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NewswireTODAY - /newswire/ -
London, United Kingdom, 2008/04/01 - Image Source, the world's leading independent producer of royalty free stock photography, has announced a partnership with World Portraits, the innovative, fair trade photo collection that directly benefits the people photographed.
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The uniqueness of World Portraits is that every time a photo is sold, the sitter receives a royalty and shares in the profits. Most of the sitters are in developing nations and receive their money via microbanking facilities or as a cheque.
Image Source has signed worldwide, exclusive rights to sell World Portraits’ content direct to clients and through its international partner network of 200 distributors. The collection currently numbers approximately 3500 images.
“I am thoroughly delighted to work with such a unique offering as World Portraits”, said Christina Vaughan, Image Source Founder and Chief Executive Officer. “They are harnessing creativity and the commercial world to directly make a difference to the lives of the sitters. It’s social entrepreneurship, which allows profits to be shared.” Christina, who has been recently nominated for several entrepreneurship awards and is a Judge on this year’s NatWest everywoman Awards and The Wings of Hope Social Entrepreneurship panel, added, “It’s totally new to this industry and an inspiring, responsible way to do business.”
World Portraits is owned and operated by its founder, Bas van Beek. The collection accepts photographic contributions from photographers all over the world. Majority World, a new global initiative to champion the cause of indigenous photographers from the developing world, is a contributor and also arranges productions in non-western countries. While on location, a photographer has the model release form signed by the person being photographed. Bank details are noted and put into the contract, which is translated beforehand for the country visited. The collection has been processed, enhanced and quality controlled by Stephen Johnson of digital imaging consultancy, Copyrightimage Ltd.
“The people that are photographed are not professional models, but ordinary people that sign a model release contract on the spot”, explained Bas. “World Portraits stands for photographed people sharing in the profits; pure photography with no make up or styled environments; and all images properly model released with payment details captured. The collection presents fresh, compelling imagery that features real people and real issues.”
Christina added, “The majority of subjects are in developing nations but World Portraits is not about charity. It’s about fair trade and giving people the opportunity through enterprise to earn their fair share.”
About Image Source
Image Source (imagesource.com) is the world's leading independent producer of royalty free stock photography. Headquartered in London, UK, with regional offices in Cologne, New York and Los Angeles, the company also supplies imagery to over 200 partners worldwide. This strong international sales network enabled the company to win the Queen’s Award for Enterprise in the International Trade Category in 2005.
Image Source has also been shortlisted by The Sunday Times Best Employers Guide 2008 as One to Watch and is in The Guardian’s 2008 book of Britain’s Top Employers. The company is also accredited with ISO 9001 and achieved a place on the 2008 Media Momentum Top 50, a list of the fastest growing digital media companies in the UK. Creative professionals around the world can buy and download quality imagery instantly from the website.
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gianni.brancazio[.]imagesource.com 
