Flickr strikes deal with Getty

Photo-sharing site Flickr has inked a deal with photo syndication service Getty Images to sell user photos.

The service will allow users to have their photos sold to publications from a special Flickr collection page on the Getty Images web site. Publications will then be able to purchase the images from Getty, who will in turn pay the Flickt user who submitted the image.

"This partnership is testimony to the Flickr community of photographers who have influenced the aesthetics of photography with authentic, creative and cutting-edge images which will now be available to Getty Images' customers around the world," said Flickr general manager Kakul Srivastava.

Getty said that it will be selecting certain Flickr users for the program in the coming months. The company hopes to have several thousand images up within the next several months.

The company hopes that the addition of Flickr user photos to the service will allow its customers to get images that will often elude professional photographers.

"Sometimes the most amazing imagery is more about moments in time and place than it is about technical expertise," wrote Andy Saunders, vice president of creative imagery for Getty Images.

"This partnership gives our clients access to thousands of these moments."