Committed to international press freedom and the belief that images can be a powerful force for change, Getty Images celebrates a decade of its grants programme and sponsors photojournalism festival for seventh consecutive year

London – 23 July, 2014: Global media company Getty Images has reaffirmed support of – and a significant presence at – Visa pour l’Image 2014, the 26^th anniversary of the international photojournalism festival held annually in Perpignan, France. This is the seventh year Getty Images has sponsored the prestigious festival, demonstrating its continued commitment to the photojournalism industry and emerging talent. This year Getty Images is celebrating the 10-year anniversary of its grants programme, which has awarded more than $1.2 million to date, by offering $130,000 to photographers.

The Grants for Editorial Photography programme showcases and supports powerful and inspiring photojournalism projects.  Judged by industry greats including David Furst, the international picture editor at The New York Times and Sarah Leen, director of photography at National Geographic magazine, five grants of $10,000 will be awarded to photojournalists pursuing projects of personal and journalistic significance.  In addition, inspired by Getty Images’ partnership with LeanIn.org, an additional $10,000 will be awarded to a photojournalist whose work focuses on women or girls achieving positive results in their communities or personal lives. All grant recipients will be announced on 4 September on stage at Visa pour l’Image, with the winning recipients showcasing their chosen projects the following day.

“Imagery is the language of our time and the unrivaled power of photojournalism to educate, inspire and mobilise people and governments has never been more important than it is today,” Getty Images Co-founder and CEO Jonathan Klein said. “At Getty Images, we are deeply committed to excellence in photojournalism and Visa pour l’Image is the ideal setting to celebrate the 10th anniversary of our grants programme, one of the largest in the industry.”

In addition, Reportage by Getty Images photojournalist Alvaro Ybarra Zavala has been nominated for the prestigious Visa d’Or Feature award for his work titled Stories Of A Wounded Land, which examines the agro-business model in rural Argentina and Brazil, and societal issues that have risen as a result of it. The nomination follows Reportage by Getty Images photojournalist Laurent Van der Stock’s Visa d’Or win last year in the News category, for his work documenting the alleged use of chemical weapons by military forces in Syria. Stories Of A Wounded Land has also been chosen to feature as one of the coveted exhibition spots throughout the duration of the three-week festival.

The work of the late Getty Images photojournalist Chris Hondros will also be exhibited, on display at the Hotel Pams. The exhibition, titled Testament, follows on from the book of the same name published earlier this year, and will depict a collection of Chris’ photographs and essays documenting over a decade of world conflict since the late 1990s, including Liberia, Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya. As a photographer working in the world’s most difficult and dangerous places, Chris had a unique and distinctive ability to connect his viewers with his photographed subjects and the exhibition commemorates this talent.

Getty Images Vice President, Photo Assignments, Editorial Partnerships and Development, Aidan Sullivan says: “I am extremely proud that, once again, our photojournalists are being recognised at Visa pour l’Image, through both the nomination for the Visa d’Or, as well as the opportunity to showcase their award-winning work. We are inspired each and every day by the content our team produce and we are delighted to have this recognised by the festival.”

In addition to the exhibitions, Getty Images will have a strong presence at the festival through several screenings of their photographers’ work, as well as conducting daily portfolio review sessions in the Palais des Congres. Getty Images experts and photojournalists will also be hosting a series of roundtables, in collaboration with Canon, showcasing the award-winning photojournalism the company is renowned for, as well as providing insight, expertise and advisory into how aspiring photojournalists can stand out in today’s competitive landscape.

Getty Images’ Aidan Sullivan, founder of A Day Without News?, is also celebrating the 25^th anniversary of the Ian Parry Scholarship at the festival – an organisation he founded 25 years ago to commemorate the death of colleague Ian Parry, who was killed covering the Yugoslavian conflict in 1989 at the age of 24. The fund has helped 24 photojournalists progress their careers and will be recognised at the festival through an exhibition in the Couvent des Minimes.

