Link to Cutcaster from your other sites

On everyone's studio page there is a message that says this,

"Get more views. Post this to your Facebook, MySpace, Flickr, personal site or any webpage: http://www.cutcaster.com/studio/pub/582007626"

That is from my studio page for example. Please don't laugh at my photos as I was a former stock trader and some belong to my brother in law ;-)

This is very important for a few reasons and I highly recommend people trying this and linking back to their studios. One is it helps you get more traffic back to a site where you can sell your images. Two, it showcases your work and a site I hope you guys are proud of. Another reason is it helps Cutcaster get more incoming links which helps us in terms of getting higher rankings in the search engines so we show up higher in queries by buyers.

I'd like to ask you guys to try to link to us on the sites you are apart of so we can build Cutcaster together. I can't do this all alone and your help will really help make this a team effort and success.

Quotes like this from Getty really upset me

"Getty also runs a site called iStockPhoto, where amateurs contribute photos that the company markets at lower rates. The photos on Flickr are of sufficient quality to demand higher prices," Mr. Jonathon Klein, CEO of Getty Images, said in a New York Time's article.

What a way to market one of your companies assets while at the same time pumping up a potential partnership. That is a pretty big insult to any contributor there and will go down as one of the bigger foot in mouth incidents I think I have seen. I hope others are fed up with that type of attitude as well.

Cutcaster survey help

Click Here to take survey

3 minutes is all I ask. If you have a few moments and would like to help us get a better understanding for what you guys want and need, I would love it if you took 3 minutes and filled out this simple survey. It is completely anonymous and is for the good of the whole community. I will publish the results when we are done so you can see what was requested if you guys would like.

Speak now and get your voices heard as we build Cutcaster according to your wants and needs.

You can now search and buy vector illustrations at Cutcaster

We have been slowing rolling out the addition of vectors to Cutcaster and are happy to announce that you can now search for and buy vectors on the site. Searching for vectors will be done in the same way that you search for images on the site now. Thanks for all the input getting this ready and launched and like always feedback for making it better is always needed and welcomed.

Holiday Images needed

Need Thanksgiving, Christmas and Halloween shots etc. All types of shots. Thanks guys

Friday Phelps Fun

ORLANDO—Fourteen-time Olympic gold medalist and SeaWorld main attraction Michael Phelps returned to his seven-million-gallon water tank Wednesday to resume his normal schedule of performing in six shows a day for marine park crowds every day of the week.

Phelps, the 6'4", 200-pound aquatic mammal, and the first ever SeaWorld swimmer to be raised in captivity by foster swimmers (Mark Spitz and Dara Torres), was recaptured by trainer Bob Bowman in a hoop net baited with an entire Dutch apple pie following Phelps' final Olympic event last Sunday. Phelps was then tethered to the rudder of a container ship bound for St. Petersburg, guided down local waterways, and introduced back into his home habitat, the tank in SeaWorld's 5,500 seat stadium, known to park officials and visitors alike as "Phelps' Happy Harbor."

"Michael seemed really excited to be back," said Bowman, adding that the male swimmer became playful upon entering his tank, breaching the water and sounding repeatedly. "He just started swimming freestyle and backstroke, and only stopped to slide belly first onto the tank's platform so he could be fed dozens of fried egg sandwiches."

"He fell asleep at the surface of the water around midnight," Bowman added.

Though Bowman plans on continuing the long-running aquatic show "Michael, The Yankee Doodle Swim Team Captain," in which Phelps was performing prior to leaving for Beijing, Bowman said he and Phelps would begin working on an all-new production, which will debut in September with the title "Champion!" Bowman has promised this show would be the most ambitious program in the history of Olympic swimmer sea spectacles.

Bowman says one stunt called the "Flying Medal" will begin with Phelps' 14 gold medals being suspended above the water. Phelps will then enter the stadium butterfly-stroking at full speed, coursing along the surface, and with every breach of the water, placing his head through the hoop of one medal after another. If Phelps is wearing all 14 medals at the end of the stunt, Bowman said, the swimmer will be rewarded with a whole pizza and a pound of cooked enriched pasta.

Bowman confirmed that the routine would also feature the signature aquatic feats that audiences from around the world have come to expect from Phelps, such as his trademark trick of 35 flip turns in 35 seconds, nuzzling a child with his nose, and Bowman himself "surfing" on Phelps' back while the subservient sea creature swims the breaststroke.

"Those seated in the first 14 rows should be prepared to get soaked," Bowman said, admitting that Phelps' powerful dolphin kicks would be added to the new program. "Also, Michael's two friends, [Olympic swimmers] Ryan [Lochte] and Jason [Lezak], will open the show with their humorous beach ball antics."

Beginning with the 1985's "Baby Michael Celebration," Phelps has entertained SeaWorld audiences for over 20 years. Spectators are not only enthralled with Phelps' exploits in the water, but his abnormally large torso, unusually small lower body, double-jointed ankles, gargantuan eating habits, the slurring, almost human methods of vocalization he uses to communicate, and his odd-looking goggle-covered face, all of which combine to make him the most unusual sight in all of Florida.

"I have never seen a stranger yet more majestic-looking creature," said husband and father of three Glenn McKay. "Last year we went to SeaWorld San Diego and saw [Michael's female counterpart] Michelle, and even though the show was a little funnier than this one, nothing compares to watching Michael almost hover over the water after launching his trainer into the air."

