Welcome to Shitterstock!

Since 2024 we have been the leading website for poorly conceived Example Image stock imagery, we provide images you would never want to use in any professional setting , and, we give them out for free!

This website Example Image takes inspiration from the proliferation of stock imagery and the response that the internet had to this imagery.

Stock photography has a very distinctive non-look Example Image , by this i mean that it's lack of distinctiveness is distinct in itself. This is by design. Before i went into researching stock imagery I assumed that it would be a very non diverse practice, but i was surprised to find that diversity is present throughout the images. Artists must create the most generalisable image possible in order to make the most money Example Image , meaning they have to be as inclusive as possible. this inclusivity comes from a fundamentally cynical position , artists serve global capital, and so create images that are so milktoast that they represent no-one, at least no-one real.

A stock image's goal is to be as generic and unmemorable Example Image as possible, to be used repeatedly it must leave your mind as soon as it leaves your screen. this is why stock image models and their outfits are less visually striking than their fashion counterparts.

Don't let this fool you Example Image into thinking there is a lack of intentionality present in these images, they simply serve the interests of business more than they serve the interests of the arts and culture.

To understand the visual language and motivations of a stock photographer, i read an (admittedly out of date Example Image ) 2002 book on stock photography, People Shots That Sell, Written just after the advent of shutterstock, this book was the perfect guide for me to use to understand the intentions of a stock photographer who wants to earn a living. My Main takeaways were as follows:

Stock Photos should be beautiful, but forgettable.

They should be ambiguous as much as possible, able to be reused in multiple different markets and contexts.

Stock photography is surprisingly diversity conscious, but the book emphasised the importance of the "right sexual and ethnic mix" in the success of an example image, realistic depictions of diversity are sacrificed for the idealistic 'correct mix' desired by capitalism.

stock images should be challenging enough to be eye catching, but not controvertial enough to be 'brand unsafe'

although there is much to criticise stock imagery for, there is a reason it seems to stay in the public consciousness, memed Example Image and referenced often and still widely used across print and internet. i feel this is due to a sort of cumulative effect, as every situation in every different environment is depicted in stock libraries , it becomes harder to make an image that is not already available. this has resulted in the strangely specific images that become the memes we all know and love. the images' intentional lack of context leads to an absurdist Example Image effect when they are removed from that context, and an ability to be recontextualised over and over again which allows them to propogate through the internet to accompany any ideas, be they dry and corporate , or fun and playful.

Transhumanism and Technofeudalism

I have been quite inspired by the futurism of the stock imagery i have seen browsing shutterstock. With the relentless march of trend following in venture capital funded tech companies, be it big data, web3.0 Example Image , metaverse or AI; these companies require images to present to their investors of their products, many of which exist only as a gleam in their CEO's eye. These futuristic, sometimes transhumanist ideas result in strange, sometimes unsettling imagery, some of which strike you in the same way i think fashion photography Example Image should.

Metaverse

At the same time as some of these transhumanist Example Image AI dreams are unsettling, looking at the past's view of the future can be quite funny tech trends seem to come and go as fast as those in fashion, just a few years ago we were concerned about mark zuckerberg's designs to create a metaverse, realising the technofeudalist landscape of the internet into a tactile experience and designing to crown himself king, And then we saw it... Example Image

The Internet's Visual Language

I am drawn to presenting this through a website to fit both the intentions of a stock photographer and the new life Example Image it has gained as the visual language of the internet. the stock photo isn't supposed to be seen in high resolution on the wall of a gallery, it is at home in a poorly designed website or ripped for a .school powerpoint

-- find the crit of stock imagery
in (crit of stock iamgery) xxx person speaks to the specific visual language of the stock image, in relation to model and outfit, they state that a stock model must be traditionally attractive, but not striking, as memorable features (such as those desired in fashion advertising) would make the image less reusable, the same goes for outfits, which must be internationally applicable, resulting in the prevalence of the blouse, shirt and trousers and suit jacket. small, specific items such as the party poppers mentioned by tanenbaum are used as an example of a miniscule detail that could limit an images market as party poppers aren't used in the united states.
Throughout my research i have been thinking of which elements of a stock photo i want to keep, and which i want to subvert. the motivations behind project come not from a criticism of the visual language of stock, but from a criticism of its' motivations. i want to create a decontextualised image in the same way that a stock photographer does, but i want to attempt to create an image that is unusable in a stock library, to replace the depersonalised characters with a showcase of people with an individual style, one that is not easily marketable or generalisable.