Photo Archive News

Thoughts Of A Bohemian - The Paul Melcher blog

“This business has too many Surveyors and not enough Bohemians” Roger Therond, legendary photo man, once said to a good friend of mine, Eliane Laffont. This blog is about restoring the balance and letting the Bohemians talk.
http://blog.melchersystem.com/

Photo Archive News Interview: Phil Coomes - BBC News

** EXCLUSIVE **

Name: Phil Coomes
Position: Picture Editor and Photographer - BBC News website.

How long have you been with the BBC?
A long time. My stock answer is that I'm on my fifth Director General of the BBC so you can work it out.

What were you doing before that?
A little assisting, freelance press photography and having a good time.

How many people work on the news picture desk?
Let me see, there's me and there's Emma, that's it, two.

Are you able to work remotely?
Yes and no. When working as photographers we can of course transmit our pictures and text for features back to the office and I can edit and publish my photo blog (http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/photoblog/) when outside the office. But the main production system we use to create pages and picture galleries for the BBC news website (http://news.bbc.co.uk/) require us to be logged in to the BBC network.

Do you get most of your content from photo wire services?
The majority of the pictures used on the BBC News website are indeed from the main photo wire services we subscribe to such as PA, AP, AFP, and Getty Images.

On top of that there's our own material from reporters, correspondents and grabs taken from video, something that is much easier to do now that all our video content is available on the desktop. We have a system that grabs key frames live from News 24 so it's a fast turnaround. Other material comes from other sources such as freelancers, other Picture Alligencies, handouts, all usual suspects.

How many staff photographers does BBC News have?
There's Jeff Overs who works mainly for television news and Emma and myself on the picture desk of the website.

By how much did footage content grow on the news site in 2009?
I’m not sure of the actual growth, but it’s certainly on the increase. I’m told we are now serving around 1.8m video hits worldwide every day with approx 750,000 daily unique users, of those 70% or so is in the UK. So there you have it.

Do you actively source images from independent picture libraries for news features?
Yes of course. We regularly source pictures from a wide range of libraries.
As you would expect we use whatever source has the pictures we want. Many pictures are sourced from local news agencies and although the main wire services, and of course their vast archives, provide us with a lot of what we need, there are times when you need a different type of Picture Allind we use agencies such as Magnum, Rex Features, Mary Evans regularly and many others from time to time.

Agencies and freelance photographers regularly pitch features to us and some of these we buy in, depending on the quality and if it fits our site. Often we get sent a strong picture story but have to turn it down as we have already covered the story on the site, in text or video. That said, if there is a new angle then we may well run the pictures anyway.

Do you only use agencies you have established pricing deals with?
No, we do have deals with some of the big agencies and set prices with others, but we have a standard rate card and are happy to negotiate.

How would a picture library approach you for the first time to introduce their images?
A quick email with link and follow up with a call.

Describe the first hour of your working day?
The day starts at 8am, so usually coffee, a quick browse around our site and other news websites and glance through the diary to see what stories are on the agenda and ensure that any galleries and features planned for that day are ready.

Check the front pages of our site and the pictures being used on the main stories to see if we can improve them. Check the inbox for any emails via the blog, complaints or comments.

Then, depending on news priorities, we start to produce our three images of the day and so on…

Is there a BBC 'style' of image?
Images that illustrate a news story on the website do have a style that's true, but this is to some extent governed by the fact that they are fairly small, so wide sweeping shots do not work. Crop tight, and then crop tighter, discard anything irrelevant from the frame and make every pixel count, that's what we keep telling all our journalists when they are preparing their pictures for their own stories.

Picture galleries and features use larger photos so you can be more expressive, but unlike a layout on the printed page where you can have one dominant picture backed up by smaller ones, the web usually means that you will view one picture, click to the next and so on. Thus the pictures have to flow, wide, mid, long shots, sequence them, this is especially true in an audio slideshow.

Do you work to a brief when choosing picture content?
Not really, there's obviously the news agenda or at least a news angle, a peg. Otherwise it's down to what we like, and if the images are from freelancers have they done the research on the story, have they got good captions, quotes from people in the pictures, etc.

Which independent picture library web site has recently caught your eye?
I have always loved Mary Evans collection, and of course Magnum Photos is where my initial love of photography came from some years ago.

How is your personal photo project 64 x 64 going?
It’s going well so far. I set out to publish a photo-a-day on Kodachrome 64 for 64 weeks to mark its passing and as a way to shoot some pictures for myself. It’s a good way to get the film camera out again and take pictures I’d otherwise overlook. So far, as you’d expect it’s a mixed bag, but my aim is to edit it down to 64 images at the end of the year. You can follow it here: www.64x64.co.uk

Do you get time to shoot stock?
Thorny issue. I do try to shoot stock when out and about and then upload to the BBC library, but I have to confess the pictures often just get dumped to my hard disk. Must do better!

Are you submitting any of your personal images to libraries?
No, pictures I take for the BBC belong to them so they remain in the archive and my own stuff just stays with me.

