PA Media Group acquires Alamy

[Brian Humek]

11 hours ago, Michael Ventura said:

 

My cable provider has a few channels that are dedicated to showing old re-runs of those classic shows....when I have nothing better to do, I do find comfort in them.  Reminds me of the days of laying about watching those shows instead of doing school work!  Good thing I had photography to turn to when real life happened!!

 

Find comfort in them? I sure do too. In fact, after a hard day, I typically fall asleep watching Leave it to Beaver on my laptop : ) 

[Colin Woods]

Sorry Chuck, but MDM check on Youtube or Spotify for the Laibach version of Across the Universe. Gorgeous.

[William Caram]

On 15/02/2020 at 13:09, Colin Woods said:

Sorry Chuck, but MDM check on Youtube or Spotify for the Laibach version of Across the Universe. Gorgeous.

 

Yeah very nice rendition too Colin ...Mmm yes Gorgeous 😀

 

OK ...back on topic

 

On 15/02/2020 at 11:44, MDM said:

The future might be dark, bright or somewhere in between.

 

So...many hedge their bets....take a walk on the wild side....and are smiling more for it....and others like me are doomed to cling to the rope behind the boat hoping i can pull myself aboard..by shooting more images that is....Ahhh you gotta laugh...all is not lost...keep shooting guys and gals...there's still sales to be made...Ahh i'm trying to lift the tone..😀 Just keep shooting ....Good Day Sunshine... 

Edited February 18, 2020 by William Caram

[CarloBo]

It takes a lot of naivety to be optimistic with Alamy. The company that donated 6M to charity and cut contributors commission to finance their  US office.

At least the  other agency whose name cannot be made here, made it clear long time ago that they are just Corporate America, without hiding themselves   behind a "we're proud of doing  things differently".

 

[Ed Rooney]

7 hours ago, MDM said:

 

OK. Here is a summary. Alamy has been sold to PA Media Group. Nobody has any definite idea of what is going to happen. The future might be dark, bright or somewhere in between. It might be good for some people, bad for some people, indifferent for some people. It is all pure speculation and there is not much more to say until further developments occur at some unknown point in the future.

 

Meanwhile words are flowing out like endless rain ....................................................

 

Hey, that's life on Planet Earth . . . my life.

[MDM]

5 hours ago, Colin Woods said:

Sorry Chuck, but MDM check on Youtube or Spotify for the Laibach version of Across the Universe. Gorgeous.

Thanks Colin.  Will check that out. 

[MDM]

5 hours ago, William Caram said:

 

Yeah very nice rendition too Colin ...Mmm yes Gorgeous 😀

 

OK ...back on topic

 

 

So...many hedge their bets....take a walk on the wild side....and are smiling more for it....and others like me are doomed to cling to the rope behind the boat hoping i can pull myself aboard..by shooting more images that is....Ahhh you gotta laugh...all is not lost...keep shooting guys and gals...there's still sales to be made...Ahh i'm trying to lift the tone...What's that song I'm hearing...Telegraph Road...Dire Straits.....😀 Just keep shooting ....Good Day Sunshine... 

 

Keep on truckin 

[Niels Quist]

1 hour ago, MDM said:

 

Keep on truckin 

 

Cheer up.

Always look on the bright side of life
If life seems jolly rotten,
There's something you've forgotten!

 

[spacecadet]

15 hours ago, MDM said:

 

Who's a clever boy?

Serious question, I wasn't trying to be clever, just wondering if there was any conflation in anyone else's mind. There isn't in mine.Since you mentioned cinematography and photography separately I wondered what you were thinking of, especially in Psycho. It isn't clear, to me, what you mean.

 

Edited February 15, 2020 by spacecadet

[MDM]

1 hour ago, spacecadet said:

Serious question, I wasn't trying to be clever, just wondering if there was any conflation in anyone else's mind. There isn't in mine.Since you mentioned cinematography and photography separately I wondered what you were thinking of, especially in Psycho. It isn't clear, to me, what you mean.

