In the second week of this year, officials at Time Inc. announced that the company would be laying off 289 employees, including four staff photographers. That number represents nearly 3 percent of the company's total workforce.

Although the publisher did not disclose the personnel choices at individual magazines, nearly one-third of the lost jobs are reported to be among administrative and business staff, and the rest will encompass editorial and photographic employees at magazines across the company's library. Many of the company's titles have contracts with the Newspaper Guild, which requires that guild members...

The J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles has opened a suite of galleries devoted to photographs, expanding its current photo exhibition space from 1,700 to 7,000 square feet.

The Center for Photographs features a redesigned entrance by Getty Center architect Richard Meier that is approached through a courtyard featuring 20th-century works from the Fran and Ray Stark Sculpture Collection. The sculptures will be unveiled...

Beginning with the fall term, New York's School of Visual Arts will offer a Master of Professional Studies (MPS) in digital photography. The new one-year degree program addresses the technical needs of experienced photographers who wish to advance their skills in digital image capture, management and production.

The required curriculum for the MPS degree comprises nine three-credit courses and a six-credit summer thesis project.

The program will be chaired by Katrin Eismann..

In a campaign to launch its latest European models, automobile manufacturer Ford has chosen the unusual tactic of commissioning brochures that contain no photographs of the vehicles. Instead, the company is using computer-generated images of its cars, produced by 3D technology firm ARTVPS, based in Cambridge, England.

Computer-generated images of vehicles on location...

Getty Images has established a rights-ready licensing program with a simplified pricing structure.

Under the new program, duration and territory rights are unlimited, and use parameters are broadly defined. Eight fixed fees have been set, according to basic commercial, internal-company and editorial-use categories, at levels comparable to corresponding rights-managed, single-use categories. Although image exclusivity is not granted, a total image buyout...

As part of an aggressive growth strategy, OnRequest Images, a provider of custom imagery, recently opened new offices in Los Angeles, San Francisco and Dallas.

Cindy Lee, a creative services director with more than 20 years of experience, has been hired as the senior account executive for the San Francisco office. Michele Fleury, a producer and photographer with more than a decade of experience, will serve as the senior producer in the Los Angeles office. Steve Klekamp, who also has more than 20 years of creative and photography business..

San Francisco's nonprofit photo gallery, SF Camerawork, has expanded and moved to a new location at 657 Mission, in the Yerba Buena Arts District.

The new space will be inaugurated with the opening of "Ghosts in the Machine," which includes "Bells," a performance video installation by Ann Carlson and Mary Ellen Strom which considers the impact of industry on the human body.

Repeat camera buyers soon will play a much bigger role in the growth of the digital still camera market, according to industry analysts at InfoTrends, based in Weymouth, Mass. The report also says the demand for digital SLRs will continue to grow in North America and is expected to peak later this year.

Competition in the photo print market will remain intense, but InfoTrends foresees that the focus will shift from persuading digital camera owners to choose one printing method over another to simply providing customers with more reasons...