Yes that’s right; MerlinOne is doing a couple of photography contests this year specific to different disciplines. The first, to be held in April, is for college and university photographers. The second is for photographers doing work for non-profits and non-governmental-organizations (NGO). The winners will take home a GoPro camera.
Our own Mike Kullen spends his free time photographing birds.
Why are we doing this? Well, part of it is because our business depends somewhat on photography. Without photography, many of our customers would not have a need for a digital asset management system (DAM). It is also because of all the photo-centric people that work at MerlinOne. A significant percentage of MerlinOne employees, starting at the top with CEO David Tenenbaum, have a background in photography or design. Tenenbaum is a former Associated Press photographer and editor. Many of us have photography backgrounds, or we worked for news organizations in other capacities. We all take pride in our own picture making abilities and share the enthusiasm of our colleagues for great photography.
And to be honest, we are doing it to draw attention to our world-class DAM solution, MerlinX. Colleges, universities, non-profits and news organizations have been using Merlin for over 20 years to manage their photo collections. We make it easy for organizations to store their digital stuff and quickly find it when they need it. Merlin manages hundreds of millions of items worldwide. This includes photography and also graphics, audio, video and lots of other types of content.
We are excited to have two world-class judges for our contest: Hal Buell and Claudia DiMartino.
Buell , a veteran news photo executive, author and lecturer, has worked on assignment for The Associated Press in more than 35 countries organizing and managing picture news coverage of national and international events that run the range from national political conventions to Olympic Games. He was in charge of AP’s worldwide staff of some 300 photo personnel for 25 years of his 40 year career.
DiMartino, founder of the Bloomberg News photo service, and former AP photo editor, participates in teaching events and mentors photographers. Recent projects include assisting in the organization of university gallery shows and presentations, doing photo research for books, articles and television programs and reviewing portfolios.
Once the contest is over, visit the MerlinOne website to check out the winners.
While you are on our website, take a look and learn a little bit about digital asset management.