We hear over and over from  researchers, editors and buyers searching for imagery about the need for a different kind of imagery. We chatted recently with entrepreneur Jenifer Daniels who has stepped up and has brought a new collection to market: Colorstock

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Colorstock has come onto the Stock scene with a mission statement of recognizing the need for authenticity and diversity in the stock world and delivering it. Jenifer, I see the you are a PR pro. How did you come to recognize this area of opportunity and what spurred you on to dive into the world of producing, marketing and licensing stock?

Having worked as a communicator for over 15 years, I have been an event manager, PR consultant, and brand strategist. And I’ve always had one nagging problem: no matter how many times I searched via paid portals, I never could seem to find authentic images of people of color. Their visual stories were always told via the narrative of the dominant society and never properly reflected their nuanced lives.

I never thought that i could solve this problem, but I was up for the challenge. I learned as much as I could about startup culture, coding, and stock photography and decided to tackle the problem.

There are so many different business models in Stock – tell us about your pricing and how it works.

Colorstock maintains a constant feedback loop with it’s customers. Currently, our customers tell us that they’d like to purchase their images a la carte, as opposed to credits or monthly memberships. Our image licensing starts at $5, based on size and style, and be easily downloaded without creating an account on the site. This model will change if/when our customers demand it.

How do you work with/ recruit your contributors/photographers to coach them to create? Do you provide support with creative briefs, releases, art direction?

We recruit photographers via social networks – digital and physical. We are looking for photographers with a unique visual point of view and those who believe in our mission. Our initial catalog was a product of our own art direction. We’ve now started open calls for specific photo styles based on our customer feedback loop. For example, we have requests for travel photography, images of seniors, and green lifestyles.

Tell us a bit about who is using your images?

Our largest block of customers are nonprofits, human service organizations, and solopreneurs. These populations value the a la carte option of our library.

I see that you are connected with some really interesting sources of POC imagery – CreateherStock and BlackStock. Can you tell me about the community and how you support each other?
 
Colorstock, CreateHerStock, and Black Stock Images launched around the same time with the same goals in mind. We found each other in the #blkcreatives community on Twitter. We speak often about the state of our industry, possible collaborations, and the ups and downs of entrepreneurship. We are very supportive of each other and we want each to ‘win’ so to speak.

w. getcolorstock.com  ig. @getcolorstock t. @getcolorstock