Visual media news and updates from Visual Connections

Time Inc. and Getty Images Jointly Launch LIFE.com

Time Inc. and Getty Images will jointly launch LIFE.com, the companies announced today at the Interactive Advertising Bureau’s MIXX Conference in New York City. LIFE.com will be jointly owned and operated by Time Inc. and Getty Images, and will provide access to the most comprehensive iconic and professional photography collections available anywhere online. LIFE.com will offer access to thousands of new photographs from Getty Images’ award-winning photographers, including today’s news, entertainment, sports, celebrities, travel, animals and many others. Consumers will also have access to millions of images from LIFE magazine, many of which have never been seen by the public. The collection contains the historic photos that LIFE published through the decades, in addition to many never-before-seen pictures of Hollywood stars, sports heroes, important people and events from the ‘30’s though the ‘90’s. Getty Images will be providing the majority of images at launch from its comprehensive archival and current collections. More than 3,000 new images will be uploaded daily from Getty Images.

AP Images introduces a premium entertainment product

The Associated Press, the world's largest newsgathering agency, has expanded its entertainment coverage with a new service called Celebrity Extra. Celebrity Extra is a premium entertainment photo product covering the latest in celebrity news, red carpet glamour, music events, fashion and more. The focus is on A-list celebrities around the world and more event coverage than ever before. The service will complement AP's existing market-leading coverage of Entertainment in video, photos, text and radio.

40th Anniversary of Woodstock Festival Still Rocks

Do you remember Woodstock? Were you one of the half a million who lived those three days of music and communal life? Jason Lauré, who documented the landmark cultural event in color and black/white, is launching a beautiful boxed portfolio containing twelve fine prints. The exquisite, dark brown leather box, embossed with the words “Woodstock Festival” with the 40th anniversary dates, 1969-2009, is being offered in a limited edition of fifty copies, signed by the photographer. Each of the twelve images included in the box is a fine quality print depicting a significant moment from the festival including the headline entertainers, the crowd, and the charming life of the concert-goers.

English Heritage Images comes to the USA!

English Heritage Images will be promoting its vast range of images of the history and heritage of England to picture buyers in the USA for the first time ever at Picturehouse New York 2008. It is also running themed campaigns for notable anniversaries coming up in 2009, including the 500th anniversary of Henry VIII’s ascent to the throne, and a double anniversary relating to Charles Darwin.

Jupiterimages launches another subscription service

Jupiterimages, a division of Jupitermedia Corporation (Nasdaq: JUPM), today announced the launch of its second new subscription offering in two weeks, Jupiterimages Unlimited Plus (http://www.jiunlimited.com). With over 2.0 million images (and growing by over 100,000 per month), Jupiterimages Unlimited Plus offers the largest selection of both professionally created and microstock images by subscription. Jupiterimages Unlimited Plus comprises twelve image collections, including premium brands such as Brand X Pictures and BananaStock, and popular subscription collections including Photos.com, combined with an additional 1.4 million value images from Stockxpert.com (Jupiterimages' microstock collection). Jupiterimages Unlimited Plus has a variety of plans and payment options available to meet the needs of any image buyer.

Photolibrary to represent AGE Fotostock throughout its office network

Photolibrary, the leading independent global distributor and producer of still and moving imagery, now offers its creative professional customers even better choices through the signing of a distribution agreement with AGE FotoStock for all of its rights managed and royalty free imagery thoughout Photolibrary’s office network in the United Kingdom, United States, Australia, Asia and the Middle East. Photolibrary has also agreed to provide AGE FotoStock content from its house collections for distribution through AGE’s THP channel partners and AGE FotoStock direct.

Masterfile envisions the 'Green World'

Masterfile’s next magazine-style publication (The File 2.08) - entitled 'Green World' - will be distributed to clients around the world in mid-September 2008. With 'Green World', Masterfile tackles the topic of environmentally compatible living – a trend that will dominate and define our futures as no other. In fact, 'green' consciousness is no longer simply a trend. Environmental awareness has gone mainstream, and ecology minded thinking will necessarily play a key role in the actions of all people from now on. This has recently become very apparent in the field of advertising and media, where the topic is more and more prevalent. Major corporations are increasingly putting out a 'green' message in their marketing strategies; on television, in print and on the web. With powerful, expressive photographs of landscapes, nature, animals and people, Masterfile’s 'Green World' brilliantly illustrates this sea change with images from its collections. All of these and countless more ecologically relevant photographs and illustrations are available for online research and licensing at masterfile.com.

Photoshot opens its first U.S. office in NYC

UK-based Photoshot opened a New York office last October and has rapidly been growing since. Kris Hook, a ten-year veteran of Corbis Images, is running Photoshot’s New York office. Photoshot was founded in 1999 by Charles Taylor, a former investment banker at Morgan Stanley. Colin Finlay, formerly of Getty Images, now co-manages the London operation as Director of Strategic Development. In addition to representing its own in-house collections, Photoshot Archive and Photoshot Creative, Photoshot also represents an impressive and varied roster of editorial image collections including Universal Pictorial and Press Agency (UPPA) which dates back to 1929 and is the photo archive of record in the UK for royalty, politicians and the judiciary, Starstock and Stay Still (both celebrity collections), Talking Sport, World Pictures and World Illustrated (travel imagery and world cultures), Woodfall Wild, NHPA (wild life and nature), and Photos Horticultural among many others.

Picturehouse New York opens in new venue on October 29th

Stock imagery buyers are invited to meet image suppliers from around the globe in New York on October 29th. This, the 8th annual Picturehouse New York event, is the premier forum for keeping abreast of developments in the stock industry, bringing together over a hundred image suppliers for a day. This year’s event moves to the prestigious Altman Building in New York’s Chelsea District, and will retain the fun and friendly atmosphere Picturehouse is known for, including free refreshments (including beer and wine after 5PM), many prizes and giveaways. Entry is free to professional stock imagery buyers and researchers – pre-registration required.

Masterfile City Forum launches in August

Starting in August, stock photo agency Masterfile will be offering creative professionals everywhere a valuable networking and information sharing service - the Masterfile City Forum. This chat room style feature will be accessed through Masterfile’s own ever-evolving virtual metropolis, Masterfile City (www.masterfile.com/mcity). It will be a meeting place for designers, art buyers and creatives from around the world. Masterfile is inviting them to take part in a creative exchange, sharing ideas and solving problems with an international group of colleagues.