 

 

OK. I am no expert on this (my expertise is in stills photography) but I tend to think of the cinematography as the whole visual experience of a film of which the photography is a subset. So in my mind the term cinematography covers all the visuals including titles, special effects, CGI (not relevant to old movies obviously) and so on. This is a purely layman's view and I may be wrong. I have not checked it out before writing this. 

 

If that is correct, then I should not have said cinematography and photography as it was unnecessary given that the photography is already covered under the more general term cinematography. Perhaps it would have been more correct to say something like I love the cinematography, especially the photography. To me, Psycho is a particularly brilliant example of amazing use of lighting in black and white motion photography. 

[spacecadet]

Yes. I was going to use the word "subset" myself. I would have said pretty much the same. As it's my "thing" I'd use "cinematography" in the wider sense and "photography" just for what goes on the film sensor.

I miss the stuff. Except paying for it.

I'm not interested in pulling apart what it says in the dictionary. Americans have used "director of photography"  since, what, the 50s. In the golden age it was usually just "photography" but I still somewhat prefer the older British term "lighting cameraman"- it's still widely used here, although I think it was originally a trade union term to demarcate them from the camera operator.

[Klinger]

13 hours ago, Chuck Nacke said:

You and I both Richard,

 

Can any of you stay on the subject?  This is more frustrating than me trying to setup FileZilla.....

 

Chuck

 

Chuck would you contact me email, about keywords suggestions. I found no way to find you, no PM here. I'm easy just search for Hodag Media. I can also discuss the change from ws_ftp to Filezilla. 😉

 

Not wanting to go off topic, I've read just about every release and news story on this, including PA and their divisions, I didn't read the politics of major stock holders and owners. The summary was enough, " a private company with 26 shareholders, most of whom are national and regional newspaper publishers ". Makes for an, apparent, perfect fit to their business group.

 

Que Sarah Sarah, whatever that means? Something about translation to English or is it just me? I'm now in wait and see mode, as the No Changes Planned, only means, they haven't arrived yet. There will be changes, but speculation isn't going to predict or change anything.

 

Officially Watching and Waiting. 

 

 

[spacecadet]

14 hours ago, Chuck Nacke said:

You and I both Richard,

 

Can any of you stay on the subject?  This is more frustrating than me trying to setup FileZilla.....

 

Chuck

It's worth the effort- it's a breeze when it's going. Never fails.

[Starsphinx]

Cheer up.

Always look on the bright side of life
If life seems jolly rotten,
There's something you've forgotten!

 

And thats to laugh and smile and dance and sing

Edited February 15, 2020 by Starsphinx

[MDM]

On 15/02/2020 at 14:25, spacecadet said:

Yes. I was going to use the word "subset" myself. I would have said pretty much the same. As it's my "thing" I'd use "cinematography" in the wider sense and "photography" just for what goes on the film sensor.

I miss the stuff. Except paying for it.

I'm not interested in pulling apart what it says in the dictionary. Americans have used "director of photography"  since, what, the 50s. In the golden age it was usually just "photography" but I still somewhat prefer the older British term "lighting cameraman"- it's still widely used here, although I think it was originally a trade union term to demarcate them from the camera operator.

 

Interesting. I have often seen the term lighting cameraman but never thought to check it out.

Edited February 17, 2020 by MDM

[Klinger]

Just now, David Pimborough said:

 

Que sera, sera means 'whatever will be, will be' 

 

Wasn't Doris Day a lovely person

 

Yes, and as always sarcasm and humor doesn't translate well in a written forum. But I got yours... Que Sera = What Sarah OK I bet you get it now? 😉

 

Doris Day, was actually more than a pretty face, singing movie star, I have some of her old records (hand me down 78s, no I'm not a fan!) Before movies she recorded almost 700 songs! Doris Mary Anne Kappelhoff

 

Who knew, that's one I would have missed in a trivia  quiz.

 

No matter what anyone from the company says now, I'm positive, there will be changes made. I know I shouldn't admit this, but I remain an optimist, and hopeful, until the hammer falls. Being that they are news oriented, this could be good news for some of us. Whatever, happens, worrying won't change anything.

