Circle Stock Images is a new Web-based collaboration of photographers from in Canada, Estonia, Germany, Thailand, U.K. and U.S. Launched with a 45,000-image collection, the travel-centric agency offers images of people, culture, scenery, food and environment.
Circle Stock refers to itself as a stock agency but functions as a united set of individual photographer archives. Individual contributors establish their own prices, though there is a common pricing model used as a guideline. Image buyers using the search engine on the home page obtain results from all member-photographer galleries.
The company says it is able to offer competitive pricing because it facilitates direct contact and negotiation between buyers and sellers, thus eliminating traditional agency commission. Circle Stock’s Web site does offer typical stock agency functionality, such as lightboxes, e-commerce functionality including PayPal, low-resolution comps and instantly downloadable high-res images.