Alamy

If you visited any lakes or spent time at the seaside this summer, you're likely to have come across some piers and jetties. When shooting these eye-catching landmarks, they can often be used to showcase slow shutter speeds, symmetrical compositions or interesting weather conditions. Did you spend time by the sea or lakes, walking along quiet jetties or playing in the arcades on the piers? If you haven't been involved with Alamy Photo of the Month yet, the theme for September is #AlamyPiersAndJetties, so why not join in? From eerie obscured jetties to bustling sun-drenched piers, we want to see it all. At the beginning of October we'll share our favourites with you and also our customers. Be inspired: https://www.alamy.com/search/lightbox/5751654.html Thanks, Louise

Hi All, Thanks for all your entries this month Check out the finished lightbox to see if your image made the final selection: https://www.alamy.com/search/lightbox/5736941.html Thanks, Chantelle

Hi All, It is bank holiday weekend this weekend in the UK, meaning there will be delayed response times from our contributor and QC teams. We hope you all have a good weekend and we will be back in office on Tuesday the 27th August. Thanks, Contributor Relations

Hi, Can you check that you are emailing us correctly at contributors@alamy.com? I can't see any correspondence from you unfortunately. If you can drop us an email there we will get back to you within 48 hours (normally quicker). Thanks, Louise

Hi All, Please see our post regarding delays in our search engine being updated this weekend: Thanks, Chantelle

Hi All, This weekend our technical team will be processing a high volume of images in line with our new licensing model. This could potentially lead to delays in our search engine being updated and other areas of the site being slow. Please bear with us over the weekend - we hope to have this transfer completed by Monday. Thanks, Contributor Relations

Hi Everyone, As a quick update, and as you've seen, we've now made the changes to the optional section in AIM so that you can either tick or untick 'sell for editorial only' on your images. Applying the new licensing model is a very large project as we have to make the changes align for both contributors and customers, and as planned we're still in the process of updating all sections to the platform and on all the images, but hope to have everything completed soon. If you're seeing the 'sell for editorial only' button ticked or not ticked for your images and you would like us to change it, please contact us at contributors@alamy.com of what the current restriction is and how you would like it to be changed, and we will get it updated for you. For those of you who may have images that cannot be automatically mapped, we will be temporarily removing those images from sale, but will be writing to you at the earliest opportunity to ask you to confirm whether you'd like the editorial restriction to be applied or not - once this is confirmed we'll update and your images will be back on sale. Thanks everyone for bearing with us and your patience in waiting for the new licensing model. Thanks Sophie

Hi All, We're sorry there is currently an issue with our image search due to a delay in the index update over the past three days ((09/08/2024 to 12/08/2024). Our IT Team are working to clear the backlog and we hope this will be sorted ASAP. Apologies for the inconvenience and thank you for your patience. Thanks, Louise

Hi All, Apologies I've seem to have lost the lightbox, but have now replaced this with a new one. Thanks, Chantelle

Sorry gang, having a bit of a technical glitch with the Lightbox right now, Chantelle is working to fix it as we speak so should be back soon! Thanks, Louise

Hi All, Are you an early bird who enjoys exploring the world before most people do? The stillness and peacefulness can be a great way to start your morning, while watching the sunrise. Do you have images which showcase the beauty and golden hues of summer mornings? If you haven't been involved with Alamy Photo of the Month yet, the theme for August is #AlamySummerMornings, so why not join in? From hiking to sitting on the beach we want to see it all. At the beginning of September we'll share our favourites with you and also our customers. Be inspired: https://www.alamy.com/search/lightbox/5736182.html Thanks, Chantelle

