Archive notice: This article was originally published on July 10, 2008. Links and embedded videos are preserved as part of the historical record.
International photo agency Getty Images is searching Yahoo’s Flickr platform for potential contributors. Amateur photographers who post high-quality images on Flickr are to be encouraged by email to work professionally with Getty Images. Yahoo and the photo agency have announced a partnership that allows Getty Images to search the photo community for interesting images. Selected users will have an opportunity to publish their photos as licensed professional material through the project. The newcomers are to be paid under the same terms as the professional photographers already contracted by Getty Images.
“With two billion images, Flickr not only contains an almost inexhaustible collection of pictures, but is also one of the most popular platforms for first-class photography by ambitious amateurs,” Kakul Srivastava, General Manager of Flickr, told pressetext. She said the partnership with Getty Images gives users an opportunity to gain recognition in the largest professional image database. The photo agency will pay users directly, with details of the financial arrangements to be announced shortly. Users will retain copyright in their images even when they are published through Getty Images.
It does not appear unusual for photo agencies to search online for potential contributors. “I also know from our users that one or another professional assignment is secured from time to time,” Markus Hein, Managing Director of the photo portal pixelio.de, told pressetext. He said it was difficult to assess the scale of this activity. “Our platform itself is free—the photographers are not paid, and use of the photos is also free,” Hein added. Some semi-professional photographers nevertheless use pixelio to attract attention and obtain paid assignments.
Getty Images hopes the Flickr partnership will expand its existing catalog with additional material in particular subject areas and from specific regions of the world. “We believe Flickr will be an important addition to our mix,” said Getty Images co-founder Jonathan Klein. The company also hopes the pictures will offer greater authenticity because they were not shot for commercial purposes. Klein said advertisers increasingly value this authenticity, which is often absent from professional photography.
Yahoo is to receive a proportional payment from Getty Images for the partnership, although details of the financial arrangements were not disclosed. The cooperation is not expected to be a major source of profit for either Yahoo or the photo agency; Flickr users are expected to benefit more over time. According to Klein, Getty Images charges an average of $500 to $600 for a copyrighted image that customers may use for a specified period. The photographers themselves receive between 30 and 40 percent of that amount.
