14 DAY TRIAL // This week, popular photography community Flickr has just announced the advent of a new service that wishes to help some lucky photographers get their work recognized.
Some users blessed by fate will be getting a mail from Flickr’s curators inviting them to join the program, but there’s also a chance for those who don’t get selected, as they will be able to sign up to be taken up into consideration.
The program is called Curated Connection and was announced in an official blog post by Flickr’s own curator, Liz Lapp.
“Flickr’s curators are searching for exciting and credible opportunities for you to share your exceptional photography.”
The main purpose of it all is to help rising photographers “partner with photo agencies, editors, bloggers and other creative minds who are seeking original content.” If selected, the photographers’ works will be featured on popular websites including Yahoo, Tumblr, The New York Times, Reuters, BBC, Gizmodo, and Getty.
Flickr has already set up a dedicated page for the program, entitled Marketplace, but for the time being we’re not given a lot of specifics.
However, most likely Flickr will be looking to build upon this primitive Marketplace interface, in order to better compete with websites catering to the needs of creative professionals such as 500px.
Flickr already has the Creative Commons program, which is a tool for helping photographers get their work licensed, but the new service aims to help those who are more involved in commercial photography.
Other competing websites are offering similar tools, most importantly 500px, which has become a popular destination for photography professionals looking to get their digital portfolio licensed.
The 500px Prime licensing program was launched back in February and brought about licensing fees that started at $250 / €186, of which up to 70% going to the photographer.
For the time being, we’re not being told what licensing fees will apply with the new Flickr service, but we’ll update you when this detail becomes available.
Flickr is currently owned by web giant Yahoo, and since its early days, it has competed with photo-centric services provided by the likes of Google and Facebook. But with the advent of portals such as 500px and EyeEm, the race has gotten a lot tougher.
The launch of the new service is Flickr’s most recent effort in the struggle to remain a competitive player in the domain. Last year, the Flickr website received a major makeover involving a web interface overhaul. Most recently, users have been treated to an improved search, editing, and updating feats.