More good news for stock photographers...:-(

 

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<p><a href="http://us.fotolia.com/"><strong>Fotolia, </strong></a>a marketplace for microstock photography and video, is launching <a href="http://www.photoxpress.com/"><strong>PhotoXpress,</strong></a> a free, premier-quality image bank, which will offer users royalty free image licenses for personal or professional use, ranging from Web site design to advertisements and editorial imagery.</p>

<p>Patrick Lor, president of PhotoXpress North America, says the site will feature a collection of more than 350,000 images and illustrations, but Lor’s ambitions are to have close to a million photos available free of charge. Lor, who also holds the title of president of Fotolia North America, <a href="http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/05/06/co-founder-of-istockphoto-joins-rival-fotolia-as-new-ceo/"><strong>recently joined</strong></a> the company. Lor previously helped to build rival and now Getty-owned <a href="http://www.istockphoto.com/index.php"><strong>iStockPhoto,</strong></a> which he helped co-found (Lor left in 2006, shortly after Getty acquired the startup for $50 million).</p>

 

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<p>See <a href="http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/05/21/fotolia-launches-free-stock-photograpy-image-bank-photoxpress/">http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/05/21/fotolia-launches-free-stock-photograpy-image-bank-photoxpress/</a></p>

<p>Why pay when you can get it for free...</p>

<p>"Lom says the biggest challenge is convincing the photography world to give away stock photography for free."<br>

But why?! ;)</p>

<p>The PhotoXpress tag line, "Tired of paying for images?" is utterly insulting to photographers. I see no reason why any photographer would upload images there, especially as the photographer does not even get an attribution and appears to give up copyright too. According to the FAQ page, the user of a photo has to give credit to PhotoXpress, and one of the suggested wordings is "© PhotoXpress.com".</p>

<p>You would be surprised how many amateurs will see something a serious amateur or semi-pro or pro shoots and they will got out an emulate it and send it up to one of these sites. All just to piss off the real photographer. They can't be creative on their own so they look at what someone else is doing and then emulate them and give it away just to have their images used somewhere. The only real gratification is seeing their name and image somewhere.</p>

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<p>All just to piss off the real photographer.</p>

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<p>Nobody does it for that reason. They do it because they think they will get a better photo. I always help people that ask me how to get better shots. They're not going to get my clients, it takes more than emulating my photos, so I'm always happy to help them. The world benefits from more good photographers, not less.</p>

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<p>The only real gratification is seeing their name and image somewhere.</p>

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<p>But bear in mind the PhotoXpress terms and conditions. The photographer does NOT get an attribution. It's just like most other stock photography agencies in that regard, but nor does it pay the photographer any money. It makes no sense whatsoever for the photographer.</p>

<p>Well, the images on that site are terrible so who could possibly care?</p>