http://www.lightstalkers.org/posts/introducing-gaia-photos-new-showcase-for-photojournalism An entire Lightstalkers thread via RSS/XML. en-us I’d like to introduce you all to GAIA PHOTOS, http://www.gaia-photos.com. Gaia is a web platform showcasing the work of leading photojournalists and new talents from around the world. On the web site, our members are constantly presenting some of their recent work, allowing everyone to keep up to date with great new photo features. Started 4 months ago, Gaia now has 34 members and 42 features from our 6 regions of the world being presented on the site. Basically, Gaia is a multi-user blog, with a fancy front page tuned for photographic content. In the style of a web magazine. One of the ideas here is that, by showing our work together like this, we provide a single reference point for photo editors to find new and interesting work in the niche field we are focusing on: Social, humanitarian and environmental issues. Busy photo editors hardly have time to keep up to date with a hundred individual PJ web sites, checking now and then only to see that nothing is new. With Gaia, that’s no so! New work is constantly ticking in from around the world and being presented on the site. Gaia connects its photographers with each other, our audience and perhaps from time to time, new clients. Perhaps some time down the road, we will do some collaborative projects together, providing a unique global coverage about various issues. In challenging times like these, I think there are many more advantages of networking and building up a brand larger than any single one of us. The internet presents challenges and opportunities we can’t ignore. But enough said now. What it’s all about is great visual storytelling. The cornerstone of our profession. So I invite you all to have a look from time to time and perhaps find new inspiration, insight and appreciation of the enormous diversity of our world. Best wishes for the future of photojournalism! Morten Svenningsen Director www.gaia-photos.com PS : We are open for new members, especially in areas of the world where we aren’t represented yet. If you are interested in membership - and if you are an actively working (freelance) photojournalist who work on social, humanitarian and environmental issues, you are welcome to apply for membership. Please take a look at the site for further details: http://www.gaia-photos.com/join-gaia/ . But note, we are quite selective about members. It is not a new flickr or a citizen journalism project. It is a professional network. Needles to say, but I’ll say it anyway, you will retain full copyright of your text and images you post on Gaia and you can remove it anytime in the future if you want. Gaia is NOT an agency, we will NOT try and sell your work. Just help you showcase it to the world and direct possible buyers to contact YOU. Thu, 27 Aug 2009 11:16:10 +0000 http://www.lightstalkers.org/posts/introducing-gaia-photos-new-showcase-for-photojournalism hey Morten congrats on this man,, awesome to see another solid platform getting out there... i wish you guys all the best in the near future... regards C Mon, 06 Apr 2009 02:08:46 +0000 http://www.lightstalkers.org/posts/introducing-gaia-photos-new-showcase-for-photojournalism#145246 thanks Conor. I've been getting some -frequently asked- questions on email, thought I'd put some answers up here as well: Is it a co-op or agency with a 50-50 split? Gaia is more like a co-op than an agency, but down to scratch it's in fact just a multi-user blog. I will try and do some photo directing in the future to do common projects. And the split is 100-0 in favour of photographer - No sales via this site, just links to the contributors. The idea is that the ads pay for operation of the platform, but we're not there yet. Are there any restriction of working in some other agency while I’m associated with Gaia Photos? No. You are free to work with agencies while showing your work on Gaia. Of course, if you are with an agency, you need to make sure that there’s no restrictions in your contract. Is Gaia based out of the US? For the moment Gaia is ‘based’ in Nepal, where I have currently stationed myself. I will probably go to Denmark later this year, so I suppose it will be ‘based’ there. I guess the servers are in the US, but contributors are from all around the world. Do you sell stock photos? No Do you share assignments? Not yet. But perhaps in the future. I think we can achieve a unique position in the market, being able to deliver quality work quickly from a number of locations worldwide. Some international organizations might be interested. (No need to hire a photographer who will spend months traveling around the world, paying for flight tickets, lacking local knowledge etc.!) Thu, 09 Apr 2009 01:47:33 +0000 http://www.lightstalkers.org/posts/introducing-gaia-photos-new-showcase-for-photojournalism#145555 Bump. Thu, 27 Aug 2009 11:16:10 +0000 http://www.lightstalkers.org/posts/introducing-gaia-photos-new-showcase-for-photojournalism#153677