 

[meanderingemu]

6 minutes ago, Klinger said:

 

Yes, and as always sarcasm and humor doesn't translate well in a written forum. But I got yours... Que Sera = What Sarah OK I bet you get it now? 😉

 

Doris Day, was actually more than a pretty face, singing movie star, I have some of her old records (hand me down 78s, no I'm not a fan!) Before movies she recorded almost 700 songs! Doris Mary Anne Kappelhoff

 

Who knew, that's one I would have missed in a trivia  quiz.

 

No matter what anyone from the company says now, I'm positive, there will be changes made. I know I shouldn't admit this, but I remain an optimist, and hopeful, until the hammer falls. Being that they are news oriented, this could be good news for some of us. Whatever, happens, worrying won't change anything.

 

 

 

lovely.  didn't know that....  

 

thanks, great info.

[ellenmck]

On 11/02/2020 at 13:56, John Mitchell said:

 

"Rejoice, rejoice, we have no choice." I still have the original album. 😎

Thanks for that much-needed nostalgia trip!

[MDM]

15 hours ago, David Pimborough said:

 

Ah I get it now sorry

 

 Whenever I hear the phrase Que sera,sera I always think of her singing that song 🥰

 

I always think of Wem-bel-ee. Which could bring us to sports photography and back to the original subject of the thread. And even predicting the future again - like who will win the FA Cup this year?

[geogphotos]

It will be interesting to see if PA are less reliant on software solutions to everything and how they are going to move things forward. 

 

I hope that we hear something from PA about the future direction of travel before too long. For me there has been a degree of stagnation, or at least drift, over the last year or so at Alamy.

 

 

Edited February 20, 2020 by geogphotos

[IanDavidson]

I was just about to purchase the new Nikon D6 for my news shooting.  I think I will hold off until I find out the future or lack thereof for Alamy news shooters

[geogphotos]

This 40% for non-exclusive images is VERY demotivating. I wish I had done nothing, as I suspect many other have done ( not done!) , and not spent all that time and effort changing the status of around 18,000 of mine just so that I could be poorer. There is no upside or reward for this honesty. None at all. 

 

It really hits me every single time I see a sale with a 60% take to Alamy. None of the justifications offered at the time stack up, there have been no improvements to contributor tools, no improvements in marketing or sales. It continues to be a kick in the teeth every time I see such a sale.  

 

Alamy keeps banging on about what a moral company it is - well, this 20% commission grab ( from 50% to 40%) is indefensible and demotivating.

 

I sincerely hope that somebody looks at the 'numbers' again now that the sale of the company has gone through and the cash is in the bank.  

Edited February 20, 2020 by geogphotos

[John Mitchell]

2 hours ago, geogphotos said:

I sincerely hope that somebody looks at the 'numbers' again now that the sale of the company has gone through and the cash is in the bank.  

 

Hopefully there's an app for that. 😉

[Starsphinx]

2 hours ago, geogphotos said:

This 40% for non-exclusive images is VERY demotivating. I wish I had done nothing, as I suspect many other have done ( not done!) , and not spent all that time and effort changing the status of around 18,000 of mine just so that I could be poorer. There is no upside or reward for this honesty. None at all. 

 

It really hits me every single time I see a sale with a 60% take to Alamy. None of the justifications offered at the time stack up, there have been no improvements to contributor tools, no improvements in marketing or sales. It continues to be a kick in the teeth every time I see such a sale.  

 

Alamy keeps banging on about what a moral company it is - well, this 20% commission grab ( from 50% to 40%) is indefensible and demotivating.

 

I sincerely hope that somebody looks at the 'numbers' again now that the sale of the company has gone through and the cash is in the bank.  

For me a blessing in disguise.  The cut caused me to start offering images elsewhere - which I would not have done if the cut had not happened.  Offering elsewhere is getting more sales and more money. 

[Shergar]

4 minutes ago, Starsphinx said:

For me a blessing in disguise.  The cut caused me to start offering images elsewhere - which I would not have done if the cut had not happened.  Offering elsewhere is getting more sales and more money. 

This doesn't make sense to me. If "the cut caused me to start offering images elsewhere" To start? then you hadn't offered them elsewhere before the cut so the cut shouldn't have affected you???? Right?