Top articles from the Dead Pixels Society in 2022

The Dead Pixels Society had another big year, covering all of the photo/imaging industry news. 2022 was another busy year; here are the top stories.

Collage.com shuts down

Collage.com, the highly-regarded consumer photo gifting site, shut down abruptly last week. The abrupt closure was the subject of quite a bit of cocktail-party talk at the Visual 1st conference, which was going on when the news was made public. The timing seemed curious, as the lucrative fourth quarter is just around the corner. According to the Collage.com profile on Crunchbase, the site’s revenues were nearly $40 million prior to its acquisition.

Shutterfly saying goodbye to free storage for non-paying customers

Personalized product leader Shutterfly is notifying lagging customers that, due to an upcoming change in its 2023 Terms of Service, there is no longer free lifetime storage unless a purchase is made. The move is consistent with many other photo services, like Google Photos and Shoebox, which ended free unlimited storage of photos.

Lifetouch promoting at-home school photos in Shutterfly app

Lifetouch is promoting the concept of at-home school photos through parent company’s Shutterfly mobile app. The Picture Day Snaps @Home feature provides parents and children with an annual school photo, using Lifetouch backgrounds.

Bloomberg reports insiders claim Shutterfly lost $45-$55 million in 3Q

Bloomberg reports leading photo products retailer Shutterfly LLC released preliminary third-quarter earnings reflecting steeper losses than last year, according to people with knowledge of the private results in the article.

The Apollo Global Management-backed company booked a preliminary loss of $45 million to $55 million before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization, said the source, who asked not to be identified because they weren’t authorized to speak publicly. That compares to a $41 million loss in the same period last year, the people said.

2022 could be a rough year for silver-halide materials

Just as film photography is gaining in popularity among young photographers, the prospect of product shortages and price hikes is putting a damper on expectations. Recently, Fujifilm Imaging Systems Co., Ltd. announced substantial price hikes for photo film, color paper and chemicals, citing “the recent rise in raw material prices, transportation costs, etc., as well as the decline in demand for photographic-related products. We have made every effort to absorb costs by improving production efficiency and reducing costs, but since it is difficult to absorb costs only by corporate efforts, we will implement price revisions with the following contents.

Lifetouch, Shutterfly staff reductions near 800

An all-hands phone conference Thursday, Jan. 21, with Shutterfly CEO Hilary Schneider brought the news of a nearly 800-person staff reduction. According to reports from people on the call, the company’s Lifetouch National School Studios business bore the brunt of the reduction, with 700 positions eliminated