Further information on the Getty Images’ grants programme can be found at: www.gettyimages.com/grants

ENDS

Notes to editors:

Getty Images Grants programme 2014

Getty Images Grants for Editorial Photography
In 2014, five grants of $10,000 each will be awarded to photojournalists pursuing projects of personal and journalistic significance.

Inspired by Getty Images’ partnership with Lean In, an additional $10,000 grant will be awarded to a photographer whose project is focused on an important but under-told story about women or girls achieving positive results in their communities or personal lives.

This year’s judges include:

• David Furst, International Picture Editor, The New York Times
• Teru Kuwayama, Photo Community Manager, Facebook
• Sarah Leen, Director of Photography, National Geographic Magazine
• Jean-Francois Leroy, Director General, Visa pour l’Image
•  Amy Yenkin, Director, Documentary Photography Project, Open Society Foundations

In addition to the Grants for Editorial Photography and in collaboration with the Chris Hondros Fund, Getty Images offers the Getty Images and Chris Hondros Fund Award, whose recipients are determined by nomination, which recognizes excellence in News coverage by a photojournalist who exemplifies the qualities which award-winning Getty Images photographer Chris Hondros brought to his work. In 2014, Daniel Berehulak received this prestigious award.

Getty Images Creative Grants
The Getty Images Creative Grants are designed to support nonprofits which do not currently have the resources to employ photographers or filmmakers and communications professionals, but who understand how breakthrough video, imagery or multimedia and strategic thinking about communications are essential to further their mission.

Two grants of $20,000 each will be awarded and shared equally between the photographer/ filmmaker and agency partner to cover costs as they work together to create compelling new content for the non-profit of their choice.

Also inspired by Getty Images’ new partnership with the women’s empowerment organisation LeanIn.org, a grant of $20,000 will be awarded to and shared by the photographer and creative agency whose joint proposal is to develop imagery for a non-profit they choose to support which focuses on issues related to empowering women, girls, their families and communities.

Contour by Getty Images Portrait Prize
Getty Images is keenly aware of the skill level and attention to detail which portraiture photography requires. To celebrate excellence in portraiture by emerging talent, Getty Images is presenting its Contour by Getty Images Portrait Prize, now in its second year.

This prize will be a grant of $10,000, awarded to one photographer, with less than five years experience in the field, based on their existing portraiture work.

Famed Photographer Terry O’Neill will preside over a distinguished panel of judges including:

• Cheryl Newman, Director of Photography, Telegraph Magazine
• Stuart Smith, Designer
• Michael Hirschl, Director of Creative Delivery, BergHind Joseph Agency

Exhibitions

Getty Images’ presence at the photojournalism festival includes the following two exhibitions:

 Testament

Chris Hondros/ Getty Images

Testament is a collection of photographs by late photojournalist Chris Hondros spanning over a decade of coverage of world conflict since the late 1990s, including Kosovo, Afghanistan, the West Bank, Iraq, Liberia, Egypt, and Libya. As a photographer working in the world’s most difficult and dangerous places, Chris Hondros had the distinctive ability to connect his viewers with people embroiled in far-flung and sometimes obscure conflicts.

Chris Hondros was killed on assignment in Misrata, Libya in April, 2011.

Stories Of A Wounded Land

Alvaro Ybarra Zavala/ Reportage by Getty Images

Stories of a Wounded Land examines the agro-business model of large scale, intensive agriculture, using genetically-modified seeds and agro-chemical products in rural areas of Argentina and Brazil. It documents the serious health issues that have arisen amongst rural populations, as well as issues of land rights and the wealth gap this model has created.      The project includes rare access inside some of the facilities of the multinational Monsanto.

About Getty Images

Getty Images is the world’s leader in visual communication, with over 170 million assets available through its premium content site www.gettyimages.com and its leading stock content site www.istock.com. With its advanced search and image recognition technology, Getty Images serves business customers in more than 100 countries and is the first place creative and media professionals turn to discover, purchase and manage images and other digital content. Its award-winning photographers and content creators help customers produce inspiring work which appears every day in the world’s most influential newspapers, magazines, advertising campaigns, films, television programs, books and online media. Visit Getty Images at www.gettyimages.com to learn more about how the company is advancing the unique role of digital media in communications and business, and enabling creative ideas to come to life.  For company news and announcements, visit press.gettyimages.com, and for the stories, innovation and inspiration behind our content, visit InFocus http://infocus.gettyimages.com/. Find us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/gettyimages and Twitter at https://twitter.com/GettyImages.

