Samfoto
Samfoto Picture Agency was a photographer-run Norwegian photography agency established in 1976. In 2011 it was bought by NTB Scanpix. Samfoto was photographer-run and primarily sold stock photographs to Norwegian media.[1]
Samfoto represented a large number of Norwegian and Scandinavian freelance photographers, and its archive includes more than 300 000 images.[2]
History
Samfoto was founded by six photographers in 1976, inspired by the photo cooperative Magnum Photos,[3] and based on the philosophy of a picture agency run by photographers.[4] Among the six were Per-Anders Rosenkvist, Sven Erik Dahl, Rune Lislerud and Geir Bølstand, who met in Studentenes fotoklubb (The Students' Photo Club) at the University of Oslo and founded Fotogruppe 72 together.[4] Several of the photographers were left-wing political activists, and they documented demonstrations, house occupations and society from a political point of view.[4] According to Rosenkvist, this led to Samfoto's phone line and "all" the photographers being surveilled.[4]
Approximately 100 Norwegian photographers joined Samfoto in the eighties and nineties. In 1988 the association Norwegian Nature Photographers began collaborating with the agency. In 1989 four of the photographers in the women's photography association Hera joined Samfoto to have better support in distributing and selling their photographs.[5]
In the years 2000 – 2001 distribution of pictures from the archive was changed from physical to digital and the Samfoto archive was launched on the Internet. The transition from analogue to digital images was challenging, and for a period they had to produce digital files, slides and print copies of photos.[3] By their 30th anniversary, in 2006, a hundred photographers were affiliated with the service.
Legacy
In 2011 Samfoto was purchased by Scanpix, a company that is owned by the Norwegian News Agency (NTB).[6] At the time, NTB said that Samfoto would continue to use its own name and had a separate archive,[6] but as of 2025 it no longer exists as a separate entity.
The Norwegian media still frequently publishes stock photos that are copyrighted to Samfoto. As of 2025, Samfoto's archives are searchable at NTB Bilder by using the search term "Samfoto".[7]
References
- ↑ "Samfoto (Fotograffirma)". digitaltmuseum.org. Retrieved 2025-12-31.
- ↑ Garvik, Olav (2025-03-19), "Samfoto AS", Store norske leksikon (in norsk), retrieved 2025-12-31
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Geard, Kathrine (2006-09-11). "Samfoto er 30 år: – En prestasjon". Journalisten (in norsk bokmål). Retrieved 2025-12-31.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 Løberg, Morten (2013). Fotografi mellom fiksjon og virkelighet [Photography Between Fiction and Reality] (in norsk). Oslo: Fotografisk forlag. p. 8. ISBN 9788299916417. Search this book on
- ↑ Moen, Sølvi Bennett (2021-03-23). "Kvinnelige pressefotografer i arbeiderpressen". Arbeiderhistorie. 25 (1): 179–198. doi:10.18261/issn.2387-5879-2021-01-11. ISSN 0801-7778.
I Samfoto inngikk Møller i et helt miljø av ca. 100 fotografer som hadde flere samlinger i året hvor de viste hverandre bilder og diskuterte fotografi, og hun sier selv at hun muligens ikke hadde kommet inn i Samfoto uten å være en del av «Hera»
Unknown parameter|trans-quote=ignored (help) - ↑ 6.0 6.1 "Scanpix overtar Samfoto". Journalisten (in norsk bokmål). 2011-07-01. Retrieved 2025-12-31.
- ↑ "NTB Bilder og video". bilder.ntb.no. Retrieved 2025-12-31.
External links
- Searchable archive of stock photos from Samfoto at NTB Bilder.
- Archived website Samfoto.com (Wayback Machine Feb 8 2011)
- Info page for Samfoto at DigitaltMuseum
- Norske Naturfotografer Archived 2010-08-14 at the Wayback Machine (Norwegian Nature Photographers)
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