Even though there is nearly 58 million people of Latinx, Hispanic and Latino-Identified descent living in the United States, the way they are represented in media and advertising usually boils the community down to one-dimensional stereotypes like sultry, sexy, spicy, machismo, drug lord, service worker, farmhand, exotic, ambiguous, immigrant, invisible or other.

Men, women, and everyone between or outside the binary are often highly sexualized. Women are flattened into exotic playthings or domestic workers. Men can only be macho, hypermasculine, and dominant.

Everyone is stripped of their unique stories and relegated to the background as the ambiguous “ethnic” friend, the service staff, or some other offensive and harmful stereotype.

Two years ago, iStock by Getty Images launched the Nosotros Collection: the very first curated collection aimed at dismantling the pervasive stereotypes that exist in the Latinx community.

With National Latinx Heritage Month upon us, it’s an important time to call out the urgency of the content in the collection and ensure creatives are using it as a lever to reclaim Hispanic stories in our visual landscape. Here’s some advice when selecting imagery for your campaigns.

1. Move past harmful stereotypes

It’s important that communicators and marketers counteract misinformed tropes and stereotypes by selecting authentic visual content—images, video, illustrations or vectors– that accurately represents the Latinx community.

This year, the most popular images from the Nosotros Collection are significantly more varied than previous years and inclusive of intra-Hispanic race, ethnicity, and age.

This is progress but our work is far from complete. Diverse imagery of the Hispanic community is long overdue, and it’s critical that we continue this work to dismantle the stereotypes that have festered for decades in media and advertising.  

2. Understand the intersectionality of the Latinx community and depict its layered identity 

The Latinx community is one that is large and diverse, so it’s critical to intersectionally represent all ages, genders, sexual orientations, and racial and ethnic backgrounds. When looking to engage the Latino community, images, videos and illustrations must understand the nuanced differences of the cultures. 

The good news is the industry is making progress and we need to keep this momentum up. 

Beyond race and ethnicity, we also have to embrace other layers of identity within the community. Unfortunately, we still aren’t seeing enough Latinx people who are LGBTQ or have disabilities in media and advertising. 

Don’t diminish the Latinx community to a single, shared trait. Instead, highlight and celebrate its tremendous diversity. 

3. Don’t focus on one aspect of life: tell complete, well-rounded stories that paint a real picture. 

Finally, it’s essential to avoid tokenism and shift to a focus on showcasing the lived experiences and perspectives of Latinx people. This means digging deep to truly understand members of the community and telling their stories in a human and authentic way. 

When we kicked off the Nosotros collection in 2019, our mission was to mend not only the lack of diversity in appearances and nationalities but also the lack of robust storytelling representing the Latinx community in the media industry.

Brands can ultimately help achieve this goal by selecting visuals that show all aspects of Latinx people’s lives (i.e. with family and friends, at home, at work, celebrating, traveling, etc.). 

The Nosotros Collection should continue to serve as a guiding point and a place where people can access imagery that authentically portrays the Latinx community. But, at the end of the day, real change will come with brands actually integrating these visuals in practice.

Looking forward, brands should commit to improving the representation of the Latinx community in their content and hold themselves accountable by consistently making the choices that helps them do so. 

Article by Tristen Norman, Head of Creative Insights, The Americas iStock 

As America faces a new era of racial rebirth, Getty Images looks to break down ethnic barriers with the launch of their Nosotros Collection.

Wouldn’t you want your culture to be accurately represented in the media? That’s a hard thing to have control over. In a way, we have to trust the powers that be to act culturally responsible.

Yet, throughout American history, we were let down, especially Latinx and Hispanic Americans. Time and time again the media stereotyped them, their communities, and what they represent.

We have to be grateful for agencies like Getty Images as they have “always understood the power of imagery to incite change,” said Manager of Creative Insights Tristen Norman.

With the Nosotros Collection, Getty hopes to continue their passionate mission of “breaking down the stereotypes of communities who have either been erased or misrepresented for decades.”

“Imagery can have a tremendous impact by fighting stereotypes and celebrating diversity- making communities feel empowered and represented in society,” said Norman.

The launch comes by way of the current demand for Latinx content. Proving this, in the U.S. alone, there are 57.5 million Latinx/Hispanic Americans, making them the nation’s largest ethnic minority

The proof is in the searches. Search terms on GettyImages.com such as ‘Latinx’ have increased 2950 percent, ‘America Latina’ by 538 percent, ‘Latino community’ by 246 percent and ‘Hispanic seniors’ by 241 percent.

