Photo Archive News

Gwyn Headley - fotoLibra

The latest Photo Archive News 'brief' interview.

When did you start in the picture library business?
8th January 2002, when the concept of fotoLibra hit me like a watershed

What were you doing before that?
Having a pleasant and relatively lucrative time as a book publishing consultant — also writing books on architecture and selling agreeable listed buildings.

How many employees do you have?
Four as I write, plus three great freelancers who seem to earn more than I do.

Describe your day
So that our plans for world domination may soon be realised, I relax with my friends the venture capitalists, our shareholders, lawyers, Customs & Excise, HSBC staff, the Inland Revenue, Welsh Assembly business mentors and three separate accountancy firms before counting the cash in and then handing it all over to them.

How involved are you in every day picture sales decisions?
We’re small, new and flexible enough for me to check each picture deal as it goes through, except of course for the ones downloaded directly from the website via credit card purchases.

Is the future totally digital?
No. But ours is.

Do you have any advice for a new picture library?
Join fotoLibra as a Partner Member instead and save yourself the entire cost of set-up, the legal, accountancy and banking fees as well as digital storage, colocation, bandwidth, more huge IT charges plus all that expensive marketing.

Which picture library web site has caught your eye recently?
www.fotoLibra.com, of course. And www.yuridojc.com.

Which papers do you read regularly?
Guardian, Telegraph, Times, Independent, Western Mail.

What activities do you pursue when you are not at work?
I drink, I smoke, I go out with women. There is no hope for me.

Which system do you use for your online library?
We needed to offer more than other picture libraries, such as a colour search, so we built it ourselves from scratch.

Is it web based?
Yes.

How many pictures do you sell overnight directly through your web site?
It’s never enough, and it works perfectly. Give it a go.

What percentage of your outgoings do you spend on marketing the library?
We intended to spend £5 out of every £1 we raise, but some staff members have now started whimpering about food and shelter.

Where do you live?
Harlech and Crouch End.

Family status?
My partner Yvonne and I are childless by choice. Instead we have a dog, a cat and a tortoise.

How are your camera skills?
Good, with buildings on fine days.

What’s hot, what’s new?
Oh, please — fotoLibra of course!!

Any last thought?
Can I go to bed yet?

www.fotoLibra.com

James West - CEO Alamy

The latest Photo Archive News 'brief' interview.

When did you start in the picture library business?
I co-founded Alamy in October 1999 with Mike Fischer and Tom Dean.

What were you doing before that?
I became interested in the internet whilst working as an IT assistant for a medical research group at Oxford University, before moving on to building an automated web hosting service in 1997. I also enjoyed a brief period as crew member and photographer for a treasure diving organisation.

How many employees do you have?
86.

How involved are you in every day picture sales decisions?
We have a sales manager who runs this department and makes every day decisions.

Is the future totally digital?
Yes.

Do you have any advice for a new picture library?
Shoot digital and sign non-exclusive contracts. The future will offer multiple distribution channels for your digital assets and you should resist exclusive contracts where possible. You never know what new opportunities lie around the corner.

Which papers do you read regularly?
I read the FT, BBCNews online and the Observer at weekends.

What activities do you pursue when you are not at work?
Keen sailor.

Which system do you use for your online library?
All our systems are developed in-house.

Is it web based?
Yes.

Where do you live?
Oxford.

Family status?
Married.

How are your camera skills?
Nerd level - technically good, creatively poor.

Mary Evans Picture Library

Mary Evans Picture Library is one of the leading specialist image sources
for historical and vintage pictures: illustrations, photographs, prints and
engravings; a vastly diverse collection covering everything from the
dinosaurs to the 1970s. Medieval castles to motor buses, Shakespeare to the
Swinging Sixties. 200,000 pictures searchable online at www.maryevans.com
with many more in our archive. Just contact our knowledgeable researchers on
+44(0)20 8318 0034 or pictures@maryevans.com for free searches.