Interesting Articles Shared From the NPPA

[Ali Ledgerwood]

Hi everyone,

Here are some items that you might find interesting from the weekly NPPA newsletter.  I don't share it all the time as it might not be as relevant, but I do hope you find some of this helpful.  Let me know your thoughts.

Here's my three for this week...

1. As photojournalists are pivoting and diversifying how they earn a living, photographer Evan Ranft, a well-known YouTuber, discusses in a video he has published what he earned in 2020 from his YouTube work, pulling back the curtain on how money is (or isn’t) made on the platform - specifically for a photographer. Ranft, whose main income comes from assignment photography, talks about how he generates income from the multiple silos of his efforts. Spoiler alert: His channel analytics shows $25k in income from the ads on his channel alone, and that is with 224k subscribers. 

2. Last week a class-action lawsuit https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/digital/instagram-embed-feature-sparks-copyright-suit-from-users-1234957184/ was filed against Instagram by two photojournalists. The proposed suit includes any photographers whose work was posted on IG and later embedded after July 2013.

3. The Curious Society https://www.curioussociety.org is a new organization whose mission is “dedicated to supporting photojournalism … [where] the people writing the first draft of history deserve to make a decent living … and be able to support their families with a meaningful career in photojournalism.” In addition to promoting photographers doing good work, they have given out grants for the past two months, and are producing a quarterly publication with fair licensing fees paid for work appearing in the publication. Started by seasoned professionals in the industry, the organization is a breath of fresh air in challenging times.