Alamy

people: babies / children, adults / families, famous people, other

living: lifestyles, holidays, romance, fashion / glamour, health, food / drink, other

society / culture: rites / rituals, race / culture, war / disasters, social problems, education, current affairs, history, other

art / crafts / hobbies: paintings / sculptures, artifacts, crafts, entertainment / performing arts, illustrations / posters, other

sports / activities: team sports, solo sports, adventure, fitness, games, other

business / industry: agriculture, construction, manufacturing, office / finance, other

science / technology: biological / chemical, electrical, mechanical / physical, other

transport: road / vehicles, rail, air / space, sea / waterways, other

buildings / structures: architectural styles, religious, ancient, interiors, other

places / maps: cities, landscapes / gardens, tourist destinations, historical scenes, aerial / maps, other

natural world: animals, plants, countryside / seaside, weather, space, environment, other

abstract / other: backgrounds / patterns, concepts, humour, other

We hold the largest and most comprehensive online collection of commercial photography in the world. Established in 1999, we pioneered the concept of an unedited collection and today we offer millions of images from thousands of photographers and photo agencies worldwide. The collection covers everything from travel and landscape to science and lifestyle and includes reportage and historical archives.

Solving problems through innovation is at the heart of our business. With so many images of every subject to choose from, we are constantly improving our search technology (patents pending) to bring the best results to our users. We are obsessed with the speed of our website, providing fast and first class customer service, and developing new tools to help photographers manage their commercial portfolios online.

A key ingredient of our success is fairness. All of our contributing photographers and photo agencies enjoy more flexible contracts and earn a higher royalty than with most of our competitors. We were the first, and remain one of the few, to pay the majority share of each sale to the owner of the image.

We’ve grown fast but still remain a family enterprise, founded by CEO James West with his uncle and business partner Mike Fischer who first thought of the idea.

Since 2006 we have been providing approximately £1 million a year to a number of medical research projects, one of which is operating at our UK headquarters where researchers are working on a therapeutic cancer vaccine. We operate a greenhouse gas reduction policy which includes running a solar lamp lighting project from our offices in India.