plainpicture bills itself as an authentic, experimental and unusual image library. Its images "show individuals in various aspects of life, instead of conformist clean beauty," according to Web site. The agency works with some 400 photographers and also represents a number of third-party brands in its carefully edited collection.

Brands joining plainpicture this October include goZooma, bidhaft and Stockwerk, all hailing from Germany. With their artistic coloring, subtle content, stylized composition and unconventional models, the imagery from all three collections is fine-art caliber. goZooma is known for its color and landscape treatments; bildhaft has a strong foothold in serialized concept photography, and Stockwerk's clear and contemporary feel yield advertising appeal.

According to plainpicture, it now represents the five most ambitious German production houses. The three newcomers join Deepol and apply pictures. Other plainpicture-represented brands include Millennium, Johner and the book and cover-oriented Rauschen collection.

In addition to expanding its high-end creative offering, the German agency is also expanding its operations.

In September, plainpicture established an office in Paris. Headed by Corinne Perdrix Hans, previously with photonica/iconica and Pix/Giraudon, the new operation launched with a French-language Web site and a collection of more than 135,000 rights-managed and royalty-free images.

Earlier in the year, plainpicture opened a London office. Former photonica/iconica sales manager Mei Shan Cheung directs U.K.-based marketing of an 85,000-image library.