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I wish everyone a Happy, Healthy, and Prosperous New Year 2008. I hope everyone enjoyed their festivities last night and arrived home safe and sound.
As those who regularly read my blog know, I usually comment on business and finance. I expect 2008 to be rather interesting. While there are a lot of economic headwinds as we enter 2008, I expect that the housing crisis will dominate the investment landscape for at least the first half the year. For the latter half, I am not sure. From an investment perspective, the year 2008 promises to be more volatile and exciting than recent prior years.
Earlier this last year on Saturday, 15 September 2007, I photographed the picture above of Lake Louise in Banff National Park, which is located in Alberta near the Alberta and British Columbia provincial border. I believe the top of the mountain in the picture is on the continental divide, which is also the border between Alberta and British Columbia. In Banff National Park, the rivers on the British Columbia side flow west to the Pacific Ocean, and the rivers on the Alberta side flow east to the Atlantic Ocean. There might be some rivers from Banff that flow north to the Arctic Ocean, though I am not sure. The Athabasca River begins in Jasper National Park, which is to the North and shares a border with Banff National Park, and does flow to the Arctic Ocean.
This picture itself is a composite of two pictures. When I originally photographed this scene, I bracketed my exposures. I took one photograph one ƒ stop below exposure, one at proper exposure, and one photograph at one ƒ stop over exposure. I did not use the overexposed photograph. I used the sky from the underexposed photograph and used the remainder from the properly exposed photograph. Out of the camera, the photograph had a slight bluish cast, which I have tried to remove. In more technical speak, the original white balance had too much blue. The sky has been darkened, and the rest of the scene has been slightly manipulated as well, mostly contrast adjustments to bring out the detail better. Lake Louise itself has a magical color in that the fine silt from the glacier runoff produces this amazing bluish turquoise color.
In making these adjustments on the photograph, I used some of the techniques that I learned from Chromasia Photoshop Tutorials. I tremendously enjoy his photoblog and his tutorials, so I am happy to promote his site.
On a somewhat related note, I am still working my way through my Flickr challenges. I will have more to say in a few days. For now, I have restored some of my photographs on Flickr and my weblog. I still have much more work to do, however.
The above picture is hosted on Flickr. If you click on the picture, you will be taken to my Lake Louise picture on Flickr. Almost all of my Banff and Jasper National Park pictures are missing, because I have not had an opportunity to reload them yet.
David J. Nightingale, who provides those beautiful pictures on my favorite photoblog Chromasia, has written excellent Chromasia Photoshop Tutorials. I thoroughly enjoy viewing David's pictures on his photoblog and have often wondered how he creates such stunning pictures. After many requests, I am sure, he is now providing tutorials for those interested in learning more. Although his curves tutorial is free, his other tutorials are fee based. If you enjoy photography and use Photoshop, I highly recommend that you visit his photoblog and read his tutorials.
I have written prior articles about Getty Images Inc. (GYI). Black Star Rising has an interesting article Getty Photographers Pessimistic About the Future. It is worthwhile reading for photographers interested in stock photography and investors interested in stock agencies.
HEARD ON THE STREET: For Stock-Picture Firm Getty, The Stock Picture Is Grainy (subscription required) in today's Wall Street Journal is an interesting article because it discusses a company that might be going through an inflection point. In his book Only the Paranoid Survive: How to Exploit the Crisis Points That Challenge Every Company
"We still need Getty for past and near-past events, but today photographs taken by laymen can appear on the front page of world-wide newspapers," says Jd Michaels, director of print services at BBDO, an advertising firm in New York. "In the next election, will we really need to go to Getty for a great digital picture of Barack Obama? Maybe not."
Getty's biggest customers, representing more than half of its revenue, are advertising, marketing and design companies working on behalf of clients. About 25% of revenue comes from media companies. Some say they will be looking for cheaper ways to gain access to images.
"Over the next couple years, we'll probably spend less" on Getty's images, says Jigisha Bouverat, director of art buying at ad company TBWA\Chiat\Day in Los Angeles. "All the technological advancements with digital technologies and the Internet are allowing more photographers and agents to build and share their libraries, giving buyers like us greater range."
Some of the most popular images today, such as those of celebrities, often are of lower quality -- or even blurry -- suggesting that there may be less need for the expensive, top-quality images sold by Getty, some argue.
