• After witnessing the continued decrease of involvement in the SpotterNetwork staff in serving SN members with troubleshooting issues recently, I have unilaterally decided to terminate the relationship between SpotterNetwork's support and Stormtrack. I have witnessed multiple users unable to receive support weeks after initiating help threads on the forum. I find this lack of response from SpotterNetwork officials disappointing and a failure to hold up their end of the agreement that was made years ago, before I took over management of this site. In my opinion, having Stormtrack users sit and wait for so long to receive help on SpotterNetwork issues on the Stormtrack forums reflects poorly not only on SpotterNetwork, but on Stormtrack and (by association) me as well. Since the issue has not been satisfactorily addressed, I no longer wish for the Stormtrack forum to be associated with SpotterNetwork.

    I apologize to those who continue to have issues with the service and continue to see their issues left unaddressed. Please understand that the connection between ST and SN was put in place long before I had any say over it. But now that I am the "captain of this ship," it is within my right (nay, duty) to make adjustments as I see necessary. Ending this relationship is such an adjustment.

    For those who continue to need help, I recommend navigating a web browswer to SpotterNetwork's About page, and seeking the individuals listed on that page for all further inquiries about SpotterNetwork.

    From this moment forward, the SpotterNetwork sub-forum has been hidden/deleted and there will be no assurance that any SpotterNetwork issues brought up in any of Stormtrack's other sub-forums will be addressed. Do not rely on Stormtrack for help with SpotterNetwork issues.

    Sincerely, Jeff D.

Getty Images Gives Me The Shaft

Warren Faidley

Warren Faidley

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Was so excited to learn today that my agent Getty Images, is not accepting any editorial images of the Palisades Fire except from their own staff photographers in Los Angeles. All the imagery I've been posting on social media for the last few days is basically digital junk now.

Good thing my photojournalist ego faded years ago when the picture market collapsed. It's truly the end of news photography for profit unless you want to be a low-wage slob working for an outlet, and those outlets are turning to AI for illustrations and giving iPhones to their writers to take pictures instead of photographers. I'm seriously considering completely retiring as a photographer. Why spend thousands on equipment and waste so much time for nothing?

I think I'm going to burn my cameras at sunset. (Joke).
 

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Sorry to hear, Warren. You had some excellent images of that. Have you tried contacting any of the ENG brokerages? They are mostly video-based, but have a lot of contacts in the business that they work with regularly. I rarely have newsworthy stills (only videos) but I have sold a couple through them.
 
Thanks Dan.

Getty is the world's largest and since they are absorbing Shutterstock soon, they will have a monopoly on world-wide stock photography. This might account for their sudden f-u attitude. I know all stock agencies are suffering from the AI virus as illustration photography is sinking quicker than whale shit.

As I've said before, I have to accept the good old days of making money from imagery is fading quickly. I'm glad I had the opportunity to enjoy it while it lasted.
 
Thanks for sharing, Warren. It's an interesting juxtaposition that we live in such a visual age, yet have no appetite for longevity, nuance, or contemplation. It’s probably not the right kind of terminology to use, but there have been some incredible images coming out of LA, which will be forgotten and ignored when the next ‘exciting’ disaster strikes.
 
We do get saturated & desensitized to the rampant, two-dimensional pictures & video. I recall how video night at ChaserCon diminished in attendance over time, and I thought to myself, wow...not too many people care. And viewing videos was one of the original reasons for the older gang to get together in the wintertime to get psyched up for the new storm season.
This morning I realized that other than being at a natural event or disaster personally, the next step towards something more memorable & visceral is the 3-D, Virtual Reality (VR) goggles w/ imbedded earphones. I don't know if any of you have ever tried them, regardless of brand, but when I saw a 1930s Dust Bowl production with a VR headset, I was...pardon the pun, blown away. Apple product shown here.
Screenshot 2025-01-13 at 9.58.50 AM.jpg
 
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