Photoagencies no longer have the sole know-how on photography, as everyone has at least one camera. To a certain extent everyone becomes a photographer. Some will point to the loss of quality, others to the liberation of an entire generation, who can now visualize thoughts and ideas, events and everyday impressions with cameras which never achieved so much with so little. And what is just as important: Uploading and sharing photos is done with ease. It’s the end of pioneer status. Today it’s everyone. It’s the masses.
Today is also the day of the large companies, of shareholder value and calculated results. Many photoagencies are either crowdfunded or investment funded. It’s an industry which runs, to a large extend, on the work and money someone earned outside the real figures. A devaluation of price is not only logical, but also a sign of change beyond recognition.
Photography remains photography, but the image industry, more than ever, became a game to play, a business modell. It’s pioneer status has gone. Another image culture took it’s place, new concepts, new ways of selling, new visual worlds. The mass market will not go away, and can serve a good purpose. The value of images however needs to be defined by those who purchase and use photography. That is the choice you have, to stick out from the crowd.
Be a pioneer.
Karsten Risseeuw
Kursiv Bildagentur
Goldbrunnenstrasse 42
9000 St. Gallen
Switzerland
