compete in future, but even there the large conglomerates are instrumental - internet-based image sales will only really take off when standardised licences take off, and initiatives such as the PLUS coalition depend on the support of the majority players.
The fact is, it's tough. Even Corbis struggles - the company is yet to make a profit - and Getty and Jupiterimages aren't exactly printing money. Given those conditions, I'm not surprised that smaller players and independent photographers find it impossible to compete.
Granted, it's less than ideal that the visual depiction of our culture, in stock imagery at least, is concentrated in so few hands. But for professional photographers trying to make a living, the ethics of wider philosophical debates are a luxury, and one they can ill afford. And the growth of the microstock market over 2007 can only make things harder.
Stock photographers, I think, have little choice but to take a long, hard look at the future and opt to face it head on, whether they like it or not. Perhaps the start of a new year is an appropriate time to do it.
Diane Smyth, Deputy editor.
