ImageBrief offers trip for two to MONA

In what might be a particularly desirable prize in creative land, ImageBrief is offering image buyers a chance to win a trip for two to MONA - the $175 million Museum of Old and New Art in Hobart.

Described by its founder as "a subversive Disneyland for adults" it is a destination of desire for many in the creative industry.

The new global internet start-up aims to transform the way the creative industries buy images by offering a platform where buyers can create a brief and photographers submit images from their catalogues to meet that brief.

ImageBrief is hoping to attract image buyers to its Beta site using the MONA prize trip as a carrot for a target market with highly attuned visual sensibilities.

Chief executive, Simon Moss said that the word crowdsourcing was becoming a euphemism for cheap, free, or amateur.
“Not all platforms are created equal,” he said. “ We don't ask for work on spec. It taps into the deep resource of shots photographers have already taken. The buyers get fresh, on-brief shots hand picked for them by the photographers and the photographers get to monetise their existing work.”

Moss said when he explains ImageBrief to buyers he gets strong reactions.
“The search engine model is broken. Buyers are sick of wading through poorly tagged, amateur, overused, cheesy shots and sick of compromising their work because they haven’t got the budget to shoot.”  

Photographers are signing on at the rate of about 100 a week, growing the pool of available images by on average half a million a week globally.
“They’re not amateur images,” said Moss. “They’re good quality, rights managed shots that are fresh and tailored to the brief.”