When the Internet was still in its infancy at the end of the 20th century, Alamy was founded as one of the first exclusively digital photo agencies. From its offices in rural Oxfordshire, it would’ve been hard to predict how as a platform it would grow to have such a large and truly diverse community of photographers — but today it has a contributor base of over 150,000 photographers and agencies submitting images from every corner of the world.
The collection has become regarded as the most varied and eclectic in the industry because one of its founding principles was that any photographer could upload any content that they wanted. As long as the photography was technically acceptable, the story behind those photos would be as relevant as any other.
No matter whether images were submitted by a photographer from Finland, Nigeria or Taiwan, this democratising principle still stands and it’s notable that such an inclusive ethos would be so relevant and so important today.
A global community of photographers combined with a rise in citizen journalism has allowed us to have deeper insights into the lives of people from other countries through their own perspectives. It’s shown us that there are multiple voices to every story.
Here we celebrate our global community by showcasing some of our most well-loved collections that bring awareness of our rich cultural world, whether our photographers are explorers, adventurers, or they just keep it local.
Majority World brings up-to-date authentic reporting that challenge perceptions from working directly with photographers from Asia, Africa, Latin America and the Middle East. In addition to their roster of expert photographers, their contributors have a knowledge and understanding quite unlike most other agencies – because they’re local, they know the language, lifestyle and culture for the regions in which they work. Also a social enterprise, Majority World create visibility and market access for their photographers, opening up new opportunities in the work they do. See the latest uploads here.
Palestinian youth having fun and bathing a horse in the sea during sunset in Gaza City, Palestine.
With a focus on accurate, ethical and inclusive journalism, Global Press brings images from its independent news bureaus in some of the world’s least covered countries. Staffed by local women journalists and photographers in over 40 communities they aim to avoid ‘parachute journalism’ with in-depth knowledge and accurate reporting on local events. See their collection here.
Likeness Lusybwe sews a reusable sanitary pad at the Jafuta Foundation in Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe on October 19, 2022
Born in the small village of Baghopara in northern Bangladesh, Abdul started his love of photography with a mobile phone camera. Since then he’s adopted the recent technologies in drone photography with gusto. Many of his images capture the daily lives of his community from above, showing in beautiful patterns and stunning detail the farming, fishing, trade and industry of the working population. As a local he knows the times of day and locations to get the best out of documenting these aspects of daily life and, feeling very lucky to have his work on Alamy, we recently interviewed him in one of our Contributor Spotlights. Be inspired by his full collection here.
Cattle market during Eid al-Adha (the Feast of Sacrifice) in Bogura, Bangladesh
Every country has a multitude of religious communities and spiritual belief systems, and since 2003 Godong has worked to document every aspect of this subject and the people that practice them in a respectful and informative manner. They show all the practices and paraphernalia about a religion, from bathing at the mouth of the Ganges in the Gangasagar Mela pilgrimage, to restoring a pipe organ in a French Christian church. See their images here.
A worshipper pays respect to Buddha in front of burning incense sticks at Phuoc An Hoi Quan Pagoda, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
As a trained ethnographer and experienced traveller Jamie Marshall has been capturing the beauty and diversity of local people and places, contributing his work to Alamy for over 20 years. In this short time he has visited over 50 destinations and his work has been used widely in major newspapers and magazines including National Geographic. With over 30,000 images on the Alamy site, his work is a feast for the eyes and covers everything from food and architectural textures to portraits of real people, young and old, that make every corner of our world so unique and beautiful. Highlights from his collection here.
Cuban children on a classic American car in Havana, Cuba.
A natural-born traveller and photographer, Kairi looks for different perspectives – perhaps only one that a woman can tell. A contributor to Alamy since 2016, she has travelled to places that might seem remote to some, such as West Papua in Indonesia or Chichicastenango in Guatemala, but are the centre of the world for those that live there. She recognises the need for meaningful storytelling, and her images are aesthetically pleasing in covering the aspects of daily lives that don’t always get documented. We featured her in a previous blog about her documenting the Mongolian Ice Festival for her insightful perspective on this event. She’s also been living in Dubai for over ten years and offers a rich set of imagery from there and surrounding areas in the Middle East. See her full collection of images here.
Omani men with their camels in a countryside, waiting to race, Khadal, Oman.