Visual Connections New York 2014

Where New York, United States
Date Wednesday, October 22, 2014
Venue The Altman Building
Address 135 West 18th Street, New York, NY 10011 (map)

Useful links

Review

Graphic Design USA

PACA - Digital Media Licensing Association

PDFThese documents require Adobe Acrobat Reader.

Visual Connections returned to the Altman Building on Wednesday, October 22nd, 2014, and this year partnered with PACA, whose International Conference took place at the same venue on the preceding days, and with GD USA to promote the event to graphic designers.

Among our exhibitors this year, eleven were new to New York, and eighteen were from abroad.

42% of attendees were first-timers, and 58% had not attended in 2013. They represented the following market sectors:

Breakdown by market sector

Their annual expenditure on visual media and related services is as follows:

Annual expenditure on visual media/services

The sessions were well-attended and well-received: 100% of attendees rated the Keynote Q& Session positively, with 76% rating it very highly; 96% rated the Footage Q&A Session positively, with 50% rating it very highly; 100% of attendees rated the Guest Speaker positively, with 57% rating him very highly.

Prize winners

We are delighted to announce the winners of this year’s sponsored prize drawing:

Prize Winner
$2,000 Travel Gift Certificate Marialys Mullery, McCann Echo Torre Lazur
$500 Apple Gift Card Patricia Shea, Projekt P
$500 Apple Gift Card Brian Jones, Crystal McKenzie
$200 OpenTable Gift Certificate Nicole Cappello, National Geographic Channels
$200 OpenTable Gift Certificate Kerri Wilson, Lumina Datamatics
$200 OpenTable Gift Certificate Geoff Cassar, Pearson Education

The prizes this year were sponsored by: 123RF, age fotostock, Alamy, Bridgeman Images, Condé Nast Collection, Danita Delimont Stock Photography, Image Source, ITN Source, National Geographic Creative, Redux Pictures, robertharding, SuperStock

The winner of the invitation postcard prize drawing for a $100 Amazon Gift Certificate was Yvonne Silver from Scholastic.

Sessions

PACA

Keynote Q&A Session

360° view of copyright, trends and technology in visual licensing today

The morning’s panel of picture professionals and pioneers examined what’s new and notable in the world of image/footage licensing. Their collective expertise covers all bases: legal, business and technical.

Questions asked to date

  • Please speak to the legal ramifications of posting stock photography on social media sites when their T&C explicitly states that they own reproduction and resale rights of any images posted to a user's account.
  • Any tips for experienced still image researchers for researching and permissioning footage and/or music - what are the similarities and differences?
ACSIL

Footage Q&A Session  

Best practices for finding & licensing video

If your background is in researching or buying stills, or if you’re new to licensing stock media, this session is a great way get up to speed with using footage. Our panel of experts will be able to answer any questions you may have.

Guest Speaker: Alex Center

Stay Thirsty, Stay Foolish

This is a critical time in the connection between design and business. People don’t just appreciate good design; they expect it. Great design helps us connect and communicate with people all over the world. But why do some brands connect with people while others don’t?

People use stories to communicate, explore, persuade and inspire. Visual storytelling enables brands to educate, entertain and establish an emotional connection with consumers. This is essential in an overcrowded marketplace, where it is harder than ever for brands to make that connection.

Alex Center will share how his experience working on the vitaminwater brand has taught him that storytelling, consumer collaboration, user experience design, brand personality and tapping into culture are some of the ways to design for people, not products.

Our panelists for the Keynote Q&A Session

Nancy WolffNancy Wolff, a partner at Cowan DeBaets Abrahams & Sheppard LLP in New York City and PACA Counsel, specializes in copyright, trademark, rights of privacy/publicity and digital media law. Nancy offers full legal support to a wide range of traditional and digital media clients. She is currently Vice President of the Copyright Society of the USA and Co-Chair of the ABA subcommittee on Copyright Legislation. She is a frequent speaker throughout the United States and Europe on copyright, technology and licensing. In 2007 she published her book entitled The Professional Photographer’s Legal Handbook with Allworth Press and PACA. She was awarded the 2007 ASPP Picture Professional of the Year.

Paul MelcherPaul Melcher is the founder and Editor in Chief of Kaptur. He was named one of the “100 most important people in photography” by American Photo Magazine and has more than twenty years of photo and technology experience at top agencies such as Corbis and Gamma Press, and innovative tech companies like Stipple and DigitalRailroad.

Karen BeardKaren Beard is founder and creative director of Shestock, an agency which delivers honest, highly-curated, exclusive stock and assignments with the artist’s vision as the essential starting point. Karen is also a professional photographer with close to 20 years’ experience executing commercial photo shoots and running related businesses.

