VII Photo Agency

VII Photo Agency is an international photo agency wholly owned and governed by its membership, established in 2001 and headquartered in New York City. It was founded by seven prominent photographers, Gary Knight, John Stanmeyer, Alexandra Boulat, Ron Haviv, Antonin Kratochvil, Christopher Morris and James Nachtwey, and launched at the Visa pour l'image Festival in Perpignan, France, in September 2001 as a cooperative business model letting photographers maintain ownership and control over their work through digital distribution, in response to large corporations acquiring smaller photo agencies at the time. It today represents 29 member photographers plus 10 mentees and has diversified into social media, live events, video production, NGO partnerships, museum exhibitions and educational initiatives.