Photographer Complaints Derail Modern Postcard-iStockphoto Deal

August 28, 2007
By PDN Online

Modern Postcard, a printing service popular among professional photographers, recently blundered into a bear trap: It announced that it was doing business with iStockphoto, and promoted the cut-rate stock service as an alternative to assignment photography.

Following a spontaneous uprising of angry photographers, Modern Postcard announced Tuesday that it is ending its relationship with iStockphoto immediately.

“We recognize the challenges that face professional photographers today,” Steve Hoffman, president of Modern Postcard, said in a statement. “It is our intent to support the entire photographic community as well as the other businesses we serve by developing solutions that benefit both.”

Modern Postcard also said it will work closer with photo industry leadership; the company has been in touch with representatives from the American Society of Media Photographers (ASMP) and the Advertising Photographers of America (APA).

iStockphoto, for its part, says it did not approve the language Modern Postcard used to promote its relationship with iStock. “We regret the implication that somehow iStock would replace traditional photography,” says iStock spokesperson Kara Udziela, who called the miscommunication “unfortunate.”

Modern Postcard’s relationship with iStock first became known Friday, when Modern sent out a mass e-mail advertising a promotion: “As a Modern Postcard customer, you’re entitled to free images, free credits and a 10% discount on any iStockphoto credit bundle over $20. So, skip the expensive photo shoot and create direct mailers with high quality images from iStockphoto.com!”

The five most important words in that message were “skip the expensive photo shoot.” Professional photographers have watched iStock and other micropayment stock image sites grow in popularity and put pressure on the business of higher-priced stock photography. The suggestion that iStock could replace a professional photo shoot was especially offensive. On the APANet message board, photographers who used Modern Postcard were comparing notes on competiting printers.

“A number of photographers had orders or jobs pending with them who said ‘we don’t want to do business with you any more,’” says Eugene Mopsik, executive director of the ASMP. The ASMP has an upcoming seminar series sponsored in part by Modern Postcard.

The response was so fast and negative that Modern Postcard sent out an apology the same day. “We sincerely apologize as this miscommunicates our intentions and our feelings about professional photography,” the company wrote in another e-mail within hours of its first message Friday.

By Monday, Modern Postcard had decided to sever its relationship with iStockphoto. Through the affiliate relationship, Modern Postcard referred it customers to iStockphoto and received a portion of the fees customers paid for their first block of credits. It was not a distribution deal.

Mopsik says Modern Postcard did a “stupid thing” but was taking corrective steps. “You have to give them credit for seeing the error of their ways and making the change,” he says.