Look at the guy in the pink shirt. Here is the value of this picture. (To illustrate this post, the picture below is captured from a video (c) Vatican TV/AP)
Rome, Saint Peter’s Place, June 6th, 2007, a 27 years old man throws himself above the barriers on the Pope’s car to grab the Jeep. The bodyguards caught the disturbed man and the pope Benedict XVI, who did not notice the move, continues his benediction.
Ansa, the italian wire agency bought a much clearer picture for €300 from a tourist. Their journalists inquired around for several hours, trying to find someone who had taken a good shot of the action. They say Reuters was ready to offer 20 times more. I estimate that total sales brought in more €50 000 so far for Ansa. In France, Sipa, who secured the rights of the picture, sold to Paris-Match and to Choc, a magazine, for an estimated price of €5 000 (according to Thomas, MD of another picture agency).
Amateur photographies have always been around. When i was running Corbis in France, we caught the picture of the Concorde in flames. A japanese tourist had taken the photo from another plane at take-off. This picture will sell forever. Of course, when you buy such a picture, you never know if there isn’t a better one around. That is part of the game
Everywhere and anywhere in the world, you can bet that someone is photographying or filming the news.
See the video