Visual media news and updates from Visual Connections

National Gallery, London appoints Art Resource as its official representative in North America

Art Resource is proud to announce that it has been selected by the National Gallery, London to serve as their official photo permissions representative in North America. The National Gallery, London joins a roster of over 6,000 museum, institutions and monuments worldwide whose image rights and reproductions are represented by Art Resource, announced Dr. Theodore Feder, President of Art Resource.

Dreamstime.com introduces its newest search engine advancements

Complimenting the Dreamstime.com DreamFinderTM, Dreamstime's custom search engine has become second-to-none in "relevancy." Designed specifically to pinpoint definitive photos of relevance, Dreamstime's "flag" system (which allows its members the opportunity to flag and report any photo that appears to be misplaced or mis-keyed) has also enabled the over 1.3 million users impeccable quality assurance while in turn affording the photographers the ability to learn to key their images with the most appropriate word(s) to target the specific needs of the photo-buyer.

Olya Evanitsky joins picturemaxx USA as Head of Technical Operations & Services

Olya Evanitsky joined picturemaxx USA as Head of Technical Operations & Services. She oversees the training and support of U.S. clients. Ms. Evanitsky has over 13 years experience working with Web-based technologies. Before coming to picturemaxx, she served as Senior Director of Product Management for Digital Railroad and as a Project Manager for Goldman Sachs, leading large-scale Internet projects. She also has worked as a professional photographer, shooting for a wide range of publications and institutions. Her photographs have appeared in Sports Illustrated, The New York Times, on ESPN and CBS, and the HarperCollins book “Sunday Money,” among others.

NCAA partners with The Associated Press to distribute Championship photos

The NCAA and The Associated Press today announced a three-year content partnership making AP the worldwide distributor of NCAA Championship photography and creating the largest collection anywhere of collegiate sports photos. Under the agreement, AP Images will serve as the NCAA's exclusive photo licensing agent, including retail sales of archival photos, for all NCAA Championships and events.

Map Users Can Choose Digital Maps in Any Format

Now, designers can get any Map Resources digital map file in the format they prefer to use. Alternative format maps will offer the identical appearance as the original Illustrator map. Depending on the format they choose, users will have varied ability to customize their maps. Vector map formats, such as PDF and EPS, will allow resizing and font quality text. Photoshop format maps will include editable map layers. Users can choose from digital World maps, Country maps, USA maps, City maps, County maps. Custom maps can also be delivered in alternate formats.

PACA Helps Members Save and Learn During Tough Times

While winds of change blow across our nation, the Picture Archive Council of America (PACA) breezes into The Windy City for the "Best Practices" Symposium. In support of its membership during this economic crisis, PACA is kicking off its event on the heels of Picturehouse Chicago. In addition, PACA is offering early-bird discounts through April 10 with the largest savings coming to an end on February 28.

PACA members will converge on the historical and cosmopolitan Millennium Knickerbocker Hotel in Chicago from April 17-19, 2009. Picturehouse Chicago will start off the weekend on April 16th, 2009, at the River East Art Center.

Picturehouse will feature, for the first time, a seminar on Copyright and Fair Use that is sponsored by PACA and will be presented by Nancy Wolff, PACA Counsel. In addition, many items on the weekend agenda were suggestions and recommendations from PACA members.

Picturehouse Announces 2009 Chicago Schedule

Picturehouse Marketing US, LLC (www.picturehouse-us.com) will be holding its fourth annual Chicago event on Wednesday, April 16, 2009. This year, Picturehouse returns to the River East Art Center, an elegantly designed and inspiring venue located in the city’s artistic and cultural hub.

Hundreds of buyers, including art directors, photography editors, researchers, graphic designers and publishers, are once again expected to attend Picturehouse’s free event. The forum offers buyers a unique opportunity to view a wide variety of image collections offered by a diverse range of suppliers from around the world—all under one roof and all in one day.

New this year is a free morning seminar sponsored by the Picture Archive Council of America (PACA) with attorney and author Nancy Wolff. Nancy’s lecture, “Copyright/Copywrong in Image Licensing,” will be of great interest to those who use and license visual content. A leading authority on copyright, Nancy examines actual case studies and explains complex issues in terms that everyone can understand. She also provides insights into the Digital Millennium Copyright Act and discusses new developments with fair use, orphan works, infringements and protections.

Final Plan for Digital Railroad Shutdown: Some license fees will reach photographers

After meetings with the senior secured creditor this past week, and continued communication with SAA, Diablo Management has announced final decisions made to complete the shutdown of Digital Railroad over the next month in an FAQ posted to the Diablo web site. The only positive news for photographers is the potential to receive a share of some license revenues. In summary: Monies already collected by DRR will not be paid or refunded to the photographers, including prepaid annual hosting fees and any license fees received. DRR will continue to invoice customers and collect fees until Dec. 19. Photographers will receive 70 percent of the proceeds of license revenues collected between Nov. 14 and Dec. 19. All files on the DRR servers have now been erased in a manner which they assure is "unrecoverable."

Photolibrary adds Red Cover to its Collections

Photolibrary Group is delighted to announce its latest representative agreement with the UK based collection, Red Cover. This stunning offering when added to the over 4 million images already on www.photolibrary.com allows Photolibrary’s clients continued access to the world’s premium image collections.

The Red Cover collection, specialising in interiors, is a natural fit alongside Photolibrary’s specialist house collections such as Garden Picture Library, Oxford Scientific (OSF) and Fresh Food Images. The Red Cover Collection is truly a one stop shop for interior picture needs along with key shots of gardens and food. Photolibrary now represents over 4 million images on its websites truly allowing all image users unparalleled choice.

Photographers with Digital Railroad Archives need to take immediate action

Visitors to DRR.net are now greeted with this notice: "We're sorry to inform you that Digital Railroad (DRR) has shut down. On October 15th we reported that the company had reduced its staff and was aggressively pursuing additional financing and/or a strategic partner. Unfortunately, those efforts were unsuccessful. Therefore Digital Railroad has been forced to suspend all operations. This archive may only be accessible for the next 24 hours." SAA recommends that any photographer with a DRR archive act without delay to: Ensure that all of your files and data are backed up. Download all details of licenses made with outstanding royalties due. Download a list of all registered users who have accessed your Archive. Check that any monthly or annual fees do not continue to be billed to your credit card. SAA is greatly concerned about the status of outstanding royalties due to photographers from DRR's Marketplace stock portal, as well as the manner in which this closure has been handled, giving loyal customers no reasonable advance warning or support. We will continue to monitor the situation and try to assist in any way we can on behalf of photographers.