About Gratisography

Stock image sites are a dime a dozen — and so are the images they offer for download and use. You’re looking for something better, right?

Something quirky… beautiful… arresting. Images that make your audience’s heart beat just a little faster. You’re in the right place.

At Gratisography, we’re the world’s quirkiest collection of high-resolution free stock images, comprised of the world’s best, most creative pictures — images you just won’t find anywhere else.

The barriers to entry on the web have never been lower. It takes no time at all to build and launch a site, express your brand’s personality, and sell your products to a hungry, waiting global marketplace. And yet, in some ways, it’s never been more challenging to make an impact on the people you’re trying to reach.

Billions of pages all over the indexed web, millions of sites, thousands of competitors, and the entire population of the world growing increasingly jaded, sophisticated and hard to reach. That’s to say nothing of making an actual, personal connection with the audience you want to attract to your brand.

To stand out in today’s digital landscape, you need more than the same old boring stock photos and illustrations. If you’re looking for something different, we invite you to take a leisurely stroll through the Gratisography free photo collection.

Different is what we do best.

Most stock image sites offer nothing but the expected. Page after page of sharply dressed business folks in pressed, boring suits with the same stock expressions on their blandly attractive and inoffensive faces.

Picture after picture of the same stock family, doing stock family things like making dinner, drinking coffee, working on laptops, smiling their stock smiles.

Row after row of lovely people doing yoga on rain-soaked outdoor decks, surrounded by green grass and blue skies and…

Sorry, we dropped off for a minute there. Where were we?

Ah yes. Stock images put people to sleep when they’re too much “stock” and not enough “image.” Not enough creativity. Not enough life In fact, those savvy, sophisticated digital surfers out there are bored to tears with dull stock images. Today’s audiences want real. They crave authenticity.

Gratisography takes a different approach. Sure, we too could throw out that page-after-page collection of images that are merely variations on tired old themes. But that’s not us.

We’re not after quantity. In fact, we’re pretty choosy when it comes to the images we publish in our collection. We curate only the most interesting pictures, the ones with a personality, a perspective, a story to tell.

To become a Gratisography image, a picture must bring something unique to the table. Of course, it has to be perfectly composed, with the right amount of light and exposure, sharp focus on the central subject. But that’s just the beginning.

Gratisography images go further. They break barriers. They break stony faces into genuine smiles. They can break hearts. And at times even scare.

If you would like to get in touch with us, send an email to [email protected], and we’ll get back to you as soon as possible.

You can view our free photo license here.

Gratisography was founded and created over a decade ago in 2011 by photographer and creative Ryan McGuire as a resource for people in need of pictures, for personal and commercial projects, that they could download and use completely free of charge and without attribution. Ryan has been a photographer for decades and is passionate about building community through art. He gifts his work with the world for the friendships, unique collaborations, and smiling faces. Explore Ryan’s complete portfolio of whimsical creations at www.mcguiremade.com.

A fun fact about Ryan is that he drives a 1971 VW Beetle that he has turned into a dinosaur, and another is that he has worn 50 bells around his ankles every day for the past 12 years.

You can follow Ryan on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram.