Visual media news and updates from Visual Connections

Bridgeman Art Library announces its purchase of the Boltin Picture Library

The Bridgeman Art Library, the world’s leading source of fine art, cultural and historical images, recently acquired The Boltin Picture Library (BPL), a collection of over 30,000 images. Lee Boltin was well known for his photographs of artifacts, notably the contents of King Tutankhamen's tomb for the book "Tutankhamen: The Tomb and Its Treasures" in 1977 and the Nelson A. Rockefeller collection, the subject of "Masterpieces of Primitive Art," published in 1978. BPL has a comprehensive collection of primitive art and artifacts including pre-Columbian, Asian and Celtic.

picturemaxx AG establishes South-Eastern Europe headquarters in Vienna

Munich-based picturemaxx AG, operator of Europe’s leading network for media purchasing and marketing, is characterised by growth – even in times of global economic turbulence. March 31st 2009 will see the German technology provider open up its headquarters for Northern, Central, Eastern and Southern Europe in Vienna - picturemaxx CEE GmbH. In future, Vienna is to be the base from where all existing publishing and picture agency customers, such as those in Scandinavia, Austria and neighbouring countries in Eastern Europe, are to be serviced on an even more demand-oriented basis and from where new market potential is to be developed.

SAA Leaders Reflect Diversity of Today's Stock Pros

The Stock Artists Alliance, the only trade association dedicated to the interests of professional stock photographers, is pleased to announce its new Board of Directors and Officers. SAA's leadership represents the diversity of professional photographers involved in stock licensing. Board members this year include both commercial oriented production shooters and editorial specialists. Their stock imagery is represented by major distributors, niche libraries and via direct marketing. Like SAA's membership, they are geographically diverse, with this year's Board members coming from the United States, U.K. and Spain.

Jim Erickson’s latest book, Relationships, due for release in April 2009

Jim Erickson’s fifth published work, Relationships, is a compilation of images that illustrate the importance of connecting with others, with ourselves, and with our surroundings. The release of Relationships is the follow up to China, a previous catalogue of Erickson’s work available on ericksonstock.com, which was published in early 2008. Though Erickson’s timeless style remains consistent, the content of the new book focuses more on how relationships give us a sense of place, a sense of time, and a sense of hope in our daily lives. The book is due for release in April of 2009.

Shutterstock® Extends All Footage Subscriptions from 30 Days to Full Year Without Raising Prices

Shutterstock, the world's largest subscription-based stock image agency, announced today that as a benefit to stock video customers, it is extending all Shutterstock Footage® subscription terms from 30 days to a full year at no additional cost. Shutterstock is also introducing affordable Low Resolution stock footage subscriptions, which are ideal for such uses as multimedia press releases, marketing presentations, streaming video, websites, and blogs.

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.