Getty Images has been purchased by private equity firm Hellman & Friedman in a transaction valued at approximately $2.4 billion. Getty Images stockholders will receive $34.00 in cash for each outstanding share of common stock they own. Completion of the transaction is subject to shareholder approval and other customary closing conditions. Andy Ballard, managing director of Hellman & Friedman, said, “Getty Images is the leader and pioneer in the visual content and digital media business. We believe in the vision and execution capabilities of Jonathan Klein and his team, and share their commitment to the Company’s stakeholders and customers.”

The 2pad private online photo and video gallery has just launched. 2pad provides the most user-friendly approach to managing and exchanging media, and you can control who can view your gallery. Every time a photo or video is sent to [email protected]. it will be added to your private gallery. 2pad was created to counter the trend of excessive public media sharing online.

PhotoReflect.com, a photography storefront hosting and e-commerce site, has expanded into the UK. PhotoReflect.com is the largest professional photographer Internet storefront in North America, with over 28,000 professional photographer customers. UK photographers can now create internet business storefronts that will sell photos to their clients 24/7. “PhotoReflect.com is a necessary and powerful tool for all professional photographers who want to take their business to the next level in the Internet age,” said Graham McFarland, Founder and CEO of ExpressDigital.

The Shutterfly Gallery is a new community platform for sharing and connecting with others. “Shutterfly Gallery adds the power of social networking to our vibrant community and marks the next great chapter in establishing Shutterfly as the industry leader in storytelling,” said Jeffrey Housenbold, president and chief executive officer of Shutterfly. To learn more about the Shutterfly Gallery, visit http://community.shutterfly.com

Wild Wonders of Europe is the continent’s largest ever photography project. Spanning at least 5 years, the Wild Wonders of Europe project will consist of a cutting-edge web site, outdoor exhibitions, books, audiovisual picture shows, TV-series, photo competitions, and events all across Europe. “It is clear that presently, a majority of Europeans are becoming increasingly alienated from nature. Wild Wonders of Europe aims to reverse this trend. We want to touch people’s emotions, excite them about nature, make it cool. We want to re-connect people with our natural heritage…our spiritual home,” says Peter Cairns, photographer and writer from Britain, Business Director of Wild Wonders of Europe.

Endless Years is a new website aimed at “Baby Boomers” and their families. It features instruction, advice and ideas to help them access, master and enjoy today’s digital photography. Learning to “go digital” is simplified through a series of graduated tutorials delivered in engaging, attention-holding formats – such as screencasts and podcasts. “I see a lot of people who are at a stage in their lives when they have the time, the wherewithal and the interest to get into digital photography. But they don’t because they think all the new imaging technologies are too difficult,” said Elmo Sapwater, the Editor and Publisher of Endless Years.  “But they don’t have to be.”

Feel like getting back to basics? Well, how about taking part in Worldwide Pinhole Photography Day - you can’t get much more basic than using a simple pinhole camera to create a work of art. Worldwide Pinhole Photography Day is an international event created to promote and celebrate the art of pinhole photography. This year’s event takes place on April 27th, giving you plenty of time to practice your technique.

Website: Worldwide Pinhole Photography Day

Swiss Picture Bank is the first permanent, guaranteed online archive for digital photos. Every photo uploaded to the Swiss Picture Bank is encrypted, secured on redundant servers in data centers throughout Switzerland and backed by the Picture Guarantee Foundation (PGF). With Photobot Guardian, Swiss Picture Bank’s free photo-archiving software available to every user, every photo is automatically copied to your account for you. “Our irreplaceable memories are no longer prints that can be stored in a shoebox; they are computer files that can be lost in a second. That’s why we partnered with the data professionals at Swisscom to create Swiss Picture Bank – to give consumers an online savings account that will protect their most treasured memories against everything from accidental deletion to hardware failure to natural disasters.” says James Graham, partner at Tribeca Labs, Swiss Picture Bank’s parent company.

Kodak Gallery’s 60 million members can now showcase their Gallery photos on their favorite social networks. Kodak has teamed up with Slide to allow member to turn their Gallery photos into portable slideshows with music. “We partnered with Slide because they’re pioneers in turning photos into tools for self expression and storytelling on social networks. We’re very excited that we can extend all the great sharing benefits of the Gallery to include this new product.” said Madhav Mehra, chief operating officer and vice president of product marketing and management, KODAK Gallery. The co-branded service, located at www.slide.com/kodakgallery, is the first phase of a deeper Slideshow product integration.

