Millenium Image Bank
14:03 - The catalogue - produced every two to three years, has always been independent and been goin for 10 years.
14:06 - Photographers give up their right for commercial purposes of all the images that go into the library.
14:08 - Discussing the selection and image choice process. In "the old days images would be chosen by flipping through slides of images". He talks about digitalising the library and how the new image selection is made.
14:09 - "This is really boring for me" he laughs, then proceeds to give a list of absolutes for each image "300dpi, tiff, adobe rgb, 50-60mb, scans or a minimal of 12megapixel. Images below this are rejected because of quality. Photographers agree to a 3 year contract which can be extended".
14:12 - "...each image much portray emotion and be able to be used in a variety if uses"
14:14 - "I wanted to challenge a little bit the idea of portrait", on screen is a vast array of portraits which could fall into many catergories. Photograms, and high contrast images are placed next to low key and very high key styled images.
14:15 - He then presents a set of images which he says he has been working on. He introduces his project as "Deepness" and gives little explanation of the series. He is sincere and the audience gives a silent nod to approve that we know what he is talking about. His personal images fit very well in the Millennium style portfolio and he is obviously influenced by his job. If I had to personally describe the images I would call them serene and silent. Each image white and displaying an overwhelming stillness. Quite simply I would call them images of personification - everyday objects, only lonelier.
14:18 - His images are all extremely contemporary, high key images with 'simple' ideas such as a bath plug, macro shots of plants and various other close ups.
14:20 - On portrait phtographs - "sometimes when the subject is looking at the camera it is more difficult to sell them. Our client are looking for images that can be used in many context"
14:22 - "We don't work on stories but we pick from stories for the images. Some of them could be useful for specific project"
14:25 - Also of note is that many of the images are in a 2:3 ratio. Many almost square crops.
14:28 - He goes on to mention many artists. One which stands out is an artist who submitted a complete series of images depicting stairs and steps. So much variation on the same unifying theme and each image could have a thousand uses. "Over 100 images of stairs... The stairs are even more useful as they can carry many different concept"
14:29 - He mentions some images that look like poloroids and says that they were very large images cropped in tight and on the details.
14:32 - "Dark images carry on wonderful dark noir. These could be used in many things like crime book" he goes onto state that book covers are about 70% if their market... "They are looking for teenagers, figures, landscapes".
14:40 - Presenting lots of images of published works.
14:42 - [On a personal side note I can't help but notice that almost every image being shown is cropped in either two ways; In a 2:3 format or in a 1:1 square crop format. At this point in the show it is worth noting that much of the images are displayed as 1:1 crops. Perhaps this is a design choice of Millennium Images or it could be that they are simply attracted to contemporary photographers that use this style. I will have to make a note and ask Giacomo either at the end or via email.]
14:46 - Discussing that for commercial uses of images of people they must use a model release. As a basic rule that he follows - if you can recognize the person then a model release will be required.
14:48 - "Millennium, as a picture library, takes commission under consideration." Talking about the flexibility of commissions he concludes that some commissions are quite descript whilst others are not so tight on details, emphasising that each type has different strengths.
14:51- He is now showing several images from 'Free Range' in London by graduate photographers. Aswell as an image library, he has also been asked to produce a gallery "again" he jokes.
14:54 - Discussing the finance side of millenium images Giacomo says "the split is always 50/50 but the actual price depends very much on where and how the image will be used"
15:00 - "With millenium images the entire library is different from companies such as Getty. But the difference is that millenium is not so much a stock library. We work with amazing artists and our image are carefully selected, that's why we can charge a premium."
15:06 - And that is it. Giacomo is thanked for coming and appears thrilled and gracious to have received a rapture of applause. An inspiring and insightful talk from someone who is obviously passionate about his job and his work.
Millennium Images
- Live Blogging via iPhone, Brett Worth
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