Archive for category Stock Photography

Listen to McLuan, Just DIY

Marshall McLuhan, the Canadian philosopher, who died in 1980, once mused: “As technology advances, it reverses the characteristics of every situation again and again. The age of automation is going to be the age of ‘do it yourself.” The perceptive “media is the message” author could have been easily referring to the state of stock […]

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When Less Is More In Stock Photography

Warren Buffet once said: “We need a moderately-priced stock market… The market, like the Lord, helps those who help themselves. But, unlike the Lord, the market does not forgive those who know not what they do.” While he was referring to stock exchanges and markets where company stocks, bonds and commodities are traded, his quote […]

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Comparing Apples to Snowballs

Comparing apples to oranges is an old and well-worn idiom, found in many cultures and languages, illustrating the idea that similar yet different things are not necessarily comparable. The use of photos, especially the alteration of imagery via Photoshop or other image altering software, to give a false or misleading portrayal of a product, service or news event […]

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Let Us Count The Ways….

Recently a federal judge in New York who happens to see Ed and his associate in his courtroom with some frequency, asked a pretty good question. Paraphrased the inquiry was, “How would you categorize the types of infringement claims and cases that have been coming into your office”? So Ed did an informal inventory of […]

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The Tyranny of Numbers

We wish we thought of this title, but it’s the title of a book by David Boyle, and the title explains it all. It’s also a perfect title for this blog piece. (Lucky for us, titles are not copyrightable, but that’s for another blog piece). Numbers can be used in so many ways and for […]

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The Myths of Infringement

  While wrapping up and doing the final edits for our next book we came across several myths and mythconceptions which some photographers inexplicably hold dear. Here are some of these misguided beliefs which we have followed with a “straightener”.   MYTH: An award of statutory damages for copyright infringement must have some relationship to the […]

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Lies, Damned Lies, and Statistics

There is a famous quote attributed to Mark Twain, who in turn erroneously attributed it himself to Benjamin Disraeli, which has been used by many,  and is absolutely one of our favorites. It goes: “There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics.”  This will be a blog article on statistics. Some in […]

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Willie Sutton- Bank Robber as Photographer?

The famed bank robber Willie Sutton was asked why he robbed banks?  He is oft quoted as answering, “Because that’s where the money is“. Simple enough, but profound enough that in the medical industry it’s known as “Sutton’s Law”. It states that when diagnosing, one should first consider the obvious. Easy enough, but many photographers simply […]

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Toiling in Anonymity

We are fond of saying that “Mr. Getty” and “Ms. Corbis” are the world’s most prolific photographers. After all they seem to be in hundreds of places at the same time taking newsworthy pictures and taking credit for them.  Agencies are loath to post the names of actual photographers and give them credit for various […]

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Where Do Your Stock Photos Live When You Die?

Jack here. Ed just posted to wonderful comments on a great industry blog, A Photo Editor, regarding the recent sale of Getty Images for $3.3 Billion dollars. I thought it would be good to post and share it here, along with any comments our readers might have. Below are Ed’s comments and I quote and […]