ABSTRACT
In societies dominated by modern conditions of production, life is presented as an immense accumulation of spectacles. Everything that was directly lived has receded into a representation. Paparazzi photography is also often a play between the celebrity and the photographer, with celebrities using photographers at particular moments to construct their image. In the glossy world of magazine culture and the proliferation of lifestyle blogs and sites on the web, there is another vast area of photography, which does not mark the existence of an event and does not constitute advertising – creative stock photography. Getty inform photographers of the kinds of images that they are looking for and are clearly interested in being ‘a leading force in building the world’s visual language’ as their promotional material asserts. The terms and concepts around which Getty archives can be searched privilege consumer relations.
