Photographers establish cooperative to lead photo agency laif into independence.
In mid-April 2022, twenty-two photographers from the renowned photo agency laif launched the ‘laif Genossenschaft’ (laif cooperative) to return ownership of the agency, which was sold to ‘ddp media GmbH’ by the former laif shareholders in 2015, to the photographers. The project and a corresponding purchase offer from the ‘laif Genossenschaft eG iG’ have already been submitted to ddp, and both have been received positively there.
The aim of this initiative is to use the ‘laif Genossenschaft der Fotograf:innen’ to secure and promote the laif brand as an institution for the preservation and promotion of independent photojournalism, high-quality photography and press diversity.
For over 40 years, laif photographers have been documenting the world in pictures: personal, empathetic, unfiltered and unmistakable. Together with the agency’s international network, they make an important journalistic and photographic contribution to describing the world and commenting on our present.
To ensure that this remains the case, the ‘laif Genossenschaft’ project was launched. This step is intended to enable the laif photo agency to remain a premium brand now and, above all, in the long term, and to give photographers control over the use and remuneration of their images.
The agency laif – Agentur für Photos und Reportagen GmbH and its team will remain in place with the possible purchase by the cooperative. The ‘laif Genossenschaft eG iG’ will merely act as the owner. The photographers represented by the agency can support this initiative and become members of the cooperative, but are not obliged to do so – just as anyone who becomes a member of the cooperative will not automatically be represented by laif as a photo agency. At the same time, sponsors who are not directly affiliated with the agency can also support the cooperative’s initiative for independent photojournalism by becoming members of the cooperative.
Photography with attitude – that is how more than 400 laif photographers worldwide see themselves. Numerous awards, including World Press Photo Awards and Pulitzer Prizes, attest to the quality and experience of these photographers. More than 40 international partners, not least the publishing syndicate of the New York Times and the Société du Figaro, place their trust in laif today.
Become a member of the laif cooperative – our photographs are worth it.
