News

Alamy site problems - now fixed

James Allsworth — Mon, 19 May 2008 12:24:00 GMT

We would like to apologise to anyone who had trouble accessing the site over the weekend. The problem has now been fixed and things are back to normal.

An error during some routine maintenance on our side caused the problems and we would again like to say sorry if this caused you any disruption. Thank you to all who bought this to our attention, it allowed us to resolve the issue quickly.

Changing your Alamy password - an update

James Allsworth — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 13:11:00 GMT

Thank you to those who have responded to our recent blog post and mail out asking you to change your Alamy password. We know things like this can seem tedious but they are important and we are pleased so many of you have taken the time to do this.

Those of you who have not recently updated your passwords will soon be emailed a new one. Once you have this we suggest you log in and change it to something a bit more memorable - remember this is just for those of you who have not recently updated your password as requested.

If you have any trouble logging in with a new password the best thing to do is just click the 'request new password' link to be sent a new one. If you continue to have trouble, or if you don't receive the new one, email Member Services for help.

Alamy on Photographytv.tv

James Allsworth — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 15:04:00 GMT

Photographytv.tv is a web based photography show made for photographers - and recently they visited our UK office for a look around and a chat.

For an exclusive behind the scenes peak at our offices, plus interviews with both James West and Alan Capel, go to the Photographytv.tv website and click on part 3 of show number 2. They seem to have edited out the part where we give reasons as to why our offices look so boring but never mind...

Having difficulties with keywording your images?

Ben Gray — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 13:04:00 GMT

We appreciate there are many of you that would rather be out with your camera than sitting in front of your computer. However, it doesn’t matter how fantastic your pictures are if they do not have the necessary keywords behind them. Poor keywording means they simply will not be getting the visibility they deserve. Yes, unfortunately the accurate keywording of your images is a necessary evil.

We have been working with external companies that offer keywording services to ensure that they understand the format required for Alamy and the differing importance of our keywording fields. These companies range across different countries, services they offer and of course price, but the good news is they will all give you a discount if you want to use them to get Alamy formatted keywords. The result of a recent audit means we are pleased to recommend the services of all of them.

So why not check out the approved keywording company list and see if they can help you put down your dictionary and pick up your camera?

Watermarking...We haven't changed our minds

Alan Capel — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 14:29:00 GMT

Scheduled for the first quarter of this year, as announced at the 2007 Contributor event, this is ready to roll out, all the images have now had watermarks applied but unfortunately we have encountered some performance issues. In simple terms, from our testing we have found that adding the watermarked images would slow the site down.

We are working on resolving this and we are confident that the end result will be a site that features watermarked images but is as fast as it has always been. I hope you can appreciate why we have had to delay things but rest assured we remain committed to the reintroduction of watermarks.

I can't give you a concrete launch date at present but we'll let you know as soon as it's live.

Thanks for your patience.

Please change your Alamy password

Alan Capel — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 12:09:00 GMT

We have recently updated our password system in line with current e-commerce best practice. As a result we need you to change your Alamy password. To change your password, go to My Alamy and change your login details.

We suggest that you change your password as soon as you can. In the future you will be prompted to change your password if you have not already done so.

If you have forgotten your current password, select the “forgotten your password?” link on the log in screen and the system will email a new password to you.

If anyone else uses your account, please ensure you let them know the new password.

Please accept our apologies for any inconvenience caused.

This is a good time to remind you that Alamy rely on your e-mail address to communicate with you so it is important to ensure that it is valid and up to date. You should also ensure that mails from us don't end up in your junk mail folders.

If you have any questions about the change please email Member Services.

Contributor contract terminated after model release issue

Alan Capel — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 17:20:00 GMT

We were recently contacted by a member of the public who had seen himself on an image appearing on Alamy. The gentleman involved was concerned to see that the image was marked as 'Model Release: YES' when he was adamant that he had not signed a release.

We removed the image from the site pending further investigation. Upon contacting the contributor who had supplied the image, his response was that he hadn't got a release but was maybe hoping to track the person down later.

Given that the contributor had knowingly provided false information we felt we had no choice but to terminate the contract of the contributor and remove all of their images with immediate effect.

We are seeking to gain more of a foothold in the commercial market where there is greater sensitivity to the need for releases. By providing the new annotation tools we are giving contributors the opportunity to make their images available to this market if they meet the necessary requirements.

We take breaches of the contributor agreement very seriously but we also want to stress that by providing correct release information you are protecting yourselves against any legal action.

Alamy Contributor Event video

James Allsworth — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 12:38:00 GMT

As many of you know, Alamy held a contributor event back on the 23rd of November that was recorded. We are now happy to present the video, for all of you who were unable to attend.

We came away from the afternoon feeling very positive - we hope the next event proves as successful.

The recording has been uploaded using Google Video. If you have any playback issues please visit the Google Video Help Center for support.

Part 1: James West, CEO
Part 2: Q&A
Part 3: Alan Capel, Head of Content
Part 4: Q&A

Search Engine suggestions welcome

Pippa Greig — Mon, 17 Dec 2007 11:28:00 GMT

The Alamy search engine has the ability to interpret keywords in a search and retrieve images that contain variations of the same word. Occasionally this system makes incorrect assumptions about which words to associate with the original search term. It was recently pointed out on the blog, for example, that searches for 'executive' returns the same results as 'execute'. Rather than execute our executives, we'd like to invite you to submit any other examples that you feel are generating irrelevant results.

To report examples to us please email Member Services with the subject line "Search Engine suggestion" and state which words have been incorrectly associated.

Please note that although we will carefully consider all of your suggestions, we cannot guarantee that every suggestion will be implemented.

Contributor filename no longer searched

Pippa Greig — Fri, 14 Dec 2007 16:08:00 GMT

We've made the decision to stop making contributor references searchable on the website (these are the references that we create from your image filenames, by moving the file extensions. e.g. .tif or .jpeg). This change will be reflected when our search engine next updates. Your references will however continue to be searchable in the "Manage Images" part of your account, to allow you to search for and edit your images as usual.

The reason we've decided to make this change is as a result of the AlamyMeasures feedback we're receiving. Allowing contributor references to be searchable means that images are sometimes returned on customers' searches where they are not what the customer is looking for. As an example, if you had named your image "34.jpg", your contributor reference would have been "34". If your image was of an elderly lady, and contained the keywords "80 year old woman", then your image would also be returned on a search for "34 year old woman." Clearly this is not desirable to the customer, and over time may have a negative impact on your AlamyRank as your image would be viewed but not clicked on or purchased.