Hi Everyone again, Thanks for all the comments, please try to keep them relevant to the thread about the new licensing model specifically - I've removed some that haven't been relevant, and it's not helpful to others generally to speculate or start rumours on why this decision was made. Also remember there may be others who want to raise a specific query about the topic of this thread but it can get confusing, especially if they're not regular users of the forum, when conversations are started that don't really relate specifically to the topic. For those who've raised individual examples, we can't comment on every single image unfortunately, but with the understanding that 'commercial' stands for Advertising & Promotion, Consumer Goods and Personal Use rolled into one, you should be applying the same logic on upload as you did before for your images. The releases will remain optional, and as my previous post as long as you do not enter incorrect metadata for example, it is up to the customer to make the decision on what they choose to license according to their use. On upload you will be able to choose 'sell for editorial only'. But all images will be on sale for all uses - it's just that some will have restrictions listed and some won't. The restrictions won't block a specific licence but the customer will have to acknowledge that they have considered the restrictions only. This is a positive move for Alamy - nothing was broken, and this is a decision that has been carefully considered by all the relevant stakeholders in the business. This change will be more in line with how other stock agencies offer their content for licensing and we firmly believe that it will lead to more sales and therefore revenue. Also to note that for many of you there will be nothing more you need to do as everything will be moved over accordingly, but we will be in touch directly if your restrictions are set in a variety of combinations that don't fit to the new model. Thanks, Sophie

Hi All, Thanks for all your entries this month! Check out the finished lightbox to see if your image made the final selection: https://www.alamy.com/search/lightbox/5711335.html Thanks! Louise

Hi Everyone, Just to clarify again about the new licensing model which relates to restrictions, all that's happening is that the current Advertising & Promotion, Consumer Goods and Personal Use are being folded together with the coverall sense that these are technically 'commercial' uses. This means that if you sell an image for commercial use, it should also be available for 'editorial use' (or really any use). There will be only the 'Sell for Editorial only' option to apply restrictions once the new licensing model goes live. The key to remember here is that both commercial and editorial licences will be available to purchase by the customer, but the responsibility is on that end user to seek third party clearances / rights (should they be needed) for their end use. That is entirely on their own risk and the contributor of the image would only be at fault if they broke laws in taking the image, do not have the right to make it available for sale for editorial use or if they declare an image has a release but doesn't. If an image has restrictions, there is a further step where the buyer has to declare they have acknowledged the restrictions but as with images without them, the responsibility to clear the image for rights if needed will still be on them. @Sally Robertson @Alexander Hogg - yes the restrictions do not affect how you enter RM/RF or the optional metadata on releases, so this remains the same. Thanks Sophie

Hi Everyone, Picking up some more queries and comments - @Reimar - yes if your images have no restrictions currently then they will automatically be mapped to All Uses and there is nothing more you need to do. @geogphotos - yes the best way to see it is that basically a 'commercial use' combines the current Advertising & Promotion, Consumer Goods and Personal Use in to one broader category. In doing so commercial images would also be suitable for 'editorial uses' which is why we're moving the options to be All Uses or Editorial Only. The releases remain an optional field as they have always done, but @Harry Harrison yes it's good to fill it in if you can as this extra information can help some customers understand more in deciding whether they want to license the image or not. Different customers will have different needs and search in many different ways, some using 'All', some using the filters like Vital (or date taken or model release etc. - or not!). It does not mean that your images won't or can't be found, but as with the use of any filter, some images will be edited out of the results - it all depends on how the customer wants to search for images. @Martyn @Betty LaRue @Michael Ventura @ReeRay @Rubens Alarcon @gvallee - You can wait and see if we write to you as if any of your images have varying restrictions not mentioned in the blog then they won't be automatically mapped. If we don't write to you then you can safely assume that your images got automatically mapped based on your current restrictions/criteria outlined in the blog. If any images don't fit in that criteria then we'll be temporarily removing them from sale until you confirm how you want them to be moved (we'll write to you direct about this) at which point we'll transfer them to the restriction you request. @Jeffrey Isaac Greenberg - if you have no restrictions placed then we'll automatically move them to be available for ALL Uses (which in essence would be what they are now) @Nick Hatton @M.Chapman @Martin L - every image is different and depends on individual context so we can't say categorically whether you should tick 'sell for editorial only' if there is property in the image, as there are nuances to this for every individual image, but there's a link in the blog pointing to the differences between whether to sell for editorial or commercial. Essentially, as above in response to @geogphotos this is about seeing how the current restrictions of Advertising, Consumer Goods and Personal Use are just falling under a broader category of 'commercial'. Also that if you have entered the metadata correctly (e.g. contains property/has model release - Y) then that is a piece of information to help the customer understand better the context before licensing the image or use the 'number of people' filter). It's always been the responsibility of the customer to decide whether the context of the image is appropriate for their use, but they will get a warning that they might need releases if it's not restricted and they select the commercial licence. Thanks, Sophie