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123RF advises to talk to plants while in confinement

Hello all. So only a few hours after Shutterstock’s letter to the community with regards to coronavirus, 123RF- Inmagine Group decided to speak up as well. It was about time, given that the group’s HQ is in Malaysia where lots of cases are spawning. 
Shutterstock and 123RF chose different approaches. While SSTK’s letter was signed by the COO, 123 had Stephanie Sitt sign their email. Stephanie is now the CEO but she’s also the wife of the company’s founder, Andy Sitt, and has always been extremely involved in high decisions. 123RF went for a less professional and more friendly style in its email to the contributors and clients. They also showed a very cute illustration of suggested activities we can do while we’re stuck at home. I particularly like the ‘talk to your plants’ recommendation as it is something I’ve been doing even before the epidemic. 

Here is the full letter:

Dear friends and customers,

In light of the continuing spread of COVID-19 in the past few months, INMAGINE Group has stepped up measures to safeguard our staff at our offices around the world, while simultaneously ensuring that our products and services continue to be delivered efficiently to you.

At 123RF, we prioritize the safety of both our employees and clients. With that said, we wish you, your colleagues, family, and friends well during this crisis, and ask that you take extra precautions to be safe and stay healthy. By doing so, we can help minimize the spread together!

If you’re practising social distancing and working from home (like us) here are some suggestions of what you can do at home from our colleagues at Designs.AI.

 

We’re still here when you need us!

As the virus continues to ravage economies and communities, all of us have to change the way we work and socialize, just to be safe and stave off the threat. Amidst these challenging times, please rest assured that we will continue to deliver the highest level of quality service to you.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to reach out to your relevant, dedicated Account Manager. You may also reach out to us on our support pages or Live Chat or email us at info@123rf.com. If you’d like to call instead, here’s our complete toll free and local number directory for your convenience.

As always, we value your presence and look forward to continuously supporting you in making your business successful.

Together we shall prevail, be safe out there!

Stephanie Sitt
Group Chief Executive Officer
Inmagine Group

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Shutterstock reassures contributors with this letter

Hello all,

I just wanted to share this email I just received from Shutterstock.

Seems like the cool attitude the U.S. had towards COVID-19 is changing drastically. Anyhow, I find it nice that Shutterstock thought of sending us this letter. So far, I haven’t received anything from Adobe Stock or 123RF….

(If you want to join Shutterstock, just click here )

Dear Shutterstock Community,

As the coronavirus (COVID-19) situation develops, all of our lives will undoubtedly be affected. Families, communities, and businesses are navigating a truly unprecedented global event. In this time of crisis, we know our role is to not only help you continue to operate, but also to help you adapt to your changing reality.

I’m reaching out with an update from the Shutterstock team to reassure you that we are working tirelessly to keep our employee and contributor community safe while at the same time continuing to serve you.

Nothing is more important than the health and safety of our community, beginning with our employees. Following the recommendations of governments and public health experts, we have restricted travel and transitioned to fully remote work in every one of our global offices so that our staff can work safely from their homes and continue to support you without disruption.

We are also encouraging safe practices for our contributors. This community of over 1 million artists around the world remains the heartbeat of our organization. We want each and every one of them to stay safe, follow the latest guidance from global and national health organizations and remember that no content is worth putting themselves or others at risk.

Businesses all over the world will have to evolve to accommodate this fluid situation. We have already seen some industries grind to a halt, while others will be forever altered. We understand that budgets, timelines, and projects will be revised as you pivot strategy, and we want to reassure you that we will continue to support each of you as your needs change.

As people everywhere seek to understand this changing landscape, we are committed to providing tools and resources to help our customers and contributors navigate this challenge. Here are a few ways we are already doing that:
• For those who might be expanding their business online in these uncertain times, we’re offering this curated image collection free of charge
• For those who are telling the story of the outbreak as it unfolds, our Editorial collection is being updated constantly with high-quality images
• For anyone who is creating or licensing content from Shutterstock, we’re continuing to share helpful guidelines about how to best represent this unprecedented situation

We value your support as we all face these challenges together. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to reach out to support@shutterstock.com. Additionally, if you are aware of other ways in which we can help others with our technology, please let us know.

Stay healthy and safe,

Stan Pavlovsky
President and COO of Shutterstock

If you want to join Shutterstock, just click here 

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Let’s fight Coronavirus despair with creativity…indoors!

Hi everybody. As these difficult times overwhelm our days, let us try to stay positive. Negativity, fear and despair undermine our creative power but we must fight! 

If you are, like I am, in a country where you are urged to stay home or, like my family and friends, in lock-down, get on with creative projects and fight depression and boredom with your talent. After all, you can do it safely indoors. 

This is a good time to catch up with stock photography, video, illustration and audio.

If you are not yet a contributor, quarantine is a good occasion to give it a shot. Prep up your work and upload it from the safety of your home. You will make some money too. Due to the confinements, internet entertainment is booming, as people need information, distraction, leisure and fun without going out. Hence, content is highly needed at this moment. Naturally, creations depicting everything revolving around the disease are selling like crazy but you don’t need to focus on corona if you don’t wish to. There’s plenty of material being published online right now that aims at ‘distracting’ people from our current plague. So go for it!

Join me on Shutterstock 

Perhaps you’ll be thinking that staying at home limits your creative possibilities. Wrong!

Let that creative juice out and you’ll see there are a lot of interesting shots to be made in your house. You can improve your table-top photography skills. Have plants on your balcony? Learn how to shoot them properly. Or get cooking and then photograph your dishes. If you are confined with your clan, set up a family home life shooting…. 

Time goes by slowly when you stay home for days. Take advantage and learn some new skills or software.

Get started with new types of art or learn new creative software. It’ll help with boredom, make time pass and very likely it’ll be useful in the future! This situation will appease eventually. Human history is full of diseases. Our ancestors have suffered from epidemics but humanity has survived. We will too. 

 

Stay safe, respect the quarantine rules, don’t over watch the news.

And keep creating! 

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