News

Recent problems with AlamyUpload

Alan Capel - Head of Content — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 09:51:00 GMT

AlamyUpload is the tool you use to upload images to Alamy.

You may experience occasional problems of lost connections or delays whilst using this service, we are aware of this issue and we are working on a solution. We have developed and are currently testing, an alternative system and are hopeful that it will prove to be much more reliable.

We may have to occassionally take AlamyUpload down whilst we are looking into these problems. Please accept our apologies for any frustration and inconvenience caused.

Earth Day poster opportunity

Alan Capel - Head of Content — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 14:18:00 GMT

Alamy is pleased to publish the letter below:

Dear Global Photographers,

Earth Day Network is seeking your help to create an official poster for the 40th anniversary of Earth Day, an event that will reach over 1 billion people in more than 180 countries.

In 1970, Earth Day brought 20 million people into the streets in a protest against industrial pollution and the impacts that unfettered industrialization had on our children and society. That effort launched of the modern environmental movement, a movement predicated on the health and well being of people and the sustainability of our incredible but fragile earth. Now Earth Day is the largest secular event in the world, bringing people of all ages into the environmental movement and supporting their involvement over a lifetime.

One of the most important images of the 1970s was Robert Rauschenberg’s arresting and now classic photographic montage that he donated to Earth Day Network. It painted a truly honest portrait of western industrial development, telling a story of endangered species, dying landscapes, and children at risk. But most important, this poster helped stir people into action and it is now viewed as one of the reasons that the U.S. government immediately passed the world’s most comprehensive Water, Air, Endangered Species, and Rights of Citizens’ laws.

The interceding decades have not been kind to our world and now we face a truly cataclysmic event—global warming. Our 40th anniversary campaign seeks to mobilize broad public support for a global agreement on climate and for large-scale investments in renewable energy, climate change mitigation for the poorest nations, and a transition to a new green economy. With a comprehensive deal in Copenhagen almost certainly unattainable at this time, Earth Day’s 40th anniversary poster will bring a message to people worldwide that a billion people working together through individual actions as well as civic engagement will convince governments and industry to invest in our future.

We seek to build even broader and deeper public support for a strong global effort, to generate at least one billion acts of service through our Billion Acts of Green™ campaign, and to create broad public enthusiasm for a new global green economy.

We are asking photographers around the world to submit photographs that tell a story of a world that can be, not the world as it looks today. Our campaign is partly aspiration, and the poster should inspire people to join a bold new Green Generation™ and to take action. If your image is selected, your work will be distributed throughout the world—through our extremely active website, through paid and earned media in 180 countries, and displays at our large scale events on the National Mall, and our other major event locations. The rights with respect to the winning photograph will be negotiated with the artist. Non winning entries will not be used in any way unless agreed with the photographer.

Deadline for your work is Monday, November 30th, 2009. We welcome your submission to Earth Day. We are also available to speak to you about the campaign by email. Please contact Nate Byer at byer@earthday.net or Lisa Swann at Swann@earthday.net for more information.

Best,

Kathleen Rogers

President

A chance to share your thoughts

Alan Capel - Head of Content — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 11:16:00 GMT

Fast media magazine, an online site dedicated to our industry and associated media stories, is asking for feedback from photographers.

They are simply asking: What is the single most important thing you have done that made you a better and/or more successful photographer?

If you are interested in sharing your thoughts, go to Fast Media Magazine.

Quarterly Statement Q3 2009

James West - CEO — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 12:58:00 GMT

Q3 2009 results reflect what we hope is the bottom of the downturn. It's too early to predict what Q4 will look like, but I can say that September and October numbers have been very reassuring. Until we have more data, however, we're sticking with our earlier forecast of a 15%-20% decrease on 2008.

We're working on some exciting investments for 2010, which include further expansion of direct sales teams, some great new search features for customers, new products, new markets, and a faster service (we'll have more to say about all this later).

Unsuitable camera list

QC Team — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 12:27:00 GMT

© Gari Wyn WilliamsThe Quality Control (QC) team see images from a vast range of digital cameras. In our recent Alamy Recommended Digital Camera List blog we listed our recommended cameras. We have now compiled a list of cameras which will never produce images of the required standard to pass QC.

