AUGUST is a syndication agency for high-end portraiture, founded by Bill Hannigan and Thea Vaughan. Though August is a competitor to companies such as Getty Images

Getty Images

Getty Images, Inc. is a stock photo agency, based in Seattle, Washington, USA. It is a supplier of stock images for business and consumers with an archive of 80 million still images and illustrations and more than 50,000 hours of stock film footage...

 and Corbis

Corbis

Corbis Corporation is an American company, based in Seattle, Washington, that licenses the rights to photographs, footage and other visual media...

, August's goal is focus on quality rather than quantity. When it launched in June 2007, AUGUST offered images from a handful of photographers, including Jill Greenberg

Jill Greenberg

Jill Greenberg is an American photographer and artist. She is known for her portraits and fine art work.-Biography:Greenberg was born in Montreal, Quebec, and grew up in a suburb of Detroit. She graduated with honors in 1989 from the Rhode Island School of Design with a BFA in Photography and...

, Nino Muñoz

Nino Muñoz

Nino Muñoz is a fashion, celebrity, and beauty photographer.-Career:In the mid 1990's Muñoz moved to New York City to begin his career in photography...

, Sheryl Nields, Martin Schoeller

Martin Schoeller

Martin Schoeller is a New York based photographer whose style is distinguished by similar treatment of all subjects whetherthey are celebrities or unknown. His most recognizable work are his portraits, shot with similar lighting, backdrop, and tone...

and Brian Bowen Smith. At that time, the photographer-to-agent ratio was at two to one. And, co-founder Vaughan says she wants to cap it at six to eight photographers to keep the emphasis on quality. August is based in New York city.