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BRWN Stock Imaging: ‘It’s All About Normalizing the Black Experience’

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Black people demonstrate their love for one another with compassion. Black people find joy playing with children. Black folks cross the country and the globe to travel to exciting places. But finding stock photos of regular black people engaging in everyday activities is often challenging.

Media content creators including bloggers, publishers and public relations specialists rely on stock imaging companies’ photos for representations of black life. Porsha Antalan, an Atlanta-based photographer, wanted to fill the gap of the under-representation of black people in stock photography so she founded BRWN Stock Imaging.

The photo stock imaging company aims to capture “the vibrant beauty of our people” and provide “quality images for people like us.”

“You can go on any major stock website and you can look up just simple things like people riding bikes in the park or people going to the movies and what are you going to find? You’re going to find mostly white couples. You’re not going to find any people of color,” Antalan said. “I figured we can’t keep waiting on these big stock websites. So why don’t I create a site where you are guaranteed to find people who look like you.”

Antalan, who has been a photographer for eight years, launched the company on June 26, her birthday, after talking to her client author Christina C. Jones about the dearth of available stock images that reflect black romance. “Some clients used to buy stock photos and photoshop them to look like black people,” said Antalan, 29. “It was that serious.”

It’s important to have black joy, black love and black beauty represented in all mediums, Antalan said, and she’s working to create images that reflect all of black life – not just the stereotypes. The high-quality photos on the BRWN Stock Imaging website showcase striking images. They can be purchased directly on the company’s website. Antalan also accepts contributions from other photographers and holds casting calls for models with and without experience.

BRWN Stock Imaging has a myriad of black people represented in its photos, Antalan said. “We want to represent all spectrums of our color,” she said. “I wanted to go with the black girls that I’m around. I want you to know that they’re black and I don’t want you to ever question what their ethnicity, race is.”

Read the entire story here.


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