為什么建立中國網站？很多人都問過。作為一名攝影師，我拍了很多照片，大多數照片都不會被任何人看到。他們只是坐在硬盤上，隱藏著，所以我想為什么不讓人們使用他們。在一個周末，我設立網站，想看看是否有人真正想要我的未使用的照片。令人驚訝的是，我很快就收到了成千上萬的下載和如此多的感謝照片的電子郵件。

幾個月后，我決定開始專門為StokPic拍攝照片，以確保我的訂戶獲得高質量的照片。此時，所有照片都在CC0許可證下，這意味著它們是公共領域，任何人都可以出于任何他們愿意的原因使用它們。

雖然我的照片是免費的，但我仍然相信攝影是一種美麗的藝術形式，應該受到細心和尊重。所以我介紹了自己的stokpic許可證。本質上，讓斯托克成為那些知道它的人的獨家俱樂部。如果你想要這些照片，你必須來這里特別是為了找到它們。

Our Story

I say our story but its actually just one guy, Ed Gregory (me). Just over a year ago I decided to give my photos away for free.
Stock Photos for Commercial And Personal Use

Why? a lot of people have asked. As a photographer I take a lot of photos and most of them will never be seen by anyone. They just sit on hard drives, hidden, so I thought why not let people put them to use. To be honest it was a little weekend project that I set up to see if anyone actually wanted my unused photos. Amazingly I quickly received thousands of downloads and so many wonderful emails thanking me for the photos.

Fast forward a few months and I decided to start photographing specifically for stokpic to ensure high quality photos for my subscribers. At this point all photos were under the CC0 license meaning they were public domain and anyone could use them for any reason they pleased. I quickly started finding my photos on all sorts of free download sites. Although the is completely ok it made me think about things.

Although my photos are free I still believe photography is a beautiful art form that should be treated with care and great respect. So I introduced my own stokpic license. Essentially making stokpic an exclusive club to those who know about it. If you want these photos you will have to come here especially to find them.

As you know I have advertising on the website to attempt to cover the costs of running the site. This fortunately has grown and now brings in more money than it costs to run the site which is why I started Stokpic Sponsored Photographers Program. All the money the site earns from advertising gets returned back to the art world by funding photographers.

Do I intend to turn this into a business. Yes, however I want to ensure that as the site earns more money it is reinvested into photographers so they get paid for their work. Its just going to take me a while to get to this point.

The most exciting part of this project is the community surrounding Stokpic. Thousands of subscribers write to me all the time. Asking questions, giving words of encouragement and or course lot of requests. I answer each and every one personally.

Thank you for using stokpic.com and I hope you enjoy being a part of its journey.