Updated and easy-to-navigate iOS apps for both Getty Images and iStock by Getty Images feature an improved image search, curation and collaboration experience to help creative storytellers bring their ideas to life wherever they are

Getty Images, the global leader in digital media, today unveils a redesigned iStock by Getty Images iOS app with a more intuitive experience and smoother user interface. An updated and redesigned Getty Images iOS app will follow on July 17, allowing users to embed and share Getty Images’ immense collection of the very best and unique imagery – at no cost – for non-commercial use on websites, blogs and social media channels, while on the go.

According to data from comScore[1], mobile devices accounted for 55% of internet usage in the US in January, with apps accounting for 47% of that traffic. With people increasingly embracing mobile access to execute work-related tasks, the iOS apps allow creative storytellers to pursue their ideas wherever they are. The apps enable users to search, curate and share millions of rich conceptual and editorial images only available at Getty Images and iStock, and delve into the historic Getty Images photo archive.

“The world’s best creative minds rely on Getty Images for our unique, inspiring content and our refreshed apps make it easier to use than ever,” said Matthew Bencke, Senior Vice President, Product and Customer Experience at Getty Images.

“We are excited to bring our apps to creatives the world over via Apple’s great iPhone and iPad. Freeing design teams and storytellers from the constraints of their laptops will allow creativity and collaboration to extend to wherever ideas are brought to life.”

Built with busy creative and media professionals in mind, each of the app interfaces provides a beautiful, modern look and feel with robust usability. Key features of the apps include:

Search: Users can easily search millions of creative, editorial and archival images.

Save: Tapping and holding allows users to add an image to their most recently created or updated lightbox.

Share: The apps allow for seamless sharing of lightboxes and single or multiple images with colleagues or clients. Users of the Getty Images app can access embed codes and share imagery in their blogs at no cost, when used for a non-commercial purpose.

Size: On iPad, the details of an image can be viewed with a simple pinch and zoom.

The new apps are available on iPhone 5, iPad 3 and higher devices, as well as iOS7 compatible devices. The iStock app can be downloaded for free from the iTunes App Store today. The Getty Images app will be available on July 17.

Catalogue of pre-licensed music provides content creators with easy, instant access to music that is free and clear from traditional licensing obligations and costs

Global digital media company Getty Images today expanded its music licensing platform to provide content creators with seamless access to more than 45,000 high-quality, fully pre-licensed tracks through its enhanced SoundExpress collection.  Customers licensing these tracks need not pay additional fees for synchronization, performance or mechanical royalties, and are free to use the music across any project at no further cost or obligation.  Part of Getty Images’ diverse music offering of over 340,000 assets, the revamped royalty-free collection takes the complexity and cost out of music licensing without sacrificing quality.

“With the rapid expansion of digital video content in a multi-screen world, music licensing has become more complex and costly for businesses, advertisers and creatives,” said Melinda Lee, General Manager, Getty Images Music. “With this newly enhanced collection, Getty Images dramatically simplifies and reduces the cost of music licensing to accommodate the new digital world — no extra steps and no extra fees.”

The robust collection includes high-end, high-quality production tracks from a global roster of musicians, providing instrumental and vocal-driven songs across all genres.  Customers can search the collection at www.gettyimages.com/music and license these tracks instantly, making it quick and easy for content creators to source music anytime for a simple flat fee, without need of additional approvals or clearances.

“We are constantly innovating and anticipating the needs of our creative customers, who rely on Getty Images for the highest quality content whether it’s imagery, music or video,” said Andy Saunders, Senior Vice President of Creative at Getty Images. “Our new royalty free music collection lets our customers access the best tracks without anything holding them back from a licensing perspective.”

For more information about Getty Images Music, visit www.gettyimages.com/music. Search Getty Images’ royalty free music collection SoundExpress here.