In record numbers, professional photographers show support of PhotoShelter as their trusted online archive and marketplace

NEW YORK, N.Y., MAY 8, 2007 - PhotoShelter® ( http://www.photoshelter.com ), a leading online archive and marketplace for professional photographers, today announced that more than 8,000 photographers have subscribed for PhotoShelter accounts to store and sell their images online. This milestone reinforces PhotoShelter's position as the photographer's choice for online storage and sales.

Since launching in mid-2005, PhotoShelter has offered professional photographers a truly affordable and robust archive system, along with the tools and resources needed to turn their image storage into sales. For image buyers, PhotoShelter provides powerful search capabilities and unassisted image purchase and download, saving precious time. PhotoShelter's field-proven and fully-functional marketplace supports all three major image sale types including print, royalty-free, and rights-managed.

"We are very proud to have reached this milestone in such a short time," said Grover Sanschagrin, vice president, PhotoShelter. "As it exists today, PhotoShelter and its capabilities are not just the result of our own ideas, but those of the professional photography community as well. We've solicited and incorporated feedback from as many different photography sources as we could find and we are providing a system that genuinely improves business and workflow for photographers and photo buyers. The outcome of these grassroots efforts have led to unprecedented growth in data uploads, averaging 2.5 TB per week and climbing, as well as a boost in membership of more than 500 new accounts per week. As photographers ourselves, we are looking forward to offering new products and services over the coming months that we are confident will be very well received by the photo community."

In addition to this milestone, PhotoShelter has also confirmed that earlier this month they received funding from General Catalyst Partners, a venture capital firm that invests in technology-based companies that will lead innovation and transform industries.

"We've been very pleased with the growth of our community over the last two years, and the positive reaction that we've received from our client photographers," said Allen Murabayashi, CEO of PhotoShelter. "The investment by General Catalyst in PhotoShelter reinforces our belief that our technology will benefit photographers and buyers, and change the professional photography landscape."

Photographers now have more direct control over the pricing of their images through PhotoShelter's rights-managed pricing module powered by fotoQuote�, the industry standard price guide for stock and assignment photography. The integration of fotoQuote pricing data enables photographers to eliminate delays in negotiation, allowing photographers and photo buyers, to truly realize the benefits of an online marketplace.

PhotoShelter's mirrored data-centers on the East and West coast employ RAID (Redundant Array of Independent Disks) technology, providing disaster-proof storage that is both locally and geographically redundant. The system allows for 24-hour online accessibility, while simultaneously serving as a sales platform that enables photographers to create galleries, determine fair market value, sell images, add search capabilities to personal sites and create RSS syndication feeds.

"The PhotoShelter team brings together the best of technology with photography. They are photographers themselves so they're always thinking about how to make it better and they have the skills to make it happen," explained Bill Frakes, Sports Illustrated staff photographer and PhotoShelter subscriber. "My most valuable images are backed up by PhotoShelter and it's with confidence that I trust them with my livelihood."

PhotoShelter offers a free starter account and a PhotoShelter standard account is only $9.99 per month. Additional account sizes are available and no annual contract is required. PhotoShelter also offers one terabyte of redundant storage at a cost of $1,000 per year to all Standard and Professional PhotoShelter account subscribers. The offer is designed for professional photographers who are regularly required to store their archives in a secure environment that is accessible anywhere they travel. With PhotoShelter's redundant storage system, professional photographers are actually receiving two terabytes of storage space - extra protection at no extra cost.

About PhotoShelter
PhotoShelter is the ultimate workflow solution for professional photographers. Combining industry-leading distribution and sales tools with a redundant, disaster-proof image archiving solution, PhotoShelter is the only system suitable for the world's most important images. PhotoShelter empowers individual photographers by providing a comprehensive online archive and marketplace. More top photographers choose PhotoShelter to handle their images than any other online system. For more information on PhotoShelter, go to http://www.PhotoShelter.com/ .