The new PicApp platform provides millions of copyrighted images from Getty Images to bloggers and other online publishers, completely free of charge. Based on proprietary, patent-pending technology, PicApp allows online publishers to select copyrighted imagery from PicApp content partners and post them in seconds to their web site or blog to illustrate their comments. Images streamed from PicApp’s partners carry non-intrusive advertisements related to the content. “By offering the breadth of content that Getty Images provides, we are making a huge amount of new material accessible to online publishers,” said Eyal Gura, CEO, PicScout. Interested bloggers can contact PicApp (www.picapp.com) about participating in the closed beta trial.

The latest round of Kingston’s “Critique My Image” series has just been published. This part of Kingston’s ‘Icons of Photography’ microsite allows you to have your images reviewed by some of the best photographers in the world. “The continued positive response demonstrates the benefits of the Icons program educating consumers on Kingston Flash memory. The Icons have said sharing so much of their knowledge and experience with digital photographers of all levels is tremendously rewarding.” said Jaja Lin, Flash product marketing manager, Kingston.

PicMarkr is a new web application lets users add custom watermarks to their photos for free. You can either upload images from your computer or grab them from a Flickr account. Users can then download the watermarked images or upload them to their Flickr account. There is also an optional feature for resizing images to some of the most popular sizes by width. You can try out the watermarking service for free at http://picmarkr.com .

PicWash is a new photo-enhancement web service that delivers professional retouching to the masses. From as little as $7 per photo, you and your pictures will look better than ever, with photos returned in 48 hours via e-mail. The first product, PicWash, is $7 and focuses on the most requested touch ups. The second product, PicWash with Note, is $10 and gives the user more control over the touch-up.

Four by six-inch digital prints through HP’s Snapfish service now cost just 9 cents each. In addition, prices for pre-paid prints are as low as 8 cents each. Either option provides more than 50 percent savings compared to those of other photo-sharing sites. “The best value in photography just got better as we’re now offering our 45 million members prints for mere pennies,” said Ben Nelson, vice president and general manager, Snapfish by HP.

KoffeePhoto and Tokyo based JetGraph have joined forces to launch KoffeePhoto in Japan. KoffeePhoto is a free and unlimited online photo sharing solution. KoffeePhoto Japan will include all KoffeePhoto free and unlimited online photo sharing solution and local photo organizing software features. “With a preview of KoffeePhoto already available into Japanese, our exclusive partnership with JetGraph will help us reaching a consequent market share in Japan while providing our japanese users with a far better user experience thanks to local print services and local support.” commented Gilles Pommereuil, President of KoffeeWare, editor of KoffeePhoto. KoffeePhoto Japan is planned to start in March 2008.

Take the pressure off Christmas shopping this year by selecting a personalised hand printed photograph from the Getty Images Gallery. With over 40 million images to choose from, the Getty Images Gallery offers access to some of the greatest collections of photography in the world. Hand-printed from the original negative by a specialised in-house darkroom team, each photograph is produced to the customer’s specific requirements. Prices start from as little as £65 for a 10x8 inch resin photograph and go up to a 40x60 inch premium fibre, luxury limited editions for £875.

JAlbum 7.4 makes it easier for users to share their albums and features a redesigned user interface. Other new features include password protecting albums hosted on myjalbum.net, support for Windows Vista and a sharing function. JAlbum have also announced a partnership with Bagsnatcher, a European company which prints your images on a variety of fabric products.

RocketLife.com revolutionizes the way that consumers create all types of personal photo products online. It puts an end to the frustration of creating photo products online by instantly creating artistic designs and collages in a matter of seconds. “By the time other photo web sites have uploaded just a few of your photos, RocketLife.com has already created every item in the catalog, including a stunning photo book, ready to order.  The beautiful pages filled with your photos are professionally laid-out with dramatic themes and graphics, saving hours and hours of your valuable time,” said Michael Moore, CEO of Visan. RocketLife.com software can be downloaded for free.

Australian website Buy-n-Shoot.com has just relaunched with a completely new design. Buy-n-Shoot.com is Australia’s best value photography news, camera reviews and photography classified service. The new site now offers its 60,000+ visitors per month, sponsors and classified advertisers significant new functionality and exposure. The official launch date is Monday 3rd December 2007.

The ethical photo library Majority World is celebrating the first anniversary of its formal organisation. Majority World was formed to promote professional photographers in Asia, Africa and Latin America. Traditionally, publishers, agencies and others in the west requiring images from the developing, or majority, world regions have dispatched their own photographers rather than use the indigenous talent. This is the trend which Majority World seeks to change. Majority World has recently seen its photo library pass the 10,000 images mark.