Stock Photos for Dietitians, Nutritionists, RDs and Health Coaches
I’m revolutionizing the stock photo industry by offering body-positive and diverse commercial-use stock images of fat, POC, and LGBTQIAP+ people that are ethically produced (all models and creators are fairly compensated).
Enrich your visual offerings
Traditional stock photography sites offer images that almost always feature young, thin, white, able-bodied people. Does that really reflect the dizzyingly diverse array of people we see around us every day — or your customers?
More people are demanding better from the companies they interact with. Use this opportunity to stand out in any market and reach entirely new demographics by representing the real bodies and lives of your customers.
Body Liberation Stock features people who are fat, plus-size, superfat, people of color, BIPOC, practice minority religions, are part of the LGBTQIAP+ community, live with disabilities (visible or otherwise), or are otherwise underrepresented or marginalized.
“Images matter. They tell us what’s possible, what things go together, what belongs and what doesn’t belong. And we’re all just trying to belong somewhere.” » Emily Nagoski
Finding photos that represent the full scope of your actual and potential customers can be a huge challenge as a business owner, because most of the stock images available are of people who are in line with current beauty standards. Not a very diverse selection at all, and probably not representative of your customer base. (And if it is representative, that might be part of why.)
To understand why even today — even with widespread digital photography and hundreds of thousands of stock photos available online — finding diverse stock imagery is such a challenge, let’s take a look at photography culture itself.
I’d already been taking nature and landscape photos for 15 years, but when I began training in portrait photography, I was in for a shock. Photography groups and organizations focused exclusively on portraying thin bodies. Training videos and courses only discussed posing, lighting and working with thin bodies, with rare, condescending five-minute training segments given to posing “larger bodies” that were still well below the average American body size.
And, of course, every (already very thin, usually white) body that was photographed was immediately changed: made slimmer, curves and “flaws” erased, skin smoothed, eyes widened and whitened and sharpened, teeth straightened and fixed and whitened, smiles widened, ears shrunk, bodies perfected beyond humanity with Photoshop and a variety of other software tools.
The pictures at Body Liberation Stock help illustrate mental and emotional health awareness and treatment in a way that breaks this too-common mold entirely. We’re depicting real-world people, bodies and situations to help you attract new business and represent your existing customers.
Designed for Health at Any and Every Size
Not only are images that represent a wide range of body sizes and types good for your marketing, you can also use them to help change the world. When we see ourselves represented in marketing, advertising and social media, it helps expand our internal vision of what’s possible and where we belong.
Using diverse food-related stock photos for nutrition and food choices helps show your clients and patients that you value them no matter their body size, health status, age, ethnicity or gender.
These pictures and illustrations are designed for:
- Health at Every Size (HAES)
- Healthcare providers, registered dietitians, and nutritionists
- Body image, health, intuitive eating and life coaches
- Intuitive eating, diet recovery and eating disorder recovery
The stock collections include:
- Food stock images
- A variety of types of food (e.g., fruit, candy, dessert, cake, tea)
- People eating in community and groups
- People choosing healthy and balanced foods
- People in a variety of body sizes and ethnicities eating
This is the environment in which mainstream photographers are made: An environment in which idealized, perfect bodies are not only worshiped, but created.
Is it any surprise that our stock photo choices reflect these values? Stock photo websites reflect the bodies we see on TV, in magazines, on social media sites, and in fine art and client photography: images of thin, mostly white, able-bodied people that have then been filtered and softened and sharpened and liquefied past recognition.
In 2017, I began creating stock photos of plus-size, fat and superfat bodies in defiant opposition to these toxic based-on-a-true-body practices. I’m rebelling so that you can, too. Let’s change the world together.
For most commercial and personal uses
Here’s how you might want to use these images to address mental health awareness and treatment:
- On your website and blog posts
- Twitter, Instagram and Facebook posts
- On your brochures and flyers
- In ebooks or books (self-published or traditionally published)
- Adding filters, effects and text on top
- Anywhere you’ve previously only used photos of thin white bodies
I’m ready to diversify my online presence!