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01 - Image Economies: Mega picture agencies and public understanding
Over the past 10 years the international image economy has undergone a radical change. The previous cottage industry run by photographic enthusiasts has been replaced by highly competitive financially driven mega photo agencies such as Getty and Corbis. The change has passed unnoticed by the general public but the way they consume world events has changed. How and why? This research question argues the recent digitisation of the photographic image market and subsequent formation of a handful of mega picture agencies has led to a subtle and largely unnoticed change in the publics understanding of place. Newspapers, magazines and news websites have all stripped their photographic staff to a bare minimum to afford subscriptions to the major multinational image banks and in doing so have unbalanced the established chain of understanding between photographer, publication and audience. Photographers now shoot for an undisclosed readership letting the forces of the market dictate composition and value judgements. The question both describes and critically debates the recent changes to the production of news photography in relation to a wider understanding of the places that are imaged. This discussion takes place within an understanding that the digital image is likely to form a very short period of time in the history of photojournalism as still grabs from video are set to take over the production of news images in the near future. The issues are therefore timely and important to the geo political understanding of this decade.
This image of an immunisation campaign in the UK was shot while experimenting with simplistic image constructions that can be used both for news and stock photography therefore increasing sales potential.
Photograph: Della Batchelor, UK (the student was given just one day to take the image) |
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