Interview with Lanny Ziering, CEO of SuperStock

John: Lanny, I know as a founding member of Blend Images. Now you are CEO of SuperStock. Can you share with us a little about your background and how did you become CEO of SuperStock?

Lanny: Well, it's a sort of kidnapped by aliens story. I took my first camera when I was about 8 or 9 and had almost one in my hand throughout the school. I was the photo editor of my high school yearbook and decided to go to Art Center, but I continued to see the pictures taken by people like Irving Penn, Richard Avedon and David Bailey. The more I looked, the more I thought of my photos was total rubbish and never improve. So I sold my enlarger and my Nikon F, lost all hope of meeting Jean Shrimpton, and was at UCLA where he eventually got an MBA.

After School B had a lot of jobs, including the right after the launch of MTV. Finally, I went to work at a television station in Los Angeles as director of the program. Here is the part where aliens kidnap to me and spent seven years working for PricewaterhouseCoopers in consulting projects for energy companies worldwide and long distance. Fast forward until 2002: IBM bought the consulting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers. They pushed me well or jump (depending on who you believe) and before touching the ground, I decided I wanted Back to the summer I graduated from high school.

I could not do much about all the gray hair, but decided to pursue a career in photography. In retrospect, It seems a crazy idea. But something very strange happened. A friend of the production of short programs for Fine Living cable network, hired me to draw pictures and used an Avid editing software to animate still images in a sort of way Ken Burns. I bought a new Canon D60 and never looked back. It was not long before he met Lawrence Manning, one very talented photographer stock. We partner with a lot of shares and royalty checks began arriving early outbreaks by mail.

Long story short, I went Laurent and beautiful Betty (Mallorca) to a small gathering of about 30 shooters of values in Las Vegas. Mixture was born in that meeting and Rick Becker-Leckrone I asked to assist in the formation of the company. I spent the next four and half years of working with Rick to realize its vision. Then he began to wonder, "What do we do now?" A small group of us started kicking ideas PACA NY at the meeting and launched Gustavo Baez the idea, why not buy Superstock?

Why not, indeed. Alan Bailey (from Rubberball) and I flew to Jacksonville. We woke up the dream of federal bankruptcy court appearances by Steve Superstock Paloma. In a ceremony without shedding of blood have been anointed the new CEO of SuperStock. Everything was a bit unreal. In the purest tradition of shares of the Company, we all went to the restaurant at night with Steve, drank lots of wine and decided to distribute other content. This is a large industry or what?

John: SuperStock was bought in bankruptcy court. Can give details of the ramifications of what has been by SuperStock, and how this affects you photographers and customers?

Lanny: Superstock experienced trauma. Employees are an amazing group and, despite what they experienced, they still believe in the company. Almost all photographers, customers, partners and distributors image has decided to continue doing business with Superstock.

The ownership of the company is in the hands photographers and Morgan Stanley and financial gone. Superstock is again a place that is the photographic image and those who create these images and the use of these images to communicate.

Juan: What do you think are the strengths of SuperStock?

Lanny: Superstock three assets. First, hundreds of photographers contributing worldwide that provide pictures of us. This has produced an extraordinary collection of works of art, vintage, travel and landscape, and contemporary imagery. Secondly, a large base of loyal customers in the publishing and advertising. Thirdly, a very talented staff who work every day for photographers and clients as well.

John: SuperStock What areas of vulnerability?

Lanny: You might say, but I have to kill you.

Juan: What is your vision for where you want SuperStock have?

Our plan for the Superstock class is fairly simple. We are the stabilization of the company for us to maintain the content, customers and staff from a large Superstock agency. We have almost completed this phase. Now, we are optimizing assets of the company's image and relationships.

It is no secret Superstock that has not been well handled in the past years and there is much to do to get more images on the market and provide customers find the images need. We follow the competition by offering customers a unique collection of art, time travel, and contemporary images with a deep understanding of how these images are used.

John: Do you have Micro plans to integrate actions into your mix?

