Brad Elterman

Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis and Ron Galella, Los Angeles Music Center 1976


Brad Elterman is a real "stock" pro. I had the pleasure of speaking with him this past weekend. I first saw Brad speak about his background and work at an Apple Store seminar in Soho he led with his partner Henry Flores on the "iconic" celebrity photo, where he argued that one day his photos and some like them will hang in the Metropolitan Museum as works of art that captured a moment of decadence and the publics obsession with celebrities. I agree with him on a lot of his points and he had some really fabulous photos that outlined and highlighted the golden era of celebrity photos he captured with his camera.

I spoke with him again Saturday on the phone as he was hard at work updating Buzz Foto's blog. We spoke a little about Cutcaster, a lot about the celeb photo industry he is in and how he syndicates his photos. It's amazing how technology has improved the efficiency of the business. He can now deploy his photographers, who will locate the target within a 12 block area they patrol, capture the shots, upload them to the Buzz Foto servers and simultaneously send out an email to match any potential buyers to the freshly shot images. How about that for ala carte and on demand. We've entered the ADD era of acquiring the shot you need, freshly shot and uploaded, in no more than 15 minutes. We also spoke at length about editorial vs commercial uses. It's a fascinating debate and one that got Brad very excited.

Brad also impressed me with the amount of knowledge he has for the stock market as well and picking bulge bracket banks. Not only is he a pro in the stock photo agency world having started 3 successful agencies, one which he sold to Getty, but he is also very in tune to the stock market as well ;-) It made me laugh to realize that we both shared a passion for the stock market and stock photos.

Here is a link to his blog that talks a little about his history and their myspace page.

The photo above is credited to Brad Elterman and is a great example of a picture telling a story instead of just shooting a red carpet event. Brad caught this iconic shot in the heat of the moment and it carries a ton of weight when you realize the story behind it. If you want to know the story, you have to ask him.