"Michelle" is SeaWorld's moniker for the Olympic gold medalist who was born Natalie Coughlin.

"I liked it when he played dead and floated in the water," added McKay's 8-year-old son Brandon, who was clutching a Michael Phelps stuffed doll. "I also liked when he blew water on everyone."

Though spectators—and ticket-sales personnel—are happy that Phelps is back at SeaWorld, members of the World Society for the Conservation of Olympic Swimmers released a statement yesterday saying that these athletic mammals should be released from captivity. The statement claims that there is conclusive scientific proof that confinement in smaller pools of water, as opposed to wide-open, Olympic-sized pools, causes the swimmers sensory depravation and a shorter lifespan.

"It's clear that Michael doesn't like being at SeaWorld," WSCOS spokesperson Jonathan Haines said. "When he was placed back into his tank, the slightly loose portion of his black swim cap immediately folded over to the right side, a telltale symptom of stress and angst. And you can be certain that, just before he left for Beijing, he didn't bite that little girl's arm off because he was happy."

Cutcaster August Newsletter

Dear Cutcaster Family,

There are a number of episodes that have shocked me lately; The opening ceremonies of the Olympics, the fact that it is the middle of August (where has the summer gone?!), and the way that Cutcaster has quadrupled since the last time I sent out a newsletter just a month and a half ago.

What a crazy and exciting time! A number of our users are now getting sales on the site and also receiving bids from interested buyers. If you haven’t had a sale yet, don’t worry; we are planning a big marketing push for the months of September and October so it is a good time to get more content into the marketplace or organize your old content.

We just passed 44,000 image files uploaded and have had over 21,000 files uploaded since the start of August. That doesn’t even include all the video files we are going to release when we bring back video footage. We announced that our goal was to have 100,000 quality uploads by the end of the year. You can bet on the year-end total amount by submitting what you think will be the year-end tally on our blog (ww.cutcaster.com/blog) to win a cool prize. 100,000 files is a very doable goal and we are well on our way to accomplishing it!

Since the number of files is growing and we are still a small group of people running Cutcaster from behind the scenes, we need everyone’s help titling, describing and keywording their content. Take a quick moment to check out your keywords and make sure that your keywords accurately describe each image. If you need help let us know so we can target your content and organize it better.

Our move over to Amazon’s web services platform is complete and I am happy to say that we have increased the speed of the site so things are running much faster at Cutcaster. You will notice a difference when you check out the homepage, and it will only get faster as we continue to work on more ways to speed it up.

Here are a number of new features that we have rolled out over the last month:

1. We added the ability to “friend” contacts on Cutcaster; send site messages to other people who are members of Cutcaster and post comments to each other’s pages.
2. The Cutcaster Forum is here and ramping up. Go there and say hello and join in the conversation.
3. We added similar image results to the media details pages so you can find similar content without having to go back to the search areas. This should help buyers find a variety of similar images without having to do multiple searches.
4. Public clipfolders are now available on the site and are our version of lightboxes, which you may have seen on other sites. We added a featured clipfolder to the homepage to help get contributors more exposure and sales.
5. We have added free images to the homepage to attract more buyers to the site and get your work more exposure. Free images at Cutcaster
6. Exclusive spotlight on the homepage. We need exclusive content and will pay out more for it. Ask us about it. If you have images that you want to test out on our site make them exclusive, you will earn more for them.

We are always listening, so please keep the feedback coming!

In addition, if you want your images and illustrations to be seen by more people, you should read this little post we wrote about getting more interested traffic .

Also submit/add your studio link to search engines like Google and Yahoo, which is a great idea for getting traffic, or you can link to them from your MySpace, Flickr or personal webpage. Remember to use your referral links as well so you get paid more.


Here are some write-ups on content we want:

Top 14 Best selling categories at Cutcaster

Smaller and Popular categories we need

We have been asked for these types of images.

Desired Content we need


If you need specific content please let us know and we will put out a request for you.

Hope the rest of August goes as slow as possible and you all enjoy the last bits of summer.

Best,

The Cutcaster Team

Seasonal Requests

It's getting to be that busy time of year again and we need to round out some of the images that we have either been asked for or fill a seasonal need for buyers coming to the Cutcaster site. Buyers are working on their holiday issues and advertisers are getting back to work. Time to think about:


* Different religious holidays (Thanksgiving, Kwanzaa, Christmas, Hanukkah, Birthdays, First day of Fall, First day of Winter, etc.)
* New Year's (reveling, partying, celebrating, new beginnings, midnight kiss, party clothes, champagne glasses clinking)
* Shopping/spending money
* Holiday Foods/Cocktails
* Snow
* Sledding
* Skiing
* Warm Travel (like Caribbean where we all want to be ;-))
* New Year's Resolutions (quit smoking, join the gym, being nicer, more family time)
* Home Insulation (construction shots, interiors, warm images)
* Heating Bills
* Oil
* Colds/Getting Sick/Preventing Colds/Natural Remedies

Stuff we like to read here at Cutcaster

Strobist

The Big Picture

KenRockwell.com

Joe McNally's blog

DPreview.com

Photoblogs.org

Rob Galbraith.com

Photography Blog

Photo.net

The Luminous Landscape

Photo Request

media_type : STILL PHOTO
project_type : tv
description : We are looking for photos of a 12 year old boy's room,
to use as a background plate for a broadcast spot we are constructing this
week. the timeline is immediate. Thanks!!!!
priority : urgent
deadline : Friday Aug 22, 2008