Online Photo Storage And Marketing Systems For Professional Photographers

Some weeks ago a photographer mailed me and wrote:

Entities like the Digital Railroad and Photoshelter do seem to offer some kind of solution, but I don't know if individual websites can offer the range of content required by time pressured picture editors looking to fill their papers with pictures - especially when the trend seems to be subscription services, which take away the 'headache' of dealing with individual photographers or small agencies dealing in Rights Managed imagery.

Here are some news from both companies:

• Digital Railroad (the company recently appointed Lee Corkran as VP of Products) has announced plans for the Digital Railroad Marketplace with a centralized search function (Global Search). DR states that "more than 10,000 top photo buyers around the world" use their services; see the new Buyer Directory. - More details here.

This was my first story on Digital Railroad in August 2004.

• PhotoShelter is now officially launched. Initial clients include Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer Vincent Laforet and 2004 Canon Female Photojournalist Award winner Kristen Ashburn. Details here.

Read an interview with PhotoShelter´s CEO Allen Murabayashi I published earlier in July 2005 here and my first story on PhotoShelter here. PhotoShelter also runs the blog A Picture's Worth.

Ongoing discussion at Rob Galbraith and older at Lightstalkers.

Both companies of course do offer more than only a simple solution for online storage because they enable you to market your images. The next issue of a special mag will run a story on the growing demand for online photo storage services for professional photographers. I´ll link to the article later. [Update: Here´s the link]

Next, I´m busy with a five page story for a mag about the new "middleware technologies" which recently entered the picture business. Interview partners include Executives and VPs of photo agencies and photo portals as well as picture editors. Again, I´ll link to the article later.