Lanny: We seek a number of options, but I do not think Micro will be the first thing we do.

Juan: Do you see opportunities for increasing sales of shares beyond the traditional stock buyers?

Lanny: The Consumers are the Holy Grail, I guess. Consumers seem to have an endless fascination with celebrity, there will be ways, no doubt to loaded Miley plans, Madonna, Rihanna, and next week is young. I can also envision consumers who like to see images of works of art, remote places, and historical events. Here we are well positioned to serve this market.

John: There are plenty of rumors in the photographic community about the lack of interest of the lead agencies for the individual photographer. The economic viability of the individual SuperStock Photographer important? Should be important for organizations?

Lanny: I can not speak for other agencies, but Superstock attaches great value to the individual photographers. After all, the owners are photographers Superstock. It is in our DNA. Mix has certainly shown that the body can not succeed no matter the success of the photographers. We can only succeed if our photographers success. So we created a very close relationship between the peoples of our sales to buyers that talk about all photos day and our writers who speak of photographers to find the items being sold.

John: Organizations such as constantly Getty reduce human interaction with photographers and clients. Is this something that is inevitable and necessary, even for SuperStock?

Lanny: We think a lot about how to increase interaction between our editors and photographers.

John: One of the offers SuperStock is to subscribe. Then the subscription model works for photographers and agencies?

Lanny: different clients have different ways in which photos to purchase. Some have no problem paying $ 20,000 for the perfect image to go on a can of beans, and others need to download hundreds of images from one day to put in a blog for butterfly collectors. Photographers and agencies must find ways to make money is the type of customer.

John: I am under the impression that the stock footage market is moving away from print and the Internet as the world gets smaller print and increases in the online world. My impression is correct? If so, does this present a problem in the prices charged for the use of Internet?

Lanny: That's true, there is a change from paper to pixels. I think it's too early to accurately predict the future evolution of Internet imaging market. At this time the Internet are quite fragmented, but as its concentration increases may be a possibility to pay more for the images.

By Moreover, the nature of print and the Internet are different. A strong image is most likely the key to attract a customer to buy a magazine or stop and see a notice in a page. But browsing the Web is, paradoxically, less is more visual and text to print images may not have quite the magnetic force (or economic value) than editor.

John: Along those lines, do you think of RF Pricing Micro stock images and I guess that must change? Do you think this will change?

Lanny: The price is alchemy. Go right and turn lead into gold. is wrong and turn gold lead. The nominal RF could be as they are, but there is much evidence that prices are decreasing RF (dare to say the words "Premium Access"?). At the same time, prices are up in the microphone area. Macro and micro appear to converge, but prices never meet. While the proportion of 1-100, two years prices continue to decline.

John: Is this the growing use of video in the market risk for still images?

Lanny: Video rise is inevitable. But there is nothing that has the power of a image. My generation has been shaped by television, but all the important events in our life is defined by a fixed image. When people think the war Vietnam who think that the image of man shot in the head by the guy in short-sleeved shirt or a girl napalm-scarred along the roads.

When you think of the revolution of the students in Tiananmen Square is the image of kids with plastic bags in front of the tank. I think it actually was shot on video, but I remember it as a single framework. And the definition of the image of Barack Obama that is stolen ranges used in the "hope" posters. I believe nothing will replace the form of a still image allows us to make that life denies us: stop time.

John: Did you see the SuperStock video and provides?

Lanny: Yeah.

John: Some are predicting a world radically different images of the shares within five years. Did you major changes on the horizon?

Lanny: One thing is certain: the search does not work very well for all and search for innovations in business so that customers can search for images. It is also expected convergence between still images and pictures, perhaps packages for integrated campaigns.

John: Do you have tips for photo agency photographer veteran?

Lanny: Talk to people who buy pictures, know what they want, go shoot it.

John: Do you have tips for photographers just entering the field of stock photography?

Lanny: As William Goldman said about the film industry, "nobody knows anything." Learn everything you can about photography and advertising and journalism and publishing, then let go and listen to their instincts.

About the Author

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