American Society of Magazine Photographers
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| Motto | "Photographers Helping Photographers" |
|---|---|
| Formation | 1944 |
| Type | professional association |
| Headquarters | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania |
| Location | |
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Membership
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7,000 |
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Official language
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English |
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President
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Jenna Close |
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Key people
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Thomas R. Kennedy, Executive Director |
| Mission | "To create sustainable information, advocacy and communication systems designed to empower and educate still and motion photographers, and associated imaging professionals." |
| Website | asmp.org |
The American Society of Media Photographers, abbreviated ASMP, is a trade association of imaging professionals, including photojournalists, architectural, underwater, food/culinary and advertising photographers as well as video/film makers and other specialists. Its members are primarily those who create images for publications, though many cross over into wedding and portrait photography.
ASMP advocates for photographers' legal rights, supports information-sharing among members, and provides business and technical information. Much of the material is freely available to the public. For instance, it offers a web tutorial on registering copyrights, and on model releases and property releases. It also helps users of images find qualified photographers for project assignments ("Find a Photographer") and helps photographers find qualified assistants ("Find an Assistant.")
The ASMP has nearly than 7,000 members in over 30 countries.
In the fall of 1944, some two dozen New York photographers formed the Society of Magazine Photographers or SMP. Within a few months, though, they had to change the name to American Society of Magazine Photographers because the acronym SMP was already being used by another organization. (In 1992, recognizing that it had grown far beyond the borders of the magazine industry, the Society adopted its current name.) Their goal was to address their common problems: lack of credit lines, unauthorized reproduction of images, and uncredited copying of photographs by illustrators and artists. They also hoped to raise their rates of pay.
In the early years, a majority within the Society held the opinion that ASMP should be a labor union and bargain collectively for wages and working conditions. However, this was far from unanimous. A substantial minority wanted nothing to do with unions and saw ASMP as a professional guild along the lines of the American Bar Association or American Medical Association. During the 1950s, the issue was the cause of frequent schisms and mass resignations. The issue was laid to rest by a 1976 ruling of the National Labor Relations Board, which determined that ASMP was a group of independent contractors and, thus, ineligible to be a union.
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Wikipedia