Crowdsourcing Paparazzi

SF-based private equity firm Hellman and Friedman snapped up Getty Images this week to the tune of $2.4 billion. This is after Getty spent years shuttering every independent photo agency in its sights.The Hellman and Friedman folks are a pretty shrewd bunch. I witnessed this first-hand when they privatized my former agency, then flipped it…… Continue reading Crowdsourcing Paparazzi

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