This goes under WTF?

This nuts...as if  the police did not have enough to do.  Wait till your mother gets stopped!

Photographers Rights UK from Nick Turpin on Vimeo.

The Next Great Hunk Of Crap Technology

This came from
http://www.aphotoeditor.com/
Rob Haggart site

Sony Releases New Stupid Piece Of Shit That Doesn't Fucking Work

MET MUSEUM AD campaign image came from Flickr

In today NY Times "weekend arts" section, at the bottom of the page ran the Met Museum Ad campaign "It's Time We Met".  Clever and I like it.  It shows a couple kissing in the 19th Century Galleries.  The most interesting thing about this picture is the photo credit and it reads:  "6:35 pm  19th Century Galleries.  Photo by Laura P Russell via Flickr".  Yes Flicker.  So look up Laura profile.  

In short, she a mom and happily married.  Loves to take pictures and is not a professional but would love to get paid by it.  Read if you will.

What strike me is that this a national if not a worldwide AD campaign for the Met.  They pulled an amateur photograph to do the job.  I think the photo works well for the campaign.  It shows everyday people doing everyday things at the Met.  Very human and believable.  When I did some research, the Met has their own Flicker page which is great.  They are doing a contest and rules are there.

So, the prize if you win is $250 cash plus a one year Met Net membership at a $60 value. I did e mail Laura to ask if she was paid and Laura did e mail me and said "Thanks for the shout out. Yes, we got paid, got credit, and retain rights".  If you look up on Corbis Stock site, an images with 1/8 in size worldwide rights, in a Newspaper for three months is $1925 priced out.  You can argue this is not a professional who took the picture.  I would say, this an image being "used" professionally for an advertisement.  So what is the difference?  If an images is going to be used professionally does it matter who took the picture?  Should they not all get paid about the same?

So, could this be the new wave of Marketing?  Put up a contest and and the winner get a much "under value" price to use the image for however long? Or do people want to have less of "polished" look.  Chase Javis right hand man Scott talks about "imperfect" image on Chase Blog the other day. 

I know contest have been around forever.  I just wonder though is this ploy to take advantage of the amateur photographer or just a new look, trend or economic hard times?  Should the professional be worried?  I say no for now.  Not until creative start pulling from the social web sites for other campaigns.

92YTribeca: Music. Film. Comedy. Talks. Classes.

this is funny

Creative Consultants

I have never seen so much  promotion with creative consultants then I have these past few weeks.  What is a creative consultant?  A person to help or guide you in a direction that will benefit you with your creative endeavors.  For the most part they help you pull your portfolio together/ website.  Some are former Reps or worked in Åd agency's.  My concern and caution would be to make sure they have an understanding of the type of photographer you want to be.  I have seen it first hand myself and with others, how some just slap a book together.  Some are nice, some are well.  I'm not coming from a place bitterness or anger.  I have meet several consultants that are fantastic.  But in hindsight, I would have asked better questions.  I would have check with reference that they have worked with.  

I'm not here to say that all creative consultant are bad or not worth the money.  But I find it very interesting that several come out of the wood work in such a down economy.  I would hate to use prey, but proceed with caution and ask lots of questions.  Make sure they are right for you.  Like anything, do your research!

News is changing

So isn't it interesting how all these social website like Twitter, facebook and flicker are changing the way we see our news instantly.  With heroic landed of yesterday US Airlines, several people we able to shoot with there cell phone and post images before ANY news outlet was able to.  Just a matter of time before that all this changes.

American Express Publishing Lays Off 33

it keeps coming...straight from ADage.com

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- American Express Publishing, which publishes titles such as Food & Wine and Travel & Leisure, laid off another 33 people today as part of a drive by its parent company, American Express Co., to cut its head count 10%, a company spokeswoman confirmed.

Travel & Leisure is published by American Express Publishing.

Travel & Leisure is published by American Express Publishing.

"We wish this wasn't necessary, but given our performance outlook, these steps must be taken at this time," she said. American Express Publishing also cut 22 jobs last October. After today's layoffs, about 400 employees remain.

Still struggling

Together with last week's 250 layoffs at Meredith Corp. and another 19 at Forbes, today's cut by AmEx Publishing demonstrates that media companies didn't finish retrenching when they finished 2008. Many are still struggling to handle the recession and, in the case of traditional media, continued pressure from new media.

In another example, Gannett said today that it will force all its employees to take the equivalent of a week off without pay during the first quarter of 2009. American Media, meanwhile, decided it couldn't afford to continue fulfilling more than 300,000 subscriptions to Country Weekly.

American Express Co. said last October that it planned to cut 7,000 jobs, or about 10% of its global workforce, in a bid to cut costs by $1.8 billion. The layoffs at American Express Publishing today bring the division in line with that plan.