Shutterfly Buys School Photo Company Lifetouch for $825M in Cash

Shutterfly has announced that it has agreed to acquire Lifetouch, the employee-owned photography company best known for being the national leader in school pictures. The purchase price is $825 million in cash.

“Shutterfly and Lifetouch, two undisputed leaders in their respective industries, are both built around the mission of helping customers share life’s joy through photos,” says Shutterfly CEO Christopher North. “The two companies are uniquely well suited for one another, with similar target customers as well as complementary manufacturing capabilities.”

North says the deal will give Shutterfly access to the millions of families who need to order photo products from Lifetouch. In addition to school pictures, Lifetouch also shoots portraits for special events, sports, businesses, churches, and in studios.

Lifetouch was founded by two traveling salesman 82 years ago in 1936 as National School Studios. Eldon Rothgeb and R. Bruce Reinecker opened their own school photo company after raising $500 in funding during the Great Depression. After starting in a rural area in the Upper Midwest, the company grew to cover all 50 states and rebranded as Lifetouch in 1984.

Every year, Lifetouch photographs over 25 million children in the United States on fall picture day, serving over 50,000 schools and 10 million households in the process. In the previous fiscal year, Lifetouch had revenues of $963.9 million and earnings of $111.3 million.

But growth has slowed in recent years, and Lifetouch had been actively looking for a buyer over the past several months.

“Lifetouch essentially had put itself up for sale in recent months, said its CEO, Michael Meek,” reports StarTribune. “He said it wasn’t growing fast enough to generate sufficient cash flow to invest in new technology and in other ways in the business, while cashing out some of its 16,000 employee and former employee owners as they reach retirement age and are eligible to sell their stock back to the company.”

Shutterfly investors, apparently enthusiastic about this acquisition, sent the company’s stock surging nearly 28%, from $53 a day earlier to over $68 at market close today.

The acquisition is expected to be completed in the second quarter of 2018, after which Shutterfly will officially be in the school picture business.

from PetaPixel https://petapixel.com/2018/01/31/shutterfly-buys-school-photo-company-lifetouch-825m-cash/

Breathe: An Epic 8K Storm Time-Lapse Film in Black-and-White

Mike Olbinski is one of the best in the business at combining time-lapse photography with storm-chasing, and his latest work is yet another jaw-dropping fusion of those two things. Titled Breathe, the 4-minute short-film captures the beauty and fury of thunderstorms in black-and-white 8K.

Olbinski, a wedding photographer based in Scottsdale, Arizona, created the film using storm imagery he shot in 2017 from spring storms in the central plains to monsoon season in the southwest.

“Some are favorites, some are just ones I knew would be amazing in monochrome and others I used because they fit the music so well,” Olbinski writes. “I also went with a wider aspect ratio on these films to give it more of a cinematic feel.

“I used two Canon 5DSR’s along with a Canon 11-24mm, 35mm, 50mm, 135mm and Sigma Art 50mm. Manfrotto tripods. The final product was edited in Lightroom with LR Timelapse, After Effects and Premiere Pro.”

Here are a handful of the gorgeous still frames that went into this film:

You can find more of Olbinski’s work on his website, Facebook, and Vimeo.

from PetaPixel https://petapixel.com/2018/01/31/breathe-4k-storm-time-lapse-film-black-white/

Shooting a Magazine Cover with a Smartphone

I recently got a call from a client in Chile asking if I’d like to photograph Alexis Sanchez for the cover of COSAS magazine. Alexis is Chile’s most capped footballer was just transferred from Arsenal to Manchester United. He is also one of his country’s biggest celebrities. COSAS is Chile’s biggest selling lifestyle and celebrity magazine. Obviously, I said yes.

The catch? The entire shoot had to be shot with a smartphone. Why? Because Alexis is a brand ambassador for Huawei, the Chinese telecoms giant.

Note: At this point, I should stress that I have not been paid by Huawei and have not been asked to endorse their products in any way. The phone, a P10 Plus, has an excellent camera but I would have approached the shoot in exactly the same way had I been using any other smartphone and in many cases, I would have expected similar results.

So I accepted the challenge, which I knew wasn’t going to be about image quality – I didn’t doubt the phone would be capable of producing images that could be good enough. Rather it was about planning and executing a photo shoot beyond my comfort zone. I liked and feared in equal measure the idea of not being able to rely on my familiar cameras and instead having to push a smartphone way beyond what it was designed for.

Just like any other shoot, it was going to be about lighting, but in this case especially so. The P10 Plus is capable of shooting raw images and I knew that would be a big help but I also knew I’d have to get the lighting just right and there would be very little room for error.

Plus this was an editorial shoot with a very limited budget, rather than a well-resourced advertising campaign. So no big lighting budget for me, (or even enough for an assistant). So I had to think carefully about what lighting I could use and how to use it most effectively.

There were other challenges too. Like previous shoots with high-profile sportsmen and women, I wasn’t going to get much time with Alexis — in fact, only 10 minutes. And from that, the magazine wanted pictures from at least three different set-ups. I also knew that Alexis doesn’t speak English, which not only meant that it would take longer than normal to establish a rapport with him but also that our conversation would need to go through an interpreter and this would also take time. So I would have to be efficient with the time available.

Then there was the space… or rather the lack of it. The shoot wasn’t going to be in a large, bright studio but in a residential house in south-west London where Alexis was shooting a (much bigger budget) television commercial during the rest of the day. They got all the good spaces. I was allocated a bathroom and two bedrooms for my shoot. The bathroom had no windows, not that it mattered as the shoot was scheduled for late afternoon, in London, in winter… so no natural light in the bedrooms either then.

