Finding Great Stock Images—That Aren't All White People.
Working in communications, the hope is that you can use original photos for your blog posts and materials, but that's not always possible.
And so many stock image websites suck, right? Or they're qwhite white. Here are some sites I found that offer free or almost free and offer diverse images. And many of them are created by or owned by POC, so there's an added bonus.
PicNoi
PicNoi is a coop of stock image photography. "We sought out to create a space where publishers, bloggers, website owners, marketers, designers, graphic artists, advertisers and the like can easily search and find diverse multi-racial images. The majority of people in the world are of color so there is no reason why stock imagery shouldn’t include them." Here here. And you don't need to attribute the images, but obviously, you should support them and their mission.
Women of Color in Tech
Admittedly this is a narrow field of use, but it's great to see WOC taking on coding and design. I've used a few of them in my work for DC Abortion Fund. You can use them as long as you give WOCinTech attribution.
ColorStock
ColorStock is the first curated stock photo marketplace featuring people of color—ALL people of color. Most images run around $20 or so—and if you really love an image, you can take it off the market entirely for $250. "Our catalog offers images of Black, Asian, Latinx, and other ethnically-diverse people at work and at play, reflecting their nuanced lives in realistic ways. We help marketers change the hue of their stock photos with simply priced, royalty-free images." Oh, and it's also founded by a Black woman!
CreateHER Stock
The images I've discovered on this site are, in a word, beautiful. They're clean, fresh, bright, and beautiful for creative/agency-like sites or materials. I used one of their images for a site I worked on and they were incredibly helpful and easy to work with. Not attribution is needed, but you should anyway. Some are also available for a small fee. Oh, and again, this site was created by an awesome Black woman!