Pushing the Nosotros Collection initiative even further, after doing avid research Getty’s creative team conducted focus groups with members of the Latinx community across the country and asked them how they would like to be seen in media and advertising.

Tapping into a community and obtaining the right ethnic perspective is exactly what American media needs to push the culture forward. Additionally, in 2018, the Creative Team traveled to five cities across the United States and signed up dozens of new Latinx contributors, many of whom have imagery that is in this collection.

“While we cannot change what people publish or click on overnight, we can provide better alternatives for those looking to create more authentic stories,” said Senior Art Director Claudia Marks.

The Nosotros Collection truly shows that storytelling can be authentic and give not only the Latin Americans a voice that belongs to them in the media but every ethnic group that’s misrepresented.

Hopefully, Getty can continue to tap into the culture and continue to distribute imagery that breaks down stereotypes, changes perspectives, and promotes equality.

Getty Images is making moves to empower its community.

Last year — for the third year in a row — three $10,000 grants were given to photographers who are changing the game by reaching a global audience. Among the winners was Saumya Khandelwal for her exposé on Child Brides.

Then Getty released their 2018 Visual Trends study, based on cumulative download data that was studied over the past couple of years. The study coined the subjects, ‘Masculinity Undone,’ ‘Second Renaissance,’ and ‘Conceptual Realism’ as the focus.

On April 8th, Getty announced a new grant in partnership with Women Photograph which aims to stimulate “gender diversity in photojournalism and elevate the voices of female and non-binary visual journalists.”

The grant offers mentorship and $10,000 in funding to help support female photojournalists who have stuck to their stories and are passionate about supporting their communities. Director of Photography at Getty Sandy Ciric said,

“At Getty Images we are a passionate advocate for diversity and inclusion in all its forms – this is just as important within a photographic frame, as well as behind the camera. We’re proud to partner with Women Photograph and further expand our existing program with this important new grant aimed specifically at nurturing talent and elevating the work of all photojournalists.”

The panel of judges include renowned directors and editors of photography from various media platforms including The New York Times, NBC, The Intercept, Women Photograph and Getty Images. Here is the full list:

— Mallory Benedict, Managing Director,Women Photograph and Photo Editor, National Geographic

— Sandy Ciric, Director of Photography,Getty Images

— Shaminder Dulai, Managing Editor,NBC Left Field

— Sandra Stevenson, Picture Editor,The New York Times

— Ariel Zambelich, Senior Photo Editor,The Intercept

“The Reportage Grants are open to all entrants, awarding sums of $15,000 to three separate recipients in support of new or ongoing in-depth photography projects, providing the creative freedom and collaborative editorial support necessary to pursue work of personal and journalistic significance.”

The award was made possible through a partnership with Women Photograph, a platform launched to promote female and non-binary voices in photography.

Founder of Women Photograph, Daniella Zalcman spoke of the important partnership with Getty. She said,

“Our partnership with Getty Images brings us one step closer to achieving our mission of shifting the gender makeup of the photojournalism community and ensuring our industry’s chief storytellers are as diverse as the communities they hope to represent.”

We are all hyped to see who will be chosen for this year’s program. Entries will be accepted until May 15th and winners will be announced at the end of this year.

For more information on Getty Images Grants program, peep here.

Forget the “Tide Pod Challenge,” there are three wavier trends consumers will be most responsive to this year based on creative research conducted by Getty Images.

According to Getty Images’ 2018 Visual Trends, commercialized eye candy is looking to be reshaped by what Getty coined as ‘Masculinity Undone,’ ‘Second Renaissance,’ and ‘Conceptual Realism’  in 2018. This is very reputable research as Getty has been in the visual trend methodology game for 20 plus years. Now, that’s a pioneer.

The data collected for this year’s predictions is based on one billion customer searches and 400 million downloads from the photo agency’s website each year.

This data won’t go to waste. Media, advertisers, brands, and businesses use Getty Images’ visual trends forecast as a guide to a changing, developing, and increasingly digital world.

Andy Saunders, senior vice president of creative content at Getty Images, claimed in a statement that this year holds an optimistic vision of change. He said,

“It’s encouraging then that the visual trends we anticipate being important to brands and businesses in 2018 behold a sense of optimism: a vision of change, of new heroes and unrelenting creativity. For many people who were previously invisible, whose faces or bodies weren’t included in the mainstream media, this is important…”

One change looking to surface in mainstream media is men, shown in “complex gentle and emotionally astute ways.” Thus, giving way to ‘Masculinity Undone.’

