Footage and stills agency StormStock is celebrating it’s 20th anniversary announcing an ‘improved web site with more imagery, a cleaner workflow and improved previews.’
View and licensing their storm imagery here

this just in from FOCAL: ‘The tenth annual FOCAL International Awards in association with AP Archive took place last night at The Lancaster London Hotel, honouring producers, filmmakers and other creative professionals who have used library footage in a documentary, feature film or any other form of production. Television history presenter Dan Snow, recently returned from covering the conflict in Syria, hosted the tenth gala ceremony.’
Read a full list of the winners and a report of the evening here

Stock footage search platform Footage.net has moved its stock footage search and screening platform to a high-performance, tier-three data center.
They say:‘This new, fully scalable, cloud-based hosted solution allows Footage.net to deliver faster response times to creative professionals, significantly improving its overall site utility and user experience. Additionally, the secure, cloud-based infrastructure enhances Footage.net’s ability to provide world-class footage research and screening tools on a continuous, uninterrupted basis.’
“We’re very excited about our move to the cloud,” said David Seevers, Footage.net Chief Marketing Officer. “With over six million records and close to three million preview clips available through our platform, we needed a better hosting solution and greater reliability across a wide range of site performance factors. Our users want to navigate through our footage database quickly, so delivering faster search results and expedited page response rates makes for a better all-around product and user experience. It also makes the database more secure.”
Because the new data center resides on a private, fiber-optic network, Footage.net is now able to deliver search results and page-to-page navigation much faster than it could before, which is critical given the sheer volume of data now included in the Footage.net database. In addition, Footage.net’s move to a fully supported, tier-three data center significantly decreases the chance of a service interruption.

South African based production company Aquavision TV Productions has announced a representation deal with the award winning Netherlands photography and production company, Andre Gilden Photography.
Aquavision TV Productions’ library manager, Christo Ras, says “Anita and André Gilden’s amazing footage will boost Aquavision’s existing African, European and Asian high definition (HD) holdings and also add Arctic and Antarctic footage, making Aquavision the preferred supplier for High Quality HD footage.”
Aquavision’s stock footage library is one of the most comprehensive in Africa, containing more than 10,000 hours of Cultural and Natural History footage.

Fotofringe 2013: One day event | Wednesday 24 April | Free to picture buyers | Kings Place London
This free event brings together over 100 top image libraries in one central London location. Come along and put names to faces, make new contacts and be inspired by some of the best stock images out there.
Here’s your invitation to the annual networking event for picture buyers, designers, publishers, art directors and picture researchers book your free entry ticket here

Register for Fotofringe here – free to image buyers
Read Fotofringe details on PAN fotofringe London – 24 April for creative & editorial photo buyers
See who’s at Fotofringe and the floorplan at Kings place

click to view and license ↑
On Tuesday 9th April 2013, the winners of the Environmental Photographer of the Year (EPOTY) were announced at the Royal Geographical Society Gallery in London. The awards are held annually by CIWEM (The Chartered Institution of Water and Environmental Management)
Robert Harding, MD at UK based photo and video agency Robert Harding World Imagery, awarded the Environmental Video of the Year Award to Jonathan Goldberg for his film ‘Shaking the Tree’, documenting how one man inspired an army of fruit harvesters in his local community. Harding, who donated the £1000 prize, commented: “There were many fascinating and beautifully made entries covering a wide range of environmental themes. The winner emphasized a simple action that everyone can do, that can make a difference.”
Photographer Michele Palazzi was awarded the Environmental Photographer of the Year Award 2013
View the winning photos & videos here

Stock media marketplace Pond5 have released 50 files free to use ↑ click through above to download.

↑ Pictured: L to R – Gary Morgan, SNTV sales Jess Townsend and UK sales head Dave Elllis

Splash News is celebrating its tenth visit to the TV market MIPTV in Cannes by announcing it’s web video show now boasts more than one billion streams a year.
Each day the celebrity news agency pumps out 20 x 1 minute web shows watched in over 60 countries, and a 22 minute TV show beamed across Asia and Africa.
“We are destabilising Iran with Kim Kardashian’s pregnant curves as we speak,” said Gary Morgan, Splash CEO at their booth at number 22:10. “She’s the best nuclear deterrent we have and should divert their attention.” Splash has already closed two new deals on the first day of the market with the Middle East and India. “We are regulars now at MIP and rubbing shoulders with the big TV producers. It’s really satisfying to know a photo agency can produce a TV show from scratch with a low budget but with fantastic daily content of everything Hollywood.” Corbis bought Splash 18 months ago and put its huge resource behind the news agency started by Kevin Smith and Gary Morgan “Corbis’ marketing muscle and belief in breaking news has really helped us move the needle,” added Gary.

Zodiak Rights, the international division of Zodiak Media, announced that it is expanding its business by launching a brand new archive division, Zodiak Clips.
Zodiak Clips is an on-line clips exploitation initiative which aims to monetize short form content from across the group as well as third parties. The new brand launches at the MIPTV event today. The new division has already secured a deal with the world’s largest aerial HD stock footage provider, Skyworks, whose footage is regularly used by leading broadcasters including Discovery and National Geographic. Filmed in HDCAM SR video, Skyworks’ aerial HD stock footage archive is the largest of its kind in the world.
Zodiak Clips is headed up by Sandra Coelho who joined the company in October from Getty Images. Sandra, who reports directly to Matthew Frank – Zodiak Rights CEO – has extensive experience selling short form content and has also worked at the BBC and ITN Source.
Commenting on the launch of Zodiak Clips, Matthew Frank, CEO, Zodiak Rights said: “We are delighted to be launching this exciting new venture at MIPTV. Zodiak Clips will be one of the few archives to offer high end footage which is original and unique. Sandra has an excellent and extensive track-record in acquiring and selling short form content and we are pleased to announce today our partnership with leading stock footage provider, Skyworks.”