Nestled amongst our collections you’ll find Gallery Stock – a provider whose collection brings us to the delicate line between commerce and fine art. A search on “alpha females” will recall portraits like those you might expect to don the cover of Wired alongside an array of fashion-forward faces gazing towards the camera and a selection of seemingly candid emotive shots. That diversity and quality make hitting return on Gallery Stock search a pleasure.

But that’s just my view – I’ll let you all tell us what you think of their collection in the chat! In the meantime, if you haven’t had the pleasure of getting to know Gallery Stock before then please allow the marvellous Jennifer Fox Freeman to help get you acquainted.

With a background as an Art Director at Corbis and now as Creative Director of Gallery Stock, it seems you’ve had a pretty illustrious career at the heart of photography. What was it that originally drew you to the image-making world?

In fifth grade, I did a project on what you want to be when you grew up. I selected Graphic Designer. After 2 years in the Pharmacy School in college, I switched back to my love of design, art and images. After beginning my career in advertising for 8 years, I had the opportunity to join the Commercial Production Team as an Art Director at Corbis that was going to travel the world to create best in class imagery. I never looked back.

I love to see photographers who also pursue their passion. You can really tell when someone’s heart is in their work. Their ability to tell a story, capture a moment, and pay attention the smallest detail allows us to go on that journey with them.

I know exactly what you mean, I think that’s part of what brings me back to gaze at the work of great photographers again and again. What about Gallery Stock, how did the collection come into existence?

Gallery Stock was born from the Photographer Representation Agency, Bernstein & Andriulli. Howard Bernstein saw a need to license his photographer’s archival work. The demand was so great, a new department/company needed to be formed. We have grown organically since then but still remain very boutique, while we focus on quality over quantity.

People can sometimes hear ‘boutique’ and think it means quirky or play too much into one niche – but I don’t get that from your collection at all; it’s more a high-end collection with boutique customer service. What is it about the collection that attracts people?

Every day the feedback we receive is that our collection is beautiful and resonates with the continued need for fresh, relevant, and engaging images. When our clients are seeking narratives to break through the clutter in their marketplace, they search Gallery Stock.

We believe that if we give back to our artists and offer one of the top revenue splits available, we will continue to provide exceptional work from premium photographers.  We are known for our unparalleled, authentic, and relevant photography; we are not a vast pool of stock images, but a highly handpicked collection. Our vision is to creatively partner with top brands as a content creation source which will continue to support and open up new opportunities for our artists.

How do you actually get to that really curated Gallery Stock aesthetic?

We feel we leverage our expertise to give our clients access to top photographers through our captivating image licensing collection. We are currently working with many fine artists and commercial photographers who have never typically done stock in the past. Our point of view is a curated mix of high-end, premium images that sit within the top genres our clients are looking for: portraits, epic landscapes, luxury lifestyle, business, healthcare, etc.

If you were going to give some advice to someone who is just starting out at a picture desk, looking for their first image, what would you say?

I would advise them to do their homework and research the type of photography/photographers that would best suit their product/company/blog/article. Look to see where those artists have their portfolios and dive in, remembering to search as many different variations on a keyword as possible to be able to source the best results from a search.

Just for fun, who is your own favourite visual artist?

Since I was a teenager, it has always been Chuck Close. His conceptual portraits, use of the grid technique and meticulousness and massiveness of his work has continually awed me.