The way masculinity is portrayed in mass media is outdated. So outdated that in the UK the Advertising Standards Authority announced a new rule banning gender stereotyping in order to tackle “harmful and outdated practices.”

Europe is not the only side of the globe catching on either. Getty Images’ data revealed that customer image searches for ‘gay dads’ saw an increase of 53 percent, ‘Man meditation’ 126 percent and ‘Single Father’ by 60 percent.

This only proves that the one-dimensional outlook of how masculinity is viewed in media is changing and people are becoming more receptive to more vulnerable depictions.

Alongside changes in the masculinity portrayed in media, another prediction made by the visual trend study was the coming of a ‘Second Renaissance.’

Getty Images’ research pointed to a kind of reawakening as people are looking for new and more creative ways to snap a photograph. Why? It has never been easier to snap a high-resolution photo.

This trend has been most prevalent in the BAME (Black, Asian, Minority, Ethnic)  community as photographers are trashing stereotypical aesthetics and clutching onto “a more positive, culturally rich narrative.”

According to the data, demand for this style of work is hot in the streets. Currently image searches for ‘luxury abstract’ are up 186 percent and ‘Vintage Portrait’ 94 percent.

Lastly, we are in the age of social media, which allows us to see authentic imagery in real time. This has created an upsurge of creativity amongst photographers in the fashion and art industries. That upsurge is ‘Conceptual Realism’

https://giphy.com/gifs/art-artists-on-tumblr-digital-LjpMu3OHTt5fy

Conceptual realism as Getty Images describes is “a combination of evolving long-term visual trends, new technology, and the public’s current skepticism to take things at their face value.”

Using a dash of the unusual, a sprinkle of real, and a pinch of the relatable creators are using this recipe to connect with consumers on another level and it’s working.

Getty Images’ 2018 Visual Trends data revealed that searches for ‘unexpected concept’ were up 116 percent, while those for ‘reality’ were up 176 percent proving that ‘Conceptual Realism’ is the way of the future.

All of these trends and image search data also highlighted some global issues. Research from the trend study showed the need for more advertised ‘diversity and inclusion’ as searches for the term was up by 917 percent.

https://giphy.com/gifs/blackgirlmagic-xT8qBhQOSeQpZZHWco

Another plus, image searches for ‘LGBTQ’ swelled too, seeing an 809 percent increase along with searches for ‘Multi-ethnic family’ up 385 percent and ‘Cultural Diversity’ up 252 percent.

What was the concerning data? Image searches relating to stress and anxiety in men saw a significant increase.

‘Teen suicide’ rose 429 percent, ‘emotional stress’ by 263 percent and ‘emotional abuse’ by 110 percent. Sheesh! ‘Man stressed’  also rose by 105%, ‘Depression Man’ 31 percent and ‘man looking worried’ by 100 percent.

It’s obvious we have a global mental health issue and the trend data showed exactly that suggesting that there was an increased global focus on mental wellness, with those for ‘mental health’ up by 174 percent and ‘mental health awareness’ up by 258 percent.

Should we be looking forward to a new era of advertising? We sure think so. This is definitely something that needs to happen as we enter a very obscure age in humanity.

To flip through the fifth iteration of Getty Images’ 2018 Visual Trends report click here. 

Getty Images and Instagram are changing the lives of three photographers for the third year in a row. How?

They’ve awarded India-based photojournalist, Saumya Khandelwal; LA-based documentary photographer, Isadora Kosofsky; and Arkansas-based photographer Nina Robinson with $10,000 grants.

That’s not all the three grant winners will receive. Khandelwal, Kosofsky, and Robinson will also have the opportunity to showcase their work at the Getty Images Gallery in London from October 24 to November 4.

Plus a mentorship from a world-class Getty Images photojournalist. It’s lit.

All three photographers have something about their artistic eye that made them stand out of the other several thousand photographers, videographers, and visual artists that applied for the grant.