Nuno SilvaNuno Silva is Director of Content at 500px Prime, the innovative commercial licensing division of 500px, and an accomplished professional photographer and graphic designer. He was a founder of the Stocksy United co-operative and, before that, worked at iStockPhoto. He has been a guest judge for the Sony World Photography Awards.

Darrell B PerryDarrell Perry creates photography for all media, as an editor, producer and researcher. He has led teams at the Wall Street Journal, CBS, ImageDirect and Mulryan/Nash Advertising. Darrell shared in the Pulitzer Prize in Journalism for Breaking News Reporting for the coverage of the tragic events on and after September 11th, 2001.

Moderator

Ellen HerbertEllen Herbert, owner of NEAT Production, is a producer/editor/art buyer on the West Coast for a wide array of clients, including the 2000 Democratic National Convention, High Wide & Handsome, deviantART and the Academy Award winning documentary The Children’s March. Her newest project is becoming a partner in the Genre Stock agency Novel Expression.

Our panelists for the Footage Q&A Session

Cathy CarapellaCathy Carapella is Vice President of Global ImageWorks, an independent stock footage library with an active Film Research & Rights Clearance department. Before that she was President of the US division of Diamond Time, an international copyright clearance company specialized in music supervision and licensing, film clip clearances, artist consents, DPD licensing, and sampling clearances. Cathy has been working in the field of music and media licensing since the early 1980s.

Max SegalMax Segal became a founder in 2003 of the HBO Archives, which includes content from The March of Time documentaries (1935-67), HBO Entertainment News division, and high-end stock footage outtakes from HBO Films. Max started his career at HBO in 1989 as head of Rights and Clearances for the network’s Sports division and began producing features in 1991, winning the Sports Emmy Award in 2003 for his Inside the NFL feature story contributions. Max is currently Co-President of ACSIL.

Jim McDonnellJim McDonnell is a visual researcher with 15 years’ experience in the documentary world, working with archival film and videotape. He has worked on projects for the VH1 RockDoc series, VH1 Behind the Music, PBS American Masters (including Hear My Train A Comin’ – about Jimi Hendrix), and independent TV and movie documentaries (including Alex Winter’s Downloaded – about Napster, Crossfire Hurricane – about The Rolling Stones, and Alex Gibney’s Mr. Dynamite: The Rise of James Brown).

Moderator

Matt WhiteMatt White is a Managing Partner at Sutton Hoo Studios and Executive Director of ACSIL. He is an award-winning filmmaker of archive-inspired programs with over 25 years’ experience as an industry leader in the care and development of audio-visual archives. Matt established The WPA Film Library in 1986, and has held senior management positions at National Geographic and The Corporation for Public Broadcasting. He is currently co-producing Beatles Live! with with Apple Corps Ltd and director Ron Howard.

Our guest speaker

Alex CenterAlex Center is a Brooklyn-based designer who currently works for the global beverage leader, The Coca-Cola Company. He grew up in the town of Oceanside NY, home to the world’s second Nathan’s Famous Hot Dogs. He once worked as a designer for the New York Knicks with his childhood idol, John Starks, and his nemesis Isiah Thomas.

Over the years, he has designed packaging that has reached hands across the globe, created breakthrough marketing campaigns, launched innovative new products and once met rapper 50 Cent, who told him, “You must think you’re pretty special.” He got nervous and instantly started sweating.

In 2011 Alex was named one of the 200 Best Packaging Designers by Luerzers Archive. In 2012 he started sharing his story with speaking engagements at The Dieline Forum, HOW Design Live and as a guest on Debbie Millman’s famous Design Matters podcast. In 2014 Alex was named a Person To Watch by GDUSA Magazine, joining the likes of legendary past recipients Milton Glaser, Primo Angeli, George Lois and Saul Bass. Today he leads the design vision and strategy for global brands at Coca-Cola, which include vitaminwater, smartwater and Powerade.

In his personal time Alex enjoys rooting for New York sports teams that wear orange/blue, doing improv at the UCB Theatre, and searching for the freshest prosciutto in New York City.

New York 2013
I look forward to this event every year! It's fun seeing colleagues from agencies I've been working with for years, and also good to learn about new offerings and suppliers.
— Heather Kemp, Popawheelie Image Services
I really found the keynote worth it—it gave me a great deal of new knowledge about copyright!
— Kris Ashley, Belvedere Editorial & Research
... high quality of the keynote session and chance to meet new vendors and old friends.
— Dayna Bealy, New-York Historical Society
By understanding my options, it helps me make more informed decisions on image selection, costs, and many other ways of working.
— Natalie Smith, Duke University Press