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RANDOM THOUGHTS 48
May 13, 2002
Dentler To Represent Mon-Tresor Catalogs
Anton Dentler has formed a new agency, PanStock, LLC and has assumed all international
representation of Mon-Tresor image products outside of Japan effective April 1, 2002. PanStock
will assume will assume all representation of eight catalogs that were formerly handled by
Mon-Tresor U.S.A. The catalogs are W1, W2, W3, W4, W5, W6, EC (European Collection) and Y3.
The new agency will also produce new marketing products featuring Mon-Tresor stock images,
including a major new panoramic stock photography catalog now in production.
PanStock is based in Rochester, NY with David L. Brown as general manager. Brown is also CEO of
Natural Selection Stock. The PanStock office will handle collections of commissions for future
sales and contractual arrangements with sub-agents, as well as rights clearances and marketing
projects.
Dentler is the former owner of Bavaria Bildenagentur in Germany. He sold that company to Visual
Communications Group and it was later acquired by Getty Images.
Corbis Opens Cold Storage Film Preservation Facility
Corbis has officially opened its state-of-the-art, cold storage film preservation facility at
the Iron Mountain Storage Facility in western Pennsylvania. This facility will house the
Bettmann Archive collection which contains 11 million images including many 20th century
cultural icons such as Rosa Parks, the Kennedys, the Beatles and Marilyn Monroe.
When Corbis purchased the Bettmann collection in 1995 the company found an alarming number of
the images in various states of deterioration. In order to save these photographs from
extinction and make them accessible for generations to come, Corbis undertook a massive and
unprecedented preservation initiative.
The new facility has a 10,000 square-foot storage archive, a digitization lab and a research
work area. Corbis will work to preserve the fragile original negatives and prints and rescue
them from deterioration. It will also preserve worldwide access to them for customers,
researchers, clients and others who use historic pictures.
Leslie Hughes, Corbis President, markets and Products Group, said, "These priceless images will
now be saved and accessible for the long term. This not only benefits Corbis and our clients,
but also future generations because this rich collection of our history will be preserved for
them to see and experience."
The facility at Iron Mountain is environmentally controlled with conditions that have been
calculated to maintain photographs in an essentially unchanged state for thousands of years.
These conditions preserve the inherently unstable cellulose acetate film base used with the
great majority of photographic films, as well as the generally very unstable dye images of the
color transparencies and color negatives found in historical collections. Although some effects
of degradation are already present and cannot be reversed, the goal is to arrest color fading
and film deterioration so the original images will be preserved for future access and digital
restoration.
Corbis has digitized more than 225,000 of these images and all the digitized images are
currently available online at www.corbis.com.
Worbookstock.com Releases Catalog
Workbookstock.com has released its first print catalog, Book One, which is being mailed to
thousands of qualified stock art buyers in the United States and Canada. This is the first print
promotion from the e-commerce rights-protected site launched last year.
Alexis Scott, Workbook & Company publisher, stated that, "With Book One, we not only wanted to
present great images, but also to introduce our new brand to the graphic arts community. The
catalog works in three way: as an idea book, as an image portfolio and also to introduce art
directors and art buyers to the collection they'll find at the site itself." The catalog is a
visual realization of the workbookstock.com ad campaign: "We provide extraordinary images. The
rest is up to you."
The catalog features a fresh image of cool, knockoff sunglasses on the cover followed by a
classic portrait on the opening spread. The interior pages give an immediate sense of the
breadth of the collection. The use of the theme "re:" enabled workbookstock.com to divide the
catalog into four categories without resorting to traditional stock labels.
Workbookstock.com has also announced that Elberson Senger Shuler of Charlotte, NC won the $2,000
first prize in their "Creative Genius Contest." The created an ad using Glen Wexler's stock
photo of a snowman on an isolated mountaintop. The winning ad featured the image with a
headline, "Straight guys would just plant a flag," and the logo of the Gay Mountaineers Club of
the Bay Area. Jim Stadler, writer and creative director at ESS said, "We just asked ourselves,
'Why would this snowman be on top or a rugged mountain?' and this was the most unexpected answer
we could come up with."
The judging team thought the execution from ESS hit the highest level on their "laugh meter."
While acknowledging it might be a little controversial, they couldn't resist giving it first
prize. It was selected from hundreds of entries received from design and advertising
professionals across the country.
Burak Joins TimePix
Jeff Burak has joined TimePix, the photo syndication unit of Time Inc. Previously he was with
The Stock Market for ten years. TSM has been a unit of Corbis since the fall of 2000 and Burak
was managing director for Corbis Stock Market when he left.
In his new position Burak will be responsible for repositioning the TimePix brand with a focus
on the company's photojournalistic archive of the Time and Life Picture Collection. His
responsibilities encompass all operating aspects of running a photo syndication business
including selling and marketing; maintaining relationships with clients, photographers and
international agents; launching an improved website; and revising content strategy.