India-based photojournalist, Saumya Khandelwal

Muskaan*, 14 years old, waits for the groom at her wedding. This is Shravasti district, Uttar Pradesh. It’s got some of the worst, and most alarming statistics on child marriage in India. Consider this: “couples” in the age group of 10-19 have produced six million children. And Uttar Pradesh leads with the highest number of children born to underage parents at 1 million. . ‘Child Brides of Shravasti’ is a long term project that observes how child marriage changes the lives of young girls. The project is supported by National Foundation of India. *name changed #childbride #childmarriage #girlchild #girleducation #reportagespotlight #creativeimagemagazine #burnmagazine #lenculture #natgeo #indiaphotostory #indiaphotoproject #unicef #unfpa #girlsnotbrides #saumyakhandelwalphotos

A post shared by Saumya Khandelwal (@khandelwal_saumya) on Sep 8, 2017 at 11:10am PDT

Khandelwal has used her photojournalistic skills to bring social issues, including gender and the environment, to the surface.

Her project, ‘Child Brides of Shravasti’, particularly touched the hearts of the grant’s judges.

The images tell the stories of young girls who are forced into marriage at a very young age. Her pictures capture a pure and devastating emotion.

Imagine being a pre-teen on the verge of entering one of the most important phases of adulthood.

Khandelwal uses Instagram as a tool in order to portray her insightful images in the most real way possible.

Her work depicts how the lives of these innocent girls from Uttar Pradesh, India drastically change after child marriage.

LA-based documentary photographer, Isadora Kosofsky

Bianca, age 87, 2013. My best friend Bianca who I have been documenting for 10 years. She is a unique figure in my life who is both a photographic subject and a friend. We met in a coffee shop in Los Angeles in 2007 where I would go do homework. A year into our friendship, she was diagnosted with Dementia. Shortly after, she was placed in a retirement home. Bianca has no family other than a daughter who does not want a relationship with her. After so many years, we’ve basically adopted each other. Bianca had a career as a Flamenco dancer for 20 years and then was a seamstress until she was 80. On the first day I met Bianca, she asked me what my passion was. I told her it was documentary photography. She responded, “oh good. You will never be lonely.” Bianca’s favorite song is Blue Moon. The project about Bianca is both a photo series and video multimedia (a visual diary) titled Blue Moons of Bianca, which I have yet to share. Sunday is usually the day that I visit Bianca, but cannot today, so I share an image of her. #bianca #seniors #aging #documentary #bluemoon #elderlywomen #seniorrights #dementia #dementiaawareness

A post shared by Isadora Kosofsky (@isadorakosofsky) on Apr 30, 2017 at 3:37pm PDT

Wow!

Kosofsky’s aesthetic is like a breath of fresh air. Her creative touch has documented social issues from a humanistic standpoint.

She has been able to capture life on camera.

Kosofsky was selected because of her heart-touching images encompassing aging, poverty, mental health, and substance abuse.

How could she not stand out? Damn.

Arkansas-based photographer, Nina Robinson

Every time I see this photograph, I think of the celebration of beauty within in us — our hair, our skin, our magic. When we’re younger, we often lose sight of those natural parts of us that we didn’t think was beautiful, to begin with. We question our identity, our self-worth and where we fit into this world. Then one day you wake up. In this image, cousin Jayla gets her hair done by her mother before a birthday party.

A post shared by An Arkansas Family Album (@arkansasfamilyalbum) on Oct 24, 2017 at 2:52pm PDT

The whole point to the Getty Images Instagram Grant is to bring to light creatives who use Instagram to document stories from underrepresented communities around the world.

Robinson embodies this premise. She uses her photography skills to document the everyday life of her own family in rural Arkansas.

Her project, ‘An Arkansas Family Album’, tells the story of loss, love, and tradition in a rural Black Southern community.

Swedish photographer, Nora Lorek, came close and received an Honorable Mention from the judging panel

Phone by Julius Caesar, 8 Helicopter by Maita Alafi, 6 Radio by Ronald Juma, 9 Soldier with weapon by Isaac Ladu, 10 Doll by Kiden Dorris, 13 Laptop by Steven Joel, 5 Toys made by some of the kids from South Sudan who’ve been living in Bidibidi refugee settlement for almost a year. On assignment for @natgeo July/August 2017.

A post shared by Nora Lorek (@noralorek) on Aug 17, 2017 at 1:23pm PDT

Lorek’s work hasn’t gone unnoticed. Her photographic candor in Uganda and work with South Sudanese refugees will forever be respected.

These photographers are touching souls with their lenses. Follow them on their journey to success.

Who knows? Maybe next time you’ll be chosen.