EPA Images , European Pressphoto Agency B.V. (EPA Images) is an international news

photo agency 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, ...

. Images from all parts of the world covering news, politics, sports, business, finance as well as arts, culture and entertainment are provided by a global network of over 400 professional

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 ...

s and included in the EPA Images service. The EPA Images picture and video service is based both on the broad network of EPA's staff photographers all over the world and on the daily production of its member agencies, which are all market leaders in their respective countries. All photos are edited and distributed to clients and partners worldwide by the editorial headquarters in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, which is staffed 24 hours daily.

The EPA Images service

EPA built up a reputation for reliable, independent and unique photo coverage. The international picture service of epa is used by diverse

media Media may refer to: Communication * Media (communication), tools used to deliver information or data ** Advertising media, various media, content, buying and placement for advertising ** Broadcast media, communications delivered over mass e ...

as well as EPA's partners and shareholders worldwide. At present epa's editorial service offers approximately 2,200 new images on an average day. The service includes photographs in the areas of news, sports, arts, culture and entertainment, economy, human interest, and science.

The EPA Images archive

The epa photo archive dates back to 1997 and has over ten million images on stock, the majority of which can be accessed online.

History

EPA Images was founded in 1985 by seven European

news agencies A news agency is an organization that gathers news reports and sells them to subscribing news organizations, such as newspapers, magazines and radio and television broadcasters. A news agency may also be referred to as a wire service, newswire, ...

. The agencies, AFP of France, ANP of the Netherlands,

ANOP The Lusa News Agency ( pt, Lusa – Agência de Notícias de Portugal, SA; ) is the largest news agency in Portugal, as well as the largest news agency in the Portuguese language, incorporated on 28 November 1986 under the name of ''Agência Lus ...

(now Lusa) of Portugal,

ANSA Ansa (Latin for "handle") or ANSA may refer to: Organizations * Agenzia Nazionale Stampa Associata, Italian news agency ** Ansa Mediterranean or ANSAmed, section of the above * Applied Neuroscience Society of Australasia * Association of Norw ...

of Italy, Belga of Belgium, dpa of Germany and

EFE Agencia EFE, S.A. () is a Spanish international news agency, the major multimedia news agency in Spanish language and the world's fourth largest wire service after the Associated Press, Reuters, and Agence France-Presse. EFE was created in 1939 ...

of Spain were motivated by what they saw as a lack of alternatives to the Anglo-Saxon picture services offered at the time. Originally conceived as a vehicle to exchange pictures of the member agencies' domestic service; it also included the world service of AFP and other European services and suppliers. It expanded to a more independent entity as Eastern Europe opened up. The opening of these new markets, along with the war in the former Yugoslavia, led epa to employ its own photographers in those regions. Despite these developments, epa remained under the auspices of their member/owners whom it exclusively served.

EPA shareholders and EPA going global

By 1995 EPA Images had ten members with the additions of Keystone later in 1985, APA of Austria in 1986, and Lehtikuva of Finland in 1987. Pressensbild of Sweden joined in 1997 followed by Scanfoto (later Scanpix Norway) of Norway and Nordfoto (later Scanpix Denmark) of Denmark in 1999. pap of Poland joined epa in 2001. In early 2003 after extensive restructuring and the departure of AFP, epa successfully made its service available to the worldwide market. Later in 2003 Lehtikuva, Scanpix Denmark/Norway and Pressensbild (later Scanpix Sweden) decided not to continue as a shareholder of epa. However, Scanpix Norway, Sweden and Denmark continued cooperation with epa under the name of

Scanpix Scanpix Scandinavia is a stock photography agency. It is the leading distributor of photographic services in Scandinavia, and has independent branches in Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Estonia. Scanpix provides daily news services to subscribing ne ...

Scandinavia. ANA of Greece (now

ANA-MPA The Athens-Macedonian News Agency (AMNA) ( el, Αθηναϊκό-Μακεδονικό Πρακτορείο Ειδήσεων, ΑΜΠΕ) is a Greece-based news agency. It is a public entity anonymous company. It was founded in 2008 as the Athens Ne ...

) joined epa as a shareholder in 2004 followed by mti of Hungary in 2005. Today epa has nine shareholders, all being market leaders in their respective countries: * Athens News Agency-Macedonian Press Agency (

) in Greece *

Algemeen Nederlands Persbureau The Algemeen Nederlands Persbureau BV (ANP) is the largest news agency in the Netherlands. ANP was founded on 11 December 1934 by the association of Dutch newspapers (NDP). The news agency's founders sought to produce a fast, fair and accurat ...

(ANP) in the Netherlands * Agenzia Nazionale Stampa Associata (ANSA) in Italy * Austria Presse Agentur (APA) in Austria * Agencia

in Spain * Keystone in Switzerland * Lusa – Agência de Notícias de Portugal in Portugal *

Magyar Távirati Iroda MTI (''Magyar Távirati Iroda'', literally "Hungarian Telegraphic Office") is a Hungarian news agency. One of the oldest news agencies in the world, it was founded in 1880. MTI was owned by MTI Rt., founded by the Parliament. The members of th ...

(mti) in Hungary *

Polska Agencja Prasowa The Polish Press Agency ( pl, Polska Agencja Prasowa, PAP) is Poland's national news agency, producing and distributing political, economic, social, and cultural news as well as events information. The agency has 14 news desks in its headquarters ...

(pap) in Poland

Photojournalists

Lucas Dolega, an EPA Images photojournalist, was the first journalist to have been killed during the

2010-2011 Tunisian protests The Tunisian Revolution, also called the Jasmine Revolution, was an intensive 28-day campaign of civil resistance. It included a series of street demonstrations which took place in Tunisia, and led to the ousting of longtime president Zine El ...

and the first journalist to have died during the

Arab Spring The Arab Spring ( ar, الربيع العربي) was a series of anti-government protests, uprisings and armed rebellions that spread across much of the Arab world in the early 2010s. It began in Tunisia in response to corruption and econo ...

uprisings."French photographer dies after being hit by police teargas canister in Tunisia", ''The Guardian,'' 16 January 2011. Retrieved 23 January 201
The Guardian

References

External links

EPA Images

Athens News Agency-Macedonian Press Agency (ANA-MPA)

Algemeen Nederlands Persbureau (ANP)

Agenzia Nazionale Stampa Associata (ANSA)

Austria Presse Agentur (APA)

Agencia EFE

Keystone

Lusa

Magyar Távirati Iroda (mti)

Polska Agencja Prasowa (pap)
{{Authority control Companies based in Frankfurt Mass media in Frankfurt News agencies based in Germany Mass media companies established in 1985 1985 establishments in West Germany Photo archives in Germany Photography companies of Germany Photo agencies Stock photography