Which websites do you visit daily other than Photoarchivenews.com?
Obviously the BBC, Flickr, Twitter, Flak Photo, a number of Picture Alligencies, the Guardian, NY Times and loads more...

Which newspapers and magazines do you subscribe to?
We get all the newspapers in the office so I tend to read those there, otherwise I use online. Magazine wise then Foto8, Publication, BJP and I usually pick up the latest copy of Dispatches.

Cinema or pub?
Tough one, well ok mine’s a Guinness.

Ideal Sunday afternoon?
Given that I’ve got two young children then I’d have to say with the family, long walk, the pub and maybe a game on the Wii, and I might take a few snaps along the way too.

Lastly, what photo agency website feature would make your life easier as a picture editor at the BBC.
Tough one. Many of the big agencies have pretty good sites now. The main challenge is wading through the thousands of pictures on offer, making initial selections and then breaking those down to the image we want.

In terms of content, then more real life stock pictures to illustrate stories that are, how shall I put it, visually challenging. So repetitive business stories, UK based education and health issues and so on, so many stock pictures are just too glamorous to be of use to us.

ENDS.

Phil Coomes is a photoarchivenews.com reader and subscriber

Picture Librarian: NMM Picture Library

Job Description: Picture Librarian

The National Maritime Museum at Greenwich is the leading museum of its type in the world. Its Picture Library licenses the Museum’s images to commercial media clients across the globe, with www.nmmimages.com as our dedicated resource for image buyers. The Picture Library also runs a print sales business through www.nmmprints.com. The department’s primary remit is income generation and it sits within the Museum’s Commercial Division.

We are looking for an experienced picture researcher to join our team. The successful candidate will be a diligent and communicative person with a meticulous eye for captioning and presenting images. We are particularly looking for someone to conduct in-house image research for future Museum guidebooks, exhibition catalogues and other publications.

Reports to: Picture Library Manager

Main duties will include:

* Responding promptly to customer enquiries
* Sourcing relevant images and presenting them to image buyers
* Negotiating licence fees for image use and invoicing accurately
* Supplying digital files to clients via download, email or FTP
* Undertaking picture research for Museum publications and projects
* Captioning and preparing new images for our websites
* Researching print sales enquiries for fulfilment via www.nmmprints.com
* Collaborating with Commerce colleagues in Events, Publishing and Retail
* Advising colleagues on copyright and our image collections

Skills and experience

Essential:

* Picture library and research experience
* Experience of licensing images from external sources
* Confidence in learning and using digital asset management software
* Able to deliver projects with input from colleagues across the Museum
* A flexible team player with excellent interpersonal skills
* Strong negotiating skills, whether on the telephone or in writing
* Confidence with digital imaging and using Adobe Photoshop
* Educated to A-level standard or equivalent

Desirable:

* An interest in maritime history and/or history of art
* Experience using Capture image management software
* Sound grasp of copyright law

Terms and conditions:

The post holder will work a 41 hour week, core hours Monday to Friday 9.00am to 5.00pm with an additional hour to be worked in agreement with line management. Occasional overtime, often at short notice, will be required.

Salary: £18,000 - £22,000 per annum

For full details of how to apply please visit our website www.nmm.ac.uk/jobs

Looking For Fleet Street - A History Of Press Photography

As part of an ongoing project at Photo Archive News we have been mapping the photo agencies and photographers who worked in and around Fleet Street. We aim to produce a 'family tree' to include dates, names and 'where-are-they-now' information to preserve and highlight the press photography industry - from the beginning. This information will be used to help find original owners of content and provide an educational resource centered on the history of press photography. Some agencies and press photographers are still located close to the famous street, but most collections have been sold into larger companies or have just disappeared.
Photo Archive News has already been involved in reuniting press photographers with their photographs particularly where a photographer was a staff photographer working for a fleet street photo agency. We have mapped the path of many newspaper photo libraries, many of them having been split between various owners over the years. Many sections of the photographic archives of newspapers and agencies are still lost or, in one case we know about, buried under tonnes of concrete!

The work will be ongoing, presented via a website and a book is planned.

We are now seeking:
- Project sponsors.
- Early press photographic equipment particularly telegraphic transfer machines.
- Stills and Footage of working photo agencies or newspaper picture desks.
- Signs, stationary, day books, press cards, written company details, staff lists, expenses forms, travel information.
- Press Prints with agency/photographer stamps on reverse.
- Photographer memories.
- A Fleet Street premises.
- Photo agency timelines (history), photographers names and acquired brands.

Services offered by the project - available NOW:
- Preserve or buy collections at risk or offered for sale.
- Photographic collection valuation.
- Photographic collection sales and acquisitions.
- Advice on storing negatives and prints.
- Advice on scanning and digital storage.
- Locating lost images - negative and print.
- Press Photo History magazine - quarterly.

To register your agency and for more info on the project contact Will Carleton tel: 07802 437827 - will@photoarchivenews.com