| Adobe Royalty Free Complaint - 2005 |
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Pro-Imaging's official complaint to Adobe in response to sales of royalty-free images via Adobe Stock Photos.
James Alexander
Dear Mr Alexander With reference to the decision of Adobe Systems to facilitate the sale of Royalty Free images through the forthcoming Adobe Bridge. The decision by Adobe to make some 230,000 Royalty Free images available online through Adobe Bridge has been widely debated within the professional photographic community worldwide. I am writing to you on behalf of many of the members of the Professional Imaging Group (www.pro-imaging.org), an independent group representing image creators who are greatly concerned at this development. Royalty Free images have been a retrograde step to the vast majority of photographers who believe in equitable payment for an image use. The supply and sale of Royalty Free images are deplored by most in the industry. Further, it is understood that the sale of RF by some photographers constitutes an unsustainable business plan for the individual and the Professional Imaging Group fully support the Stock Artists Alliance White Paper on Royalty Free sales. Most photographers believe that Royalty Free images (herein known as RF) have been responsible for the decline in professional image quality and creativity standards over the last few years. They have certainly been responsible for the decline in original commissions to both professional photographers and illustrators alike. The rise of RF has taken control away from the creative individual and placed it in the hands of corporations. Images have become a commodity and both creator and user slide into mediocrity. In short, many photographers despise RF and see it and those that support it as a threat to their livelihoods. Photographers aren't naive enough to think that they can halt the sale of RF but in time, wiser counsel may prevail upon those image makers who sell RF and persuade them otherwise. As you know digital technology is changing the way professional photographers work and most are exploring this brave new world using Adobe Photoshop. Photographers have generally welcomed these new tools and many have freely given help and advice to Adobe to create better features since its inception. Photographers feel, with some justification, that they are Adobe's core supporters, even if we are small in numbers. Professional photographers and illustrators are your biggest fans but goodwill which is slowly gained can be quickly lost. With the introduction of Adobe Bridge and the decision of Adobe to make many thousands of RF images available though Bridge, there has been a collective feeling of dismay running through the industry. Adobe, long our friend and partner, has decided to help a competitor undermine our businesses by placing their RF images on each Adobe CS2 users desktop and hence make a small amount of money from each sale. We understand that Adobe was warned by their beta testers that this action would upset and alienate many photographers and illustrators but decided to go ahead with this "feature". Now that the predictions of unrest are coming true we understand that Adobe are belatedly opening up Bridge to various international professional photographic organisations, such as the Association of Photographers in the UK, to enable users of Bridge to view the portfolios of photographers in order to commission them. Adobe are only doing this under pressure from the industry and in what appears to be a face saving exercise. You have guessed by now that we are not happy with Adobe's decision to advance the sales of RF. Its a bad decision for the individual photographer, the industry and ultimately for Adobe themselves. In the light of this fait accompli, could you please answer the following: A great many professional photographers are not members of a professional body. How would you propose they are included in Bridge? Would Adobe consider smaller, equally professional groups of image creators with a group website? If so, will Adobe release some technical specifications on how to present images for inclusion in Bridge. Who do we approach for inclusion in Bridge? How quickly can both Profession Organisations and small groups be incorporated into Bridge? Please do not pre-suppose that all photographers are American and willing to join the ASMP. Whilst we would greatly prefer that Adobe had not embarked on its present direction, opening up Bridge to the image creators themselves in a fair and equitable way is a way of partly addressing the grievances of your many loyal supporters within the professional photography community. Yours faithfully
Steve Climpson
The following is a selection of names of image creators who endorse this letter, they range from the USA, UK, Italy, France, Brazil, Finland, Sweden, Romania, South Africa and Australia. Many are internationally recognised image creators.
Glyn Davies
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