I was given the phone two days before the shoot so that I could practice with it and learn its settings inside out. I also did loads of tests with the lighting I was going to use – a Rotolight Anova Pro and a series of Limelite Pixel 300W heads.

On the day of the shoot, I arrived with hours to set up, test, check and double-check everything. I ended up creating three mini-studios, one in each of the rooms available to me, and moved the Anova Pro with me as we moved between them.

The shoot itself went really well and despite the language barrier Alexis was a true professional and appeared to take it all in his stride. (From personal experience the same cannot be said of all Premiership footballers). I was definitely nervous, which often helps sharpen the mind, but in any case, it was all over in the blink of an eye.

All that was left was to pack up, go home and start going through the results. And breathe a massive sigh of relief.

The client was really happy with the pictures and ended up running an 8-page spread in the magazine.

I wouldn’t choose to ditch my cameras and shoot many assignments with a smartphone, but I definitely learned a lot from the experience. Doing something that scares you once in a while has its rewards.

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About the author: Ben Phillips is a UK-based commercial photographer. The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author. You can find more of his work on his website, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. This article was also published here.

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Image credits: All photographs by Ben Phillips and used with permission

from PetaPixel https://petapixel.com/2018/01/31/shooting-magazine-cover-smartphone/

Ex-Nat Geo Photo Editor Patrick Witty Accused of Sexual Misconduct

Another prominent figure in the photography industry is being accused of sexual misconduct. Several women are claiming that photographer and photo editor Patrick Witty sexually harassed them in a variety of ways.

The accusations were first reported in an exclusive story published by Vox, which investigated the circumstances surrounding Witty’s departure from his position as Deputy Director of Photography at National Geographic.

“In November 2017, several women at National Geographic pressured the magazine’s human resources department to investigate [Witty] for allegedly abusing his power in the industry for years to get away with predatory sexual behavior toward female colleagues, freelance photographers, and peers in the field,” Vox reports. But Nat Geo had already been investigating Witty for a month after there were anonymous murmurings of inappropriate behavior.

Witty quietly and abruptly stepped down from his position in December 2017, and no reason was given by Witty or the magazine about the departure. Witty announced his move on social media at the time:

At the time he left, Witty was a prominent photojournalist and editor with notable jobs and achievements on his resume. Here’s a short bio written by Nat Geo in March 2016 when he was hired:

Patrick was most recently the director of photography at WIRED […] Prior to joining WIRED, Patrick was the international picture editor at TIME where he edited global visual coverage that won numerous awards and recognition from organizations including the World Press Photo of the Year, Pictures of the Year International, the American Society of Magazine Editors and the Society of Professional Design. […] Previously, Patrick was the international picture editor at The New York Times and was a member of the foreign staff awarded the Pulitzer Prize in International Reporting in 2009. […] His editorial work has appeared in publications including TIME, The New York Times Magazine, Vanity Fair, Stern and GEO.

Vox reports that accusations made against Witty include “unwanted touching, kissing, and other advances at a variety of professional events during and prior to Witty’s employment at National Geographic.” Witty is also accused of inappropriate behavior while serving as a coach at the exclusive and prestigious Eddie Adams Workshop in 2015.

Several of the unnamed accusers are freelance photographers and editors whose careers could be heavily influenced by Witty’s prominent positions.

“Multiple women say that Witty wielded this exact power over them when they rebuffed his advances, alleging that he threatened them with professional retaliation. Others said he put them in a position that damaged their credibility on the spot,” Vox reports.

While other prominent photographers (including Terry Richardson, Bruce Weber, and Mario Testino) have been blacklisted by the industry in light of accusations, National Geographic reportedly kept the matter quiet and allowed Witty to leave without making any public announcements regarding its investigation.

We reached out to Witty for comment, and denies engaging “in any behavior that amounts to sexual aggression.” Witty says that he did not intend to ever be hurtful towards women and that he now realizes that his perception of a situation “may not always align” with someone else’s. Here’s a full statement Witty provided PetaPixel through his attorney:

I’m deeply sorry that some of my past behavior has been hurtful to women.

I was raised by six powerful women—five older sisters and my mother, now 86—who taught me to respect women and to fight for women. I’ve advocated and championed women’s advancement as photographers and editors my entire career.

With firm conviction, I deny that I’ve ever engaged in any behavior that amounts to sexual aggression. I also strongly deny ever insinuating that I would give someone professional help—or withhold it—on condition of sexual favors or romantic interest. I’ve never been accused of wrongdoing of any kind in the workplace, so I was shocked and dismayed when I first learned of the accusations against me.

But I’ve also come to realize that my perception of a situation and someone else’s may not always align. In many otherwise innocent interactions I may have underestimated the power of my position. What I’m hearing makes me think about the impact of my behavior on others in a whole new way, as it should. I am saddened to think that I in any way have contributed to or reinforced the imbalance of power between men and women in my industry.

We as a society are in the midst of a stark and imperative reckoning—long overdue—about the reprehensible ways men have behaved toward women all across our culture, as well as in particular industries like photojournalism, to which I have devoted my heart and soul for the past 25 years. This new dialogue is enlightening to me, as a man undergoing a much-needed awakening, and as a father who wants to do better by his own son in the hope that he’ll know, and help to shape, a culture of respect and equality for all. I wholeheartedly embrace and support this movement.

Witty has since gone dark. This his Twitter has been deleted, his Instagram account is now to private, and his website only has a single entry.

from PetaPixel https://petapixel.com/2018/01/31/ex-nat-geo-photo-editor-patrick-witty-accused-sexual-misconduct/