Time to launch Life photo service

Life.com will add thousands of Getty images to a searchable online database

Time Magazine has announced that it will soon launch an online image archive in partnership with photo service Getty Images.

The Life.com service will place thousands of new and archived images from Getty photographers and previous issues of Life Magazine. The collection will include Life images dating back as early as the 1930s.

Time estimates that the service will see some 3,000 new photos uploaded every day.

The companies promised that the site will offer extensive search features as well as the ability to catalogue, share and print photos, and to create albums from the collection.

Life.com editor Bill Shapiro promised that the new service will not only showcase Getty images, but provide users with access to a huge collection of unseen photographs from Life Magazine's collection.

"Only three per cent of the Life archive has been seen by the public," said Shapiro. "This site will put everything on display. You will be able to look at the biggest events of yesterday and the stories making news today with just a couple of clicks."

The two companies hope to put the site live in early 2009. Browsing and viewing photos will be free, although the company will charge for some of the premium printing and sharing features.

Getty Images was acquired by private equity firm Hellman & Friedman in February for a reported $2.4bn.