Life Casting

On Friday, I touched on the trend among a new breed of photo agencies that crowdsource-for-profit celeb pics captured by you, me or anyone for that matter.I observed that the fees doled out for images of out-of-context (e.g., out-of-control) A-listers have fueled the growth of the Patrick McMullan-wannabe movement. There’s simply money to be made…… Continue reading Life Casting

Scribes & Shooters

I’m not obsessed with paparazzi. Though one couldn’t help but notice the $200 million that Getty forked over last week for celeb photo agency WireImage. (Would WireImage’s shooters even consider themselves paparazzi?)The paparazzi do however play an incongruously glorified role in today’s complex ecosystem of news gathering — especially when one considers the ever-widening news…… Continue reading Scribes & Shooters

Getty Gobbles

We all know how much money an exclusive image of an A-lister out-of-context, or preferably out-of-control, can command from consumer-facing media.But the market value of the companies that intermediate between the shooters and the media came further into focus yesterday with news of the sale of Wire Image to GettyImages for…$200 million.The news release summed…… Continue reading Getty Gobbles