About a year ago, I was digitally approached by Taylor Hinton, CEO of Solid Stock Art, to try out his new stock photography site. Because I love supporting small businesses and start-ups (we have to stick together!), I obliged. Even though they were fairly new to the stock photography industry, I found that they had a pretty decent library of images and vector illustrations.

The biggest draw for using Solid Stock Art is their licensing. For designers, marketing and PR agencies and anyone else that uses stock photography for marketing campaigns, licenses can be a sticky area and a general pain point. In general, if you did not shoot a photo yourself, you are not the owner. Even if you did shoot the photo yourself, if there are people, buildings, branded items, etc. in the photo that you do not own, you may be restricted from using the photo. Most photography you see used in advertisements is licensed. Images are licensed for use and you usually pay for that license. So when you purchase a stock photography image, you are really buying a license to use that photo. You still do not actually own the photo, just a license to use it.

What some people do not know is that licenses usually come with restrictions. You may be restricted from using the image for commercial purposes (example: editorial photos) or you may be limited in the number of times the image can be reproduced and viewed (example: print materials). If you do not already know this or where to look to find this information on the stock photography company’s website, you will probably end up violating the license agreement for the image you purchase.

Solid Stock Art offers one license for all of their images and it is unlimited. Unlimited views, prints and reuse. They have a deep understanding of licensing because the founder, Taylor (I mentioned him earlier) was a stock photography artist/supplier AND found himself caught up in a legal battle for unknowingly violating a license agreement at his day job. That experience lead him to create Solid Stock Art.

So if you want to feel safe and secure in the images you are purchasing, try checking out Solid Stock Art. No fine print to read or searching through their site to find out what and “extended license” means. They have a great library, are nice people and I have found the customer service to be excellent. One time when I was looking for some images for a picky client, Taylor did just about everything he could to try to help me find the right image and add to their library. I thought that was pretty awesome.

Because he is awesome and wants you to see how awesome (have I said that too many times?) Solid Stock Art is, he has given me a coupon code to pass on to you. Use the coupon code “eakin” at check out to receive 25% off your purchase.

 

…and because I am the honest individual that I am, I must tell you that clicking the Solid Stock Art link in this post and making a purchase will earn me a small commission to buy images. My opinion on Solid Stock Art is real and honest. 🙂