January 15, 2008. World Picture Network will shut down its photo wire service after Feb. 1 and cut some of its staff as it shifts resources to its assignment business.

The daily photo service was the costliest part of the business and generated the smallest amount of revenue, while assignments have grown, says WpN CEO Brian Miller.

WpN’s daily photo service provided breaking news, sports and entertainment coverage submitted on spec by freelance photographers around the world. But customers did not use the service enough to make it viable. “Given Getty’s lowball pricing, the budget pressures photo editors face, and all of the other image sources they can pick from, they have never purchased enough from us to support the costs of providing the daily feed,” said an e-mail WpN sent to photographers Tuesday.

Some WpN staff will be reassigned from the daily photo service to assignments, while others will be laid off. Miller declined to say how many jobs would be cut. WpN’s photographers are all freelance contributors, and few if any of them depend on WpN as their main source of income.

Miller says WpN was organized around the idea that current news photos would be its largest revenue source, followed by archive sales, with assignments trailing. “We got everything exactly backwards,” he says.

In the past year, assignment revenue has grown by 70 percent to account for 40 percent of WpN’s revenues, according to the e-mail to photographers. The daily photo submissions are about 25 percent of the company’s revenue, with archive sales making up the rest.

WpN was launched in 2001 by husband-and-wife team Seamus Conlan and Tara Farrell. In 2004 the agency expanded substantially and moved into its current headquarters after securing several million dollars in funding. Conlan and Farrell left the company in late 2006 or early 2007 and now run a photo and design studio in California. WpN acquired Reflex News Agency in 2007.

The assignment division is led by senior assignment editor Todd Cross. Other WpN staff who will work with photographers are Sandra Stevenson, senior editor/photographer relations; Kirsty Evans, assigning editor (worldwide); Cindy Jin, assigning editor (corporate, PR, multimedia); David Folch, assigning editor (French Market Focus); Celina Fang, supporting editor; and Stacey Teller, accounting/finance, according to the e-mail.

Several WpN photographers say they are surprised by the news, but it could be a positive change if it leads to more assignments.

“It will help, I think,” says Chicago-based freelancer Beth Rooney, who has noticed an increase in the number of assignments she has been getting from WpN in recent months. “It will give them a chance to focus on getting quality assignments to photographers.”

“It’s disappointing that they have to cancel the wire service,” Rooney adds. “You lose another small player and it’s left to the big giants.”

“They’ve been very honest with photographers,” says Atlanta-based freelance photographer Erik S. Lesser, who shoots for several national newspapers and would send his outtakes to WpN the next day. “The thing I liked about them was it was more of a boutique operation, and there was more of a relationship between the photographer and the agency.”

Three big agencies dominate the U.S. market for breaking news photos: the Associated Press, Reuters and Getty Images (which has an agreement to distribute Agence France Press photos). Many newspapers and magazines have subscriptions to those services, making it a tough market for smaller agencies.
(Source: PDNewswire, www.pdnonline.com)