BigStock reached out to us about featuring their portfolio in our entries, and we had so much fun exploring, we wanted to share some of our favorite images. There are some seriously talented photographers at work in stock imagery.
There’s also a lot of gold to be mined when it comes to stock photos. Every month, we’ll share with you some great, beautiful, or downright silly things we’ve come across on BigStock. Beware of plot bunnies!
I’m taking over for this month’s theme because I was looking for an image to use for an upcoming (tomorrow!) discussion post. So I wondered (in the search bar, not out loud) What do people in Stock Image Land eat while they’re reading?
Well. I am GLAD I ASKED because there is some fascinating culinary choices and some outright tomfoolery happening.
Breakfast?
That’s quite a breakfast! We’ve got rolls, an open faced fried egg sandwich, almonds, juice, and fruit…but absolutely zero utensils. Massive amount of food, and no tools with which to eat it. I hope that’s not a library book because it’ll likely be returned with some evidence of that meal.
But hey, those are some excellent choices. Hope the book is as good as the meal.
Image credit: Makistock | BigStock
Pastry!
Often, when my thoughts turn to reading, they also turn to pastry.
Fine, fine, I won’t lie. My thoughts are often turning toward pastry. Sometimes they’re stuck on pastry. The readerly folks in Stock Image Land seem to agree!
Books and croissants?! Yes, please!
Look at the size of that croissant. That thing is massive. It’s a giant pillow of laminated pastry wonderment and I can’t believe there’s some left.
Image Credit: Farknot Architect | Bigstock
Croissant ahoy…except, what’s with the fork? And that massive end piece? Aren’t you supposed to use your hands and get flakes everywhere, including in the spine of the – ooooooh. That’s why y’all have forks. Very wise. Flakes + library books = No Good.
Photo credit: Makistock | Bigstock
Cookies!
Cookies make an ideal reading snack, right? They’re often the perfect size to fit in your hand, you can hold the book with one and mainline the Thin Mints with the other. And the fine people in Stock Image Land know what kind of cookies work.
I submit that those are Hydrox cookies, and eight seems like a decent number, though I’d probably have more because who has willpower when there’s sandwich cookies and milk, right? Also, I recognize that the reading material appears to be more of a report or magazine than a book, but cookies and milk go with everything, right?
Image credit: Dean Drobot | Bigstock
It is a truth universally acknowledged that the person who is teetering on a chair or step stool to take these types of images is never sufficiently acknowledged. Cheers and hats off to you, person who takes the overhead pictures! Those in knee socks, posed uncomfortably with a book and some cookies (and coffee?) salute you. Or they would if they had a hand free, but it looks like that hardcover is going to try to close if it’s not held open.
And yes, I do have concerns for crumbs and spills on those sheets but I accept that I am just really clumsy when I eat.
Image Credit: Herraez | Bigstock
Heck, yes, bowl full of cookies! Why don’t I put cookies in a bowl or ice cream dish? I need to start doing that. What style!
And I continue to ponder what’s in the other one. Cranberry sauce? Strawberry dipping sauce for the cookies, which might be macaroons? Some kind of compote? Either way, I’m hoping to be invited to hang out at this table.
Image credit: Lightfield Studios | Bigstock
Pizza.
Yes, clearly this isn’t a book she’s reading, though there are certainly folks who read on their laptops. I mainly grabbed this image because pizza is an excellent reading food, and I appreciated how she has the pizza on the left side, and the laptop on the right. No greasy fingerprints here!
Now I want pizza. Dammit.
Image Credit: Ilike | Bigstock
Sushi.
This is some very impressive dexterity – and I’m not just talking about the person perched on what I imagine is a well-used step ladder to take this image from due north of the subject. Eating sushi one-handed while reading is a level of skill I do not have, and I am in awe.
And now I want sushi, too. This is a dangerous pastime.
Image Credit: serkus | Bigstock
Chips, Crisps, Etc.
This image speaks to many parts of my metabolism, though I don’t always like potato chips (sometimes they have a really, really weird aftertaste). But we’ve got an e-reader mid-book, a big bag of chips, and a warm jacket, and this person is outside, too. I’m in! Why the bag is positioned for sharing, I do not know. Perhaps this person is more into sharing the salty snacks than I am? (I’m kidding, I’d totally share with you. Just no talking while we’re reading!)
Image Credit: kivitimof | Bigstock
Heckin’ Yeah, Big Dessert!
This person knows all the secrets: the colors coordinate, the reading is multi-platform, and the dessert (I think that’s a massive slice of cake in which case YES PLEASE) is mammoth. Also I love that sweater.
