Photochain just announced that they're putting their ICO on hold for 8 weeks, this is so that they can get a fully working alpha platform ready first. You can read the full announcment here:
https://medium.com/photochain/photochain-strategy-update-a01ab7e7cb75

I previously wrote about Photochain a few weeks and thought I'd take another look as this seems an industry that could genuinely be disrupted with the help of blockchain, check my previous article here:
https://steemit.com/crypto/@dan90/photochain-ico-review-stock-photography-on-the-blockchain

What is the one thing that just continues to increase in popularity and shows no sign of abating? The answer is the taking of images, and in particular the selfie but we will breeze on past, but then what do you do with them?

Most people will want some kind of adoration from the people checking the images out. They want to feel popular, so put themselves out there like some kind of advert and hope people comment or like what they have posted.

Now, all of this probably sounds very familiar if you have been alive at all in the last few years but there’s one other area that we need to cover, and this is the area that lies at the heart of what Photo Chain is able to offer.

Owning and Making Money From Your Images

https://photochain.io/#
If you take a photograph of anything, even your own self or a location you are at, then you are technically a photographer. Now, what happens if you want to make money from those images, which is just another way of saying that you are going to trade them?

Well, there are a number of marketplaces out there where you can upload your shots and then hope somebody likes what they see and buys it. However, they have a tendency to not run as smoothly as we would hope. Let’s say you make a sale. Clearly, you want to get your money that you have just made but that is not going to be as straightforward as you would like to think. You wait and wait, and then finally you get it with all kinds of fees taken off leaving you next to nothing.

When you look at it from that perspective, who would want to really be a part of that kind of setup if there was a better alternative out there. Well, that is where Photo Chain comes into its own.

You see, Photo Chain is making use of blockchain technology to create a marketplace where the photographer is really in absolute control over who gets the image, what they charge for the image, and also how they get their money. Furthermore, with fees being substantially different to what you would experience with other solutions, it does mean that there is the very real possibility of making more money while doing the same thing as before.

Uploading Images and Security

The very idea of making money from your images should be appealing to most because who wouldn’t want to do that? Well, thanks to them using blockchain technology for their platform, the entire process is made substantially easier than it would have otherwise been. Furthermore, there are other clear advantages associated with using Photo Chain and their marketplace, but we will get to them shortly.

Whenever an image is uploaded to the marketplace, a link is created that ties in the image with the photographer. This is placed on the blockchain and it cannot be altered or changed, as well as being completely transparent, so it does help the photographer to effectively keep track of their images and offer more security in the process.

Also, you are looking at both the buyer and seller dealing directly with one another on this platform rather than a website acting as the middleman. This makes it easier for the seller to determine their price and for both sides of the equation to avoid those huge fees that have such an impact on the final price.

But it is that point regarding the link that is the key as it acts as a form of digital copyright and considering the problems that tend to surround this issue online, offering that sense of security to photographers should encourage them to use the platform. This permanent link can also be used to determine when the image has been used that contravenes the agreement that is in place making it easier for the copyright owner to then take action. Of course, it is not completely fool-proof but it is substantially better than what is out there right now and should provide photographers with some additional confidence.

Investing in the Future

If the new platform has even fraction of the success that the likes of Shutterstock has had then this kind of project could have a pretty good future. They need to play on the lower fees and greater copyright to tempt people to their marketplace, and if they can do this then the entire project could rocket in a short period of time. If that does happen and you were lucky enough to have snapped up some of their cryptocurrency, then you could very well be in line for a rather impressive windfall.

Website: https://photochain.io/#
Whitepaper: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1C4UPA9-9o2cOLJOEYMIVwN_Fi3Ebtn2YcRua58hQ7_0/edit