Stokpic

A start like no other! After accumulating over 12 years of professional photography experience and hundreds of photos, founder Ed Gregory started this site as a personal project releasing photos free to the public. As the numbers climbed, requests for a more diverse selection of people, locations, and cultures increased. Realizing he could not fill all the demand by himself, he funded a new sponsorship program that provided 12 new photographers with $500 worth of photography equipment. Their only requirement was to contribute 50 photos to the site a month, encouraging personal and creative growth, and work ethic. After just one year, this site had just under a million page views, and 200,000 downloads in 197 countries.