Bigger Isn't Better: An Open Letter To Photographers
In the past 24 hours, Flashframe has received a slew of messages as to our involvement in the Gameface & Marathonfoto merger which has come as a surprise to the photographer network as the new organization boasts to be the "largest company" in the endurance sports photography market. I wanted to take some time to provide an appropriate description of FlashFrame's position in the marketplace, as well as assuage the fears of photographers who feel their livelihood may be in jeopardy.
When Griffin and I set out to create Flashframe we were driven to create a platform that met the needs of both photographers looking for equitable pay and customers seeking photos at a reasonable price. At the time sways in the marketplace had driven more established companies to ravenously seek profits on the backs of overpriced inventory or jeopardize their workforce in lieu of sponsorship dollars. This misguided depriortization of consumers and employees is not dissimilar to what we’ve seen time and again from Private Equity backed companies hell-bent on improving the margin. Brad Kroll of Marathonfoto even boasts his disregard for the employees that provide the value for his business stating his goal in "creating a company that is 100% focused on amateur athletes."
FlashFrame’s mission was at odds with these giants from the beginning, prioritizing people over profits. Launching as a crowdsource app at the 2016 Chicago Marathon, we aimed to allow photographers and spectators to compete with the established companies on their own turf. Our mission was eventually realized by commoditizing our software to such ends for photographers of all means and photography companies of any size to run the business themselves. By removing the upfront cost of image tagging, website management, outbound marketing, and allowing ever more control over your sales experience we aim to provide a self-service model not dissimilar to Etsy, Smugmug, or Shopify, to allow any photographer to run a business themselves.
Today our mission stays the same, we aim to allow photographers across the globe to take back control and spark their business big or small. Improvements scheduled for Jan 1 of 2020 will appeal to photographers distraught by the recent merger news. Flashframe will be strengthening our network, allowing photographers to sign up seeking work at nearby events. Companies needing to staff events will be able to use Flashframe to find, hire, and staff photographers at their event, further putting the power in their hands to run the business themselves. In addition to our already unmatched automated tagging, we’ll be launching a separate algorithm uniquely for biking events, and improving options for manual tagging should your photos require it.
Flashframe is poised to continue to compete with and outlast the merged GameFace & MarathonFoto behemoth while keeping both athletes and photographers in mind. As always should you need to reach out feel free to drop me a line with feedback, questions, or thoughts at nate@flashframe.io.
Nate, COO FlashFrame