National Geographic Image Collection, a division of the National Geographic Partners, a joint venture between the National Geographic Society and The Walt Disney Company, headquartered in

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

, United States, was a stock photography agency that managed and licensed one of the world's most comprehensive and unique collections of photographs and original artwork. It maintained a collection of more than 10 million digital images, transparencies,

black-and-white Black-and-white (B&W or B/W) images combine black and white in a continuous spectrum, producing a range of shades of grey. Media The history of various visual media began with black and white, and as technology improved, altered to color. ...

prints, early auto chromes, and pieces of original artwork. In 2002, a portion of the collection was made available online for rights-managed licensing. In 2007, the online presence was reintroduced offering both rights-managed and

royalty-free Royalty-free (RF) material subject to copyright or other intellectual property rights may be used without the need to pay royalties or license fees for each use, per each copy or volume sold or some time period of use or sales. Computer standard ...

licensing. The site offered over 237,371 still images for licensing (41,559 RF, 195,812 RM). On 22nd December 2020, National Geographic Partners closed National Geographic Image Collection and the websites www.natgeocreative.com, www.nationalgeographicstock.com and natgeoimagecollection.com were terminated.

Collection overview

The National Geographic Image Collection is the photographic and illustrations

archive An archive is an accumulation of historical records or materials – in any medium – or the physical facility in which they are located. Archives contain primary source documents that have accumulated over the course of an individual ...

of the National Geographic Society. The Image Collection operates as a full-service

stock photography Stock photography is the supply of photographs which are often licensed for specific uses. The stock photo industry, which began to gain hold in the 1920s, has established models including traditional macrostock photography, midstock photography, ...

agency as well as providing editing, research, and rights clearance services. Sophisticated systems are utilized to track, file, dupe, label, catalog, and research the images used in NGS products. The permanent collection consists of over 10 million photographs and works of art. This includes 300,000 published images, 1 million file selects, and 300,000 staff rolls (9 million images). At any given time there are also 50–60,000 non-staff rolls (2 million images) in transit among Film Review, the Image Collection, and return to photographers. Images become part of the collection if they are * Published in a Society product * Chosen as a file select or out-take from a National Geographic assignment * Submitted to Image Sales as stock photography (stock-only images). Selected images are available online through their e-commerce site
www.nationalgeographicstock.com

Archives on public display

On September 17, 2009 the National Geographic Image Collection opened its first exhibition of vintage National Geographic images at th
Steven Kasher Gallery
in Chelsea, New York. 150 vintage prints, many of which were never published in National Geographic Magazine, from a dozen photographers, were on display. The images, which make up a collective portrait of the Society's early years, are stored in a windowless, climate-controlled, underground archive with roots reaching back more than a century. The National Geographic Image Collection archive also includes glass-plate negatives and auto chromes, the earliest examples of color photography. In a walk-in refrigerated vault near the main archive room, the Image Collection stores hundreds of thousands of

35mm 35 mm may refer to: * 135 film, a type of still photography format commonly referred to as 35 mm film * 35 mm movie film 35 mm film is a film gauge used in filmmaking, and the film standard. In motion pictures that record on fi ...

color transparencies and negatives, and it is now storing hundreds of thousands more digital images on

hard drives A hard disk drive (HDD), hard disk, hard drive, or fixed disk is an electro-mechanical data storage device that stores and retrieves digital data using magnetic storage with one or more rigid rapidly rotating platters coated with magne ...

National Geographic: The Image Collection Book

On October 2, 2009 the National Geographic Image Collection released the largest single volume of world-renowned National Geographic photographs published by the organization. The 500-page ''National Geographic Image Collection'' showcases 120 years of world history, natural history and culture chronicled and preserved in the Society's unique archive of more than 11.5 million images. The work of 204 photographers includes approximately 400 color and black-and-white images that are presented and divided into four themes: Exploration, Wildlife, People & Culture, and Science & Climate Change. A behind-the-scenes profile of the entire Image Collection, including auto chromes, glass color transparencies, black-and-white prints, color transparencies and digital media is also covered in the book.

Agency overview

The National Geographic Image Collection represents hundreds of National Geographic

photographer A photographer (the Greek φῶς (''phos''), meaning "light", and γραφή (''graphê''), meaning "drawing, writing", together meaning "drawing with light") is a person who makes photographs. Duties and types of photographers As in other ...

writer A writer is a person who uses written words in different writing styles and techniques to communicate ideas. Writers produce different forms of literary art and creative writing such as novels, short stories, books, poetry, travelogues, pla ...

s, and

artist An artist is a person engaged in an activity related to creating art, practicing the arts, or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse refers to a practitioner in the visual arts only. However, t ...

s.
Photographers We Represent
' It acts as the photographers representative to market,

license A license (or licence) is an official permission or permit to do, use, or own something (as well as the document of that permission or permit). A license is granted by a party (licensor) to another party (licensee) as an element of an agreeme ...

, and promote commercial and editorial assignment work. The National Geographic Image Collection generates ancillary income for the photographers, illustrators, and/or writers and collects a commission on all sales. The National Geographic Image Collection represents photographers, artists, and writers who have signed a contract allowing the National Geographic Image Collection to act as their agent, or whose material was created while they were on staff at NGS. The National Geographic Society does not solicit images from photographers. Most photographic work is assigned by editors to staff and freelance photographers with years of experience in

photojournalism Photojournalism is journalism that uses images to tell a news story. It usually only refers to still images, but can also refer to video used in broadcast journalism. Photojournalism is distinguished from other close branches of photography (suc ...

. Clients include in-house NGS users and outside clients requiring images for a variety of editorial and commercial uses. Sales executives and researchers provide research, dupes or digital files, clear rights, and pay photographers.

References

{{National Geographic Photographic collections and books Stock photography Photo archives in the United States National Geographic Society