But We're Catching Up
When it comes to distribution and delivery, the music industry is thirty years ahead of us. If digital images and the Internet had been invented before recording equipment and radio, we in the photography industry could have been the
But, we have an advantage being "behind." We can look back and see the wrong and right directions the music industry has taken since the initial stages of its commercial development in the first quarter of the 20th century.
In the early days, the powers-that-were in the commercial music world, demanded that musicians be part of established bands and organizations if they wanted to achieve success. Not until 78 rpm records and audio and videotapes came along, did individual performers begin to prosper independently. When radio and TV entered the scene, these media offered musicians additional opportunity to break from the old strictures.
Together with increasing availability of quality musical instruments at reasonable prices, and a massive listening audience, these developments opened new doors for aspiring musicians. Individual music groups (rock, country-western, classic, jazz) were able to form their own private ensembles and compete against the establishment for attention. A young person with promising talent could become an "overnight success."
Some critics will argue that mass distribution has lowered the quality of the music we hear. Others will argue the opposite - that it gives more musicians more opportunity to enter the field, with a resulting increase in quality.
The new waves of independent musicians are liberated from traditional forms of music presentation and can choose to experiment in the composition and performance of their music.
In these early days of digital image delivery and distribution, we are seeing the beginnings of similar parallels in the stock photography industry.
Individual photographers can now place a selection of their photos on the Internet with a "photo mall," or in a special interest stock agency, or they can build their own Web site to display their images.
Photographers are discovering that many of the traditional approaches to photography are being challenged.
Recent examples of this new trend are manifested also in non-traditional cinema productions, such as "The Blair Witch Project," which in turn has influenced advertisements on TV and other media.
Like the impressionist painters of the turn of the century (the second one back!), some photographers are ignoring classic tenets of formal photography, like focus, perspective, and composition. The impressionist results are showing up in stock agency catalogs, museum catalogs, and print ads.
Other photographers, both amateur and professional, are experimenting with lomo photos (four photos in a
The New Media delivery and distribution system offers wide distribution and exposure of photographs to a mass viewing audience, similar to what recording studios, radio and TV opened up to musicians more than a generation ago.
Photographers who might have never thought of publishing their photos can now find a variety of outlets, ranging from sophisticated Web photo malls, to plain vanilla bulletin boards such as MomentOfFame, where camera enthusiasts exhibit their work for free on the World Wide Web in categories ranging from "Sports" to "Friends."
The New Media offers undiscovered photographers the opportunity to sidestep the years of experience formerly required to enter the world of stock photography. Today, if a photographer's work meets the needs of buyers, he/she can immediately be part of the zeitgeist. Doors that once were closed to many photographers are opening up as a result of free enterprise at work.
Rohn Engh, veteran stock photographer and publisher of "PhotoRESEARCHER Newsletter," has provided on-line targeted information for photobuyers, photo researchers and editors for two decades. No other newsletter brings photobuyers such up-to-the minute, practical information from an experienced picture professional intimately familiar with both sides of the stock photo desk. For more info: http://www.photosource.com/photobuyer/.
 Tommy Thompson |
 Kerry Kolb |
 Jon Saban |
 Jake Nelson |