Alexandra Bortkiewicz, Director of Photography at Alamy Images, Broadens Our Perspective on Today's Stock Image Uses.
The digital platform has empowered many agencies and photographers to effectively showcase their wares, which are now more accessible than ever through the World Wide Web. It can define the creativity of a photographer, or reveal the depth of a specialist collection, or as at Alamy Images, display a whole range of collections through one gateway. The effective utilization of technical innovation and the diverse range of content aim to dazzle customers with an unrivalled choice of imagery and ease of navigation.
It is interesting to see how a broad and diverse collection like Alamy can stimulate sales for usages not necessarily envisaged when a particular image was taken. Image buyers can take a more exciting path to locate the right image while photographers have the perfect platform for cross-market experimentation.
 For example, there is a growing trend for reportage images to sell into more commercial markets, suggesting that yesterday's editorial is becoming today's commercial. Take an evocative image of a model released Aborigine using a brightly coloured telephone taken by eminent photojournalist Penny Tweedie - this has been used for various commercial usages as well as editorially, its appeal being an interesting take on the concept of communication. A recently signed news agency on Alamy is now selling into markets like the financial industry, travel and tourism, computers and even commercial property.Announcing Reduced prices on iPod Shuffle at the Apple Store,
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The evidence is there to show that the borders between advertising and editorial are continuing to blur and that editorial style work is resonating in the commercial world. It's edgy, it's real, and it's authentic, which might explain its appeal. The issue of releases is not covered here, except suffice to say that model-released collections will obviously have more potential in commercial markets where model(s) are identifiable.
 Archival and historical collections are also accessing new markets. Through digitization of these collections, the visibility of these visual gems of the past is expanding to a wider global market place. At Alamy we are seeing prestige brands like V & A Images, Royal Geographical Society, Mary Evans Picture Library and Popperfoto tapping into new markets. This would not have been feasible in the analogue age. A classic shot of a phrenology head from Mary Evans Picture Library has proved a perfect visual solution to the business industry; likewise a William Morris Trellis wallpaper from the V & A Images collection. A 'V & A' image of a statue of an angel resonates to the financial industry, reflecting how laden these collections are with conceptual power!
Images that have been created with the specific purpose of selling stock photography in its purest form are selling extremely well - however they are normally typified by being generic in look and style. They can be devoid of individuality with the intention of appealing to a wider, global audience of image buyers. However, this can create an over saturation of images with a similar look, which is currently being balanced with the continually increasing number of clients purchasing images online. When you put reportage and archives into the equation it adds an extremely complimentary dimension to the image resources, as it means that it satisfies those looking for the generic shot as well as stimulating those looking for a more unusual interpretation to their concept.
 Agencies representing rights-managed collections are embracing the creative gauntlet, peppering images with more individuality and narrative as well as reflecting ongoing trends in stock photography. This is influenced by cultural, economic and technological changes in any given society. Rights managed brands of the bigger agencies for some time have been adopting a more reportage feel to their lifestyle collection, imbuing a narrative style redolent of reportage to the imagery. Fashion spreads have also been another source of inspiration in this respect, lending a cooler almost androgynous influence to lifestyle imagery and contrasting greatly to the more animated, warmly lit generic stock photography of old. The latter kind of material though dated for certain markets will sell to less visually sophisticated territories. And by being perfectly generic, it may fit the bill for a particular usage. This again reiterates the effectiveness of having multiple diverse collections available online through one gateway and therefore promoting an extended shelf life for all kinds of images. This is good news for photographers and agencies alike, as well as for image buyers.
 Royalty free has proven an effective model for contemporary generic lifestyle collections.
The differentiation between royalty free generic stock and more creative, trend relevant, rights managed imagery is the necessity for each to thrive within their respective models and be meaningful to image buyers. Even royalty free offerings, however, are becoming more intrepid and specialist - at Alamy we represent over 100 royalty free agencies, with a number of them reflecting dramatic specialization or lifestyle niches. For example, Big Cheese Photo from the US sports both a humorous and vintage flavour to its collection; Blend Images is a creative celebration of ethnic diversity in the US; fStop from Germany is an edgy visual paradise for designers, and BlueMoon Stock is a resource for images of the 50+ age group. How this will translate in the market place is still yet to be determined, however, it provides image buyers with more choices and increasingly more depth in any given subject.
Another phpect of harnessing the power of the web is the ease of accessing more regional and territorial collections or local content. The appeal for this kind of material has been driven by globalization. One can now see evidence of its usage in advertising. For example one major ad campaign for the HSBC bank uses all kinds of images to convey local knowledge, and an understanding of local culture. Of course the big agencies with production budgets are recreating these kinds of images. But they may not always match the authenticity of local archives. Alamy is representing many of these local agencies, whose collections reveal traditions, heritage and culture, interweaved with documentation of modern lifestyles.
Technology is now capable of uniting all these collections on the web - the mainstream, the specialist, the hard to find, and regional collections. So photographers, agencies and archives can be assured of global market exposure and image buyers can look forward to a dazzling array of content at their fingertips as they search for that unique image. Technical advances should resolve some of the more niggling phpects of searching online, and image buyers can expect more wonderful and stimulating photo collections to appear online.
If you are interested to learn more about Alamy.com and the collections we represent please visit our website at www.alamy.com
For Submissions; e-mail Alex Bortkiewicz alexb@alamy.com
All photos ŠAlamy, used by kind permission.
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