Although I have not read the latest conference call transcript (Seeking Alpha) or thoroughly investigated the company's financial statements, I am leery of Getty Images as an investment because of the potential threats from newcomers. Say, for example, that Flickr decides to allow its members to sell their photos—an idea that I borrowed from Dan Heller (see below). Many photos on Flickr already have GPS coordinates attached to them. Flickr already has algorithms to determine interestingness and most of the photos are already tagged. A user wanting an image can readily search Flickr's database for almost any location on the planet with the more interesting photos surfacing first. Just imagine the impact to Getty and other stock photo sites if Flickr allowed its members to unleash their vast treasure troves of photos.
For those interested in learning more about the business of selling online stock photography, I highly recommend reading Dan Heller's Photography Business Blog and more specifically five recent posts:
- Why Corbis won't go public...yet
- Follow-up (correction) to Corbis posting
- Photo Marketing isn't about pushing, it's about pulling
- The future of photo sharing sites and agencies
- Two-Phased Approach to photo-sharing/licensing model
For all the reasons that WSJ references and that Dan Heller mentions in his articles, I am avoiding Getty Images as an investment.
Update
Today Getty Images filed a FORM 12b-25 with the SEC.
PART III — NARRATIVE
As was disclosed in its press release dated November 9, 2006 and in its report on Form 8-K dated November 9, 2006, the board of directors of Getty Images, Inc. (the “Company”) has established a special committee to conduct an internal review of the Company’s historical stock option grant practices and related accounting for stock option grants. This review is being conducted with the assistance of independent outside legal counsel.
The Division of Enforcement of the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) had earlier notified the Company that it is conducting an informal inquiry into the Company’s historical stock option grant practices, and has requested that the Company provide the SEC with certain information relating to the Company’s historical stock option practices. The Company is cooperating fully with the SEC in this informal inquiry.
At this time, the special committee has neither completed its review, nor reached any conclusions about the Company’s stock option practices and related accounting. Until the special committee’s review is complete, the Company will be unable to file its Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2006, which will not occur within the prescribed time period for the filing of such Form 10-K (including the extension under Rule 12b-25). The Company intends to file its Form 10-K as soon as practicable after the completion of the special committee’s review.
I have always been drawn to imagery. I like to see things, as we all do, but I like to see others' interpretations.
I am not sure if I have recommended these websites before or not, but I have two highly recommended photoblogs. First is daily dose of imagery by Sam Javanrouh. His typically shoots scenes of Toronto, though not always. I very much like his photography. And another outstanding photoblog is c h r o m a s i a by David J. Nightingale. David's photography is very distinctive. When seeing his images, I can always tell. I also enjoy reading the comments on David's site, because many of the comments offer interesting insights or ask terrific questions.
If you like photography, I urge you to bookmark these two great sites and enjoy.
Here are three interesting photography sites that I viewed today:
- Scott Stulberg Photography
- Family of Diego and Suzy Golberg in Buenos Aires
- Kenneth Parker Photographs
Scott Stulberg has an amazing website. Be prepared to spend a lot of time reviewing his work. The Golberg family's photographs are interesting in how the family has changed over the past 30 years. I do not think Diego ages at all. And Kenneth Parker provides beautiful photography on his site.
I enjoy seeing how others portray their images. I like being drawn into a picture and wanting to learn and know more. Each of the three sites mentioned captivated my interest. I hope they capture yours. Have fun viewing these three sites.
This is just a quick note to let you know that I have updated my Favorite Photography Related Websites to include three photoblogs. Be sure to visit all three for great photography.
If you haven't already seen Sam's wondeful picture of Toronto's Western Skyline on his photoblog daily dose of imagery, I urge you to do so. I think it is a terrific shot, and so do many others as they've indicated by their comments.
[daily dose of imagery] is my favorite photoblog. Its creater Sam Javanrouh was born in Tehran, Iran. He moved to Canada in 1999.
The site most often features pictures of the Toronto area. Sometimes, though, Sam shows us stunning pictures of Iran and other interesting places. I think you'll agree--Sam's a great photographer.
If you haven't seen Sam's terrific photoblog, I encourage you to go to his site and enjoy his photography.