Images from compact cameras, bridge cameras and DSLR's under 6 megapixels will show considerable deterioration when upsized to 48mb. This is due to their lower pixel count, poor optics, smaller sensor size and outdated processing.

Contributors who try to submit images from these cameras will fail QC. This will be for reasons such as interpolation artefacts, soft and lacking definition, noise etc.

Alamy Unsuitable Camera List

If your camera does not feature on this list please do not assume that it will be up to Alamy's QC standard. Please see our Alamy Recommended Digital Camera List and remember cameras need to be used at their optimum settings and the images carefully processed using professional image software.

Please also note that Alamy does not accept any images from mobile phone cameras.

Technical problems update

James Allsworth — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 15:16:00 GMT

On Tuesday (15th September) we discovered a computer virus had infected some of our servers. It quickly became clear that it was a particularly virulent strain and that we would have to take drastic measures to contain it and decontaminate our servers and workstations.

As a result we were only able to offer a restricted service to both our customers and contributors until today (Thursday 17th September). Our priority was to return all customer facing services to normal and so, only in the last hour, were we able to bring Upload back on line. We want reassure you that your systems were not at risk from being in contact with Alamy during this time.

Like all organisations, we take particular care to protect ourselves but in this case, our defences were breached. We are reviewing this outbreak with our anti virus suppliers to understand why it happened and what lessons we can learn.

Although all areas of the site are back to full working order, we still think its prudent to be extra cautious during this time. With this in mind, we may feel it's required to disable Upload again at some point without prior warning. If this happens please be assured that we will be working to make it available again as soon as possible.

Please accept our apologies for the inconvenience this has caused.

Technical problems at Alamy

James Allsworth — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 12:36:00 GMT

We are currently experiencing technical problems here at Alamy. A number of areas of the site may be effected, ranging from AlamyUpload to Manage Images.

We have been working on this issue through the night and are continuing to work towards a fix as soon as possible. We cannot offer specific time frames at this point but please be assured things will be up and running as soon as possible.

We appreciate your patience during this time.

Further Manage Images enhancements now live

Alan Capel - Head of Content — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 09:36:00 GMT

We have made some additional improvements to Manage Images. Following recent feedback we are pleased to announce that you can now link to the new Manage Images tool from Alamy Measures. Also making a welcome return is the 'Edit image' link that appears alongside each of your images when you are logged in and searching on www.alamy.com. This link is on the comp view and again links to the new Manage Images tool.

It is still our intention to switch the old Manage Images off and these enhancements move us closer to that goal.

We'll announce further progress on the blog as and when it happens.

Visa Pour L'Image

Alexandra Bortkiewicz — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 10:59:00 GMT

I will be attending the Visa Pour L'Image photojournalism festival for a few days from Wednesday September 2nd to Sunday September 6th. If any photojournalists, reportage photographers or agencies are attending and wish to arrange a meeting while I am there please send me an e-mail.

UPDATED 10/09/09 : Alamy to offer Low Res pricing

Alan Capel - Head of Content — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 14:16:00 GMT

UPDATE 10/09/09 Please note that our previously published prices had a slight error. The 'Up to 450 pixels' size images (both RF and RM) will be €49 and not €39 as previously blogged.

UPDATED: We have updated this blog post to include more details on Rights Managed uses, please see below

We will shortly be offering 3 new file sizes for both RF and RM images on Alamy.

Royalty Free (RF) images will be available at the following sizes and price points:-

Up to 170 pixels: $5 / £5 / €5
Up to 280 pixels: $15 / £15 / €15
Up to 450 pixels: $49 / £39 / €49

Rights Managed (L or RP) images will be available as low resolution files for electronic use..

Electronic uses:-

Corporate website (single placement / one design - duration up to 1 year)
Editorial website (single placement / one design - duration up to 1 year)
Electronic presentation (single placement / one design - duration up to 1 year)
Promotional email (up to 10,000 recipients, single placement / one design) – duration 3 months)
One web advertisement (single placement / one design) – duration 3 months)

Price points for all the above electronic uses:-

Up to 170 pixels: $15 / £15 / €15
Up to 280 pixels: $35 / £35 / €35
Up to 450 pixels: $49 / £39 / €49

We will notify all contributors when these new file sizes are available to customers on the site.