PicApp—an Israeli startup owned by PicScout with staff in San Francisco and Toronto—wants to provide bloggers with free high quality images while protecting photographer's rights as well. The startup has been making some noise recently—PicApp was recently featured on TechCrunch. Coincidentally, all seems to be going well for PicApp.

James Mowery: So, David, what is it that you do at PicApp?

David Peralty: I am the Community Manager for PicApp. Basically, they hired someone from their target audience to be the bridge between the company and the potential user base.

I work on the forum, communicate via e-mail, and work with bloggers interested in PicApp to provide them the best experience possible. I also work within the company making sure the right people see the feedback being submitted and pushing to make sure it is all acted upon.

JM: Can you please explain to everyone what PicApp is aiming to accomplish?

DP: PicApp would like to become the number one source for bloggers looking for free, high quality stock images. They especially see themselves as an amazing source for editorial images, as well as creative images.

JM: There are many sites available that allow the uploading and sharing of images. This forces me to ask the question of what makes PicApp different from other services like iStockPhoto or Flickr?

DP: This question sort of connects to the previous question, as the differentiation is part of what PicApp is aiming to accomplish. Flickr provides bloggers with a vast number of creative images, which are useful, but dealing with proper attribution and licensing can be frustrating. Also, Flickr doesn't have many editorial images.

If you need an image from a recent event, or of a celebrity, it can be very difficult to find what you need, when you need it. iStockPhoto has the same issue when it comes to editorial images. And did I mention that PicApp is free? Not having to purchase credits and keep track of such things is a godsend in my opinion.

Read the rest of this entry