Photographic History

Saturday, March 1, 2003

Are You In One Of These Pictures? Did You Take Them? Are You Part Of Photographic History? CDP = y BH i be NY Historic photographs are created by people on bothsides of the camera. (NAPSA)—One of the world’s premier historic photographic archives is looking for the people who helped document more than 140 years of world events—either behind the cameraorin frontofit. The Bettmann Archive is one of the world’s leading collections of historical photography. From images of the American Civil War all the way to events of recent years, the archive contains more than 11 million pictures of the news and everyday activities that shaped our world. Publishers, researchers, historians, advertis- ers, and others use images from this archive to tell stories and communicate ideas. This year marks the 100th birthday anniversary of the archive’s founder Otto Bettmann. To help celebrate, Corbis, the owner of the archive and a global provider of photography andart, is seeking the unknown people behind the collection. Many of the companies who contributed pictures to the archive through the decades kept incomplete records. This, combined with loss of records due to the age of the photographs, means many of the photographers and subjects are not known. Corbis is inviting anyone who believes they either took a picture in the archive—as an independent photographer or while working for one of the agencies whose work is now contained within the Bettmann archive—or whobelieves he or she is depicted in one of the images, to visit the collection online at www.corbis.com/bettmann100 to search the archive, find “their picture” and submit their contact information andstory. Corbis will select a number of verified Bettmann “alumni” to attend a special reunion event in New York City featuring an exhibit of the “best of” from the archive and highlighting some of the alumni stories. The company will also update its records and photo credits as appropriate.