Found images database

[Doug Houghton]

Would it not be a good idea for Alamy to produce a database for photographers to enter images they find in publications and on the internet. This data could then be compared with sales records. Any image that has been used and not paid for can then be chased up.

[Stokie]

See 'Have you found any photographs May 2013' for example in the 'Ask the Forum' section.

[Jane Hobson]

See 'Have you found any photographs May 2013' for example in the 'Ask the Forum' section.

That's not a searchable database - IMHO a searchable database that can be compared against sales figures is a great idea. As I submit through the Live News feed, I tend to find my work quickly but sales take months to show up as the papers are so slow to self-report. Having to check back, months later, to see if a tearsheet matches a sale is a pain. If I popped the ones I found into a searchable database then someone at the Alamy end could then check the database against sales reports. 

[wiskerke]

There used to be just a database like that on one of the Alamy forums on Yahoo. No idea if that still functions though, because Yahoo Groups at one point became very annoying.

It was superseded by the monthly threads on the old forum, and now here, just because of the free format. It's easy to make mistakes filling a database. And it's tedious.

For some years I have maintained lightboxes that aggregated all images that had been reported on the different boards and forums. The thing was, the lightboxes were private, not viewable to the photographers outside.

 

- Hey I may be even doing that still ;-)

- Uhm no I actually don't.

But I did learn a lot from it, and from looking up published images. Keywording. Different styles in different media, and in different countries (see JG's thread about that).

And I learned that light boxes here on Alamy are underestimated and could potentially be used for lots of other things.

 

wim

[Doug Houghton]

There used to be just a database like that on one of the Alamy forums on Yahoo. No idea if that still functions though, because Yahoo Groups at one point became very annoying.

It was superseded by the monthly threads on the old forum, and now here, just because of the free format. It's easy to make mistakes filling a database. And it's tedious.

For some years I have maintained lightboxes that aggregated all images that had been reported on the different boards and forums. The thing was, the lightboxes were private, not viewable to the photographers outside.

 

You hit the nail on the head, all these systems were not controlled by Alamy, they were not structured  and could contain errors or could not be compared to Alamy's sales database.

 

In an Alamy controlled database a photographer finding an image would input only five fields:

Alamy Ref - then up on the screen would appear the image from the Alamy database to confirm that is the right image. Also a list of previously found entries for this image would appear on the screen to help stop duplication.

Date seen - normally todays date

Publication -

URL - if a website cut and paste URL

Proof - a photograph(I hope we can all do that) or screenshot if web based.

 

Alamy then would have three choices:

Image sold: the image is in the system and will be dealt with in the normal manner.

Image not paid: the image has been used by a customer and will be chased up.

Image does not concern Alamy - Photographer can go and chase copyright infringer.

 

A list of all this images found could then be sent to the photography owner at the end of the month in an Excel spreadsheet.

[DavidLyons]

We already pay our agencies 50% of the income from our labour to do exactly this  -  to supply our images to the market, via mechanisms of their own choice, and return to us, in an efficient and timely manner, the remaining 50%. 

[Doug Houghton]

We already pay our agencies 50% of the income from our labour to do exactly this  -  to supply our images to the market, via mechanisms of their own choice, and return to us, in an efficient and timely manner, the remaining 50%. 

 

 

David I could not agree more but it is not happening, so how about Alamy giving over 10% of their 50% to the photographer who finds a "Image not paid"