Image Credit: Zinkevyck | Bigstock
This image’s description is practically pornographic: “ice cream with chocolate waffles on top with almond and fruit.” A little precarious, but entirely delicious. LOOK AT THAT. Where can I get one!? Or four?!! I have a LOT of books to read, is what I’m saying, and why I didn’t start them with chocolate waffles, ice cream, and fruit, I do not know.
Image Credit: Chaay_Tee | Bigstock
Tomorrow we’re going to be talking about reading snacks, so ponder what your favorites are, because I want to hear all about them. Until then, thanks, BigStock!
Now I’m really, really hungry.
For “reading an e-book and eating chips on a park bench”, I’m not convinced those are her chips. The bag is positioned the way it is because she’s stealing someone else’s chips
I believe the “bowl of cookies” is really a bowl of scones, and the other bowl is jam of some kind?
This is always the problem with reading and eating. It seems like such a great idea, but unless your doing the hydrox cookies you are going to make a big mess. Just put the damned book down and eat that ice cream waffle thing! (I want to scream) And not to be too picky, but those are some weird toes on hydrox-girl. Scones is a brilliant deduction, I think that’s right, with homemade strawberry jam, which is why it’s not too red!
@Kathy. I agree about hydrox’s toes. They jumped right out at me, which is saying a lot about a picture with food in it. Then there’s the next one down. She’s wearing knee socks and an oversized sweater, which implies cold, but nothing in between?
And is that orange juice in the pizza shot? Who drinks orange juice with pizza? Although I admire her taste in laptops. I have the same one. Can’t do without my number pad on the keyboard.
The pizza place refused to put pineapple and ham on a pie, so Pizza Gal had to settle for Canadian bacon and pineapple juice.
Question of the day: When a woman is cold enough to require knee socks and a long-sleeve sweater, what does she use to cover her legs from knee to thigh? Answer: Nothing, of course.
Incidentally, I was actually eating a croissant and drinking a mango smoothie (breakfast of champions!) while reading this post.
I like the hydrox photo: the lighting/composition, the girl’s smile, her surprise. She has a fun look to her, too, not interchangeable. It all looks very natural… until I realize that her feet are up on the kitchen counter.
Time to hang out with scones and jam lady instead. Maybe text with cake woman on the side?
Breakfast Guy in #1 has two more pieces of bread, maybe in case he wants to make a regular sandwich? That will be messy with a sunny side up egg. And what would he do with the third piece of bread?
Forks with croissants in both pictures. Have I been eating croissants wrong?
Also, the gal on the bed has the book on her left, the coffee in her right hand, and the cookies on the left down by her ankles. That’s just asking for trouble.
Also also, to show real life, there needs to be a dog nearby drooling. Or a cat walking across the book and food.
I think Hydrox girl has yoga toes, ready to grip during the flows.
I just don’t think there are enough crumbs to make these realistic, although I’m liking Cake girl’s attitude!
I didn’t realize that reading in a oversized sweater /fleece with bare legs / no pants was such a thing, but we have two models doing just that.
I will never be as elegant, or as elegantly fed, as the residents of Stock Photo Land.
Excuse me while I curl up in my too-long pajama pants (I hate sewing, & it’s not like I’m leaving the house in them) & one of my husband’s 3XLT tees, eating my humble Girl Scout cookies straight out of the box.
These are all incredibly neat eaters because I see that no one has a cloth napkin or a color coordinated paper towel.
I rarely eat while reading. Too consumed by the book.
I can confirm that while hydrox’s toes do appear to be strangely long, they may not be photoshopped. I have several relatives who possess what we refer to as “orangutan toes”.
OK this might make me a freak but I do the sweatshirt and socks with sleep shorts thing all the time. I don’t like having a lot of fabric on my legs and as long as my arms and feet are warm so am I. Although, I don’t sit around on bed having photos taken from above.
And I agree with Kay. Who puts bare feet on a Kitchen counter, she is the person whose food you don’t eat at the potluck.
Why the bag is positioned for sharing, I do not know.
It’s because the model, like you, can spare a thought for the photographer.
I was told long ago by a friend who lived in Japan for many years that it is perfectly OK to eat sushi with your fingers. So the chopsticks are just for showing off, though admittedly they reduce peril to the book when you need to turn a page. Not that the risk is all that great, since she forgot to open the container of dipping sauce. (And, pssst, if you don’t want the pickled ginger, I’ll eat it.)
I like Cake Girl, Scone Lady, and that ice cream-and-waffle thing. Good thing it’s almost lunchtime.