I have been becoming increasingly disenchanted with Getty for some time and this $49 'promotion' is the final straw. I find it truly insulting that I might receive approx £12.50 per image sold. I do not want to be associated with a company who would sell off my work in such a cheap and crass manner.

This is not what I got into photography for and I know I am not alone...every other photographer I have spoken to, including many of their major contributors, feels the same way.

I shall no longer submit images to Getty and will withdraw my existing collection at the soonest opportunity.

I deplore what Getty are doing and have done to their contributing photographers. I deplore also what they have done to their staff, most of whom enjoyed good working relationships with their photographers. I have seen all the friends I have made at Getty over the years leave or be made jobless.

I fully support any action direct or indirect, which may provoke a dialogue with Getty or their representative.

I feel this whole Getty saga is deplorable. Their desperate scramble to placate shareholders is detrimental to the whole industry and this makes me question whether public ownership is the best business model for our industry.

My Getty image sales pay my mortgage. Their move will cut heavily into this revenue and as a result, I feel that I'll now have place future images with another stock image provider that has more respect for its photographers.

We are facing a crisis that could have long term repercussions to be felt worldwide throughout the photographic industry. During the 1980's some of us will remember the AOP facing up to the print unions when they set their sights on placing control over our industry.

We now face a situation of possible similar proportions. If the Getty initiative of the $49 web images is placed across all brands to include RM, other stock agencies may decide to follow in order to compete and the whole devaluation process could snowball throughout the stock industry.

This will certainly cheapen the work of photographers working on smaller numbers of higher value images.  Will clients want to buy exclusive and possibly lucrative print licenses if they have seen the value of an image diluted by $49 dollar web sales?

Perhaps Getty's clients, who obviously include advertising agencies and designers, should think about this too.  Apart from photographers, art directors and art buyers are involved in creating images too.

What am I going to do about it?  Perhaps it's time to re-evaluate my loyalties.

$49 for a digital media license is an affront to the time, funding and energy that goes into producing a high quality creative photograph.

I am not prepared to have my work devalued this way.

Additionally, negotiating for a fair digital media fee on commissioned work may become a real sticking point. I work with several agencies that also license stock from Getty. The disparate pricing this new Getty 'product' introduces will confuse the market at every level.

I am terminating my contract with Getty Images, and I would like to ask other GI photographers to examine this situation carefully and then respond appropriately.