My Favorite Stock Photo Websites for BIPOC & LGBTQ+ Stock Photography
If you’ve ever visited some of the more popular stock photography sites like Pexels, Unsplash or even Canva Images looking for BIPOC or LGBTQ+ stock photography, you may have noticed a lack of diversity in your search results. I know I have! The last time I was searching those sites for diverse stock photography in the wellness/spiritual genre, the results were dismal, at best. There was a lack of BIPOC representation, and a whole lotta skinny white ladies. There were virtually no weight inclusive models, and LGBTQ+ representation was exactly zero. In many of the limited BIPOC stock photography images I was able to find, the cultural appropriation was disheartening, and generally the images were not as high quality as the other stock photography, meaning they were more on the cheezy side and the aesthetic was not up to par with what I was hoping to use in my project.
This led me to ask around and get curious – in the stock photography space, where WAS everyone?
In an ideal world (maybe one day – I hope) lists like this one of my top inclusive and diverse stock photography websites would not have to exist. It’s my hope that one day stock photography websites will offer stock images in all genres with a mix of people that actually reflects our world and the people who live in it. Good design is inclusive, not exclusive. As a designer, it is a business goal of mine to improve the accessibility and inclusivity of my business, my work, and my entire creative process.
I encourage you to consider mixing it up when choosing stock photography for your next project or website design. Here’s a list of my favorite paid and free BIPOC and LGBTQ+ stock photography websites that you can start using today!
The Gender Spectrum Collection
Visit: Gender Spectrum
Free or Paid? FREE
The Gender Spectrum Collection is a collection of transgender stock photos and non binary stock photography that are free to use and organized into categories such as Work, Lifestyle, Technology, Outdoors, and more. The idea behind this project is to help media better represent members of these communities as people not necessarily defined by their gender identities—people with careers, relationships, talents, passions, and home lives. An excellent resource for cool, high quality LGBTQ+ stock photography.
Affect the Verb: Disabled and Here Collection
Visit: Affect the Verb
Free or Paid? FREE
This stock image site is a disability-led effort to provide free & inclusive LGBTQ+ stock images from their own perspective, with photos and illustrations celebrating disabled Black, Indigenous, people of color (BIPOC).
As a Type 1 Diabetic, I was surprised and delighted to see several diabetes stock photos that were not cheesy at all and were realistic and edgy stock photos featuring diabetics and their insulin pumps and continuous glucose monitors.
Mapbox: Queer in Tech Collection
Visit: Mapbox Queer in Tech
Free or Paid? FREE
Queer in Tech is a Flickr collection of LGBTQ+ people in technology and the workplace. The images are free to use and feature BIPOC, queer, and non-binary people in the workplace.
If you are looking for LGBTQ+ stock photography with a more corporate feel, head here for some great options.
Nappy.co
Visit: Nappy.co
Free or Paid? FREE
Nappy.co is on a mission to tackle diversity and representation one photo at a time. Nappy provides beautiful, high-res photos of black and brown people to startups, brands, agencies, and everyone else, making it easy for companies to be purposeful about representation in their designs, presentations, and advertisements.
I wish I would have known about this website when I was designing a set of Reiki Manuals a while back for a client. We struggled to find BIPOC stock photography in the spiritual genre that was appropriate to use. The photos featured here are gorgeous and high quality, and give alternatives for standard stock photos like white hands wrapped around a coffee mug or typing on a laptop.
And there you have it!
Now that you’ve got some resources for high quality, non-cheesy BIPOC and LGBTQ+ stock photography, I would love to see how you begin incorporating them into your websites and design projects. Drop me a line and let me know how you used these diverse and inclusive stock photos!
