In this post, we are going to discuss opening an Unsplash account for your church brand. Whaaaatttt?! Have you heard of Unsplash? It’s a great gift to your design team. Unsplash.com is disrupting the stock photo marketplace. It is 100% free, 100% Commercial Use photography that has been gifted to the world of creative works by countless independent photographers.
Their manifesto reads: “Unsplash was formed as the antithesis to the stock media experiences available at the time. Instead of vast libraries, licensed and presented for commercial buyers, we focused on pushing the impact of photography further than ever before by making original, high-resolution images available for anyone to use for anything.”
So what does all this have to do with creating an Unsplash account for your Church Brand?
Photography can be very impactful. A picture is worth a thousand words as they say. We’re wired to respond emotionally to imagery. Powerful images can be used to marry people’s emotions to your brand, building a relationship.
Having an Unsplash Account of your church brand can quickly spread your impact in images around the world as creative people download and use your images to remix and create with. It can also help you internally by creating an easy online go-to collection for your creative team. Most importantly you can use impactful photography to illustrate the Gospel in pictures to people everywhere.
Creating an Impact Worldwide Through Photography
You might be thinking, “How does giving my church’s photography to other creatives to use help my church?” More than likely other churches, Christian publications, and church organizations will be the main audience using your photography as it will be Christian oriented. This is an opportunity for you to spread your church’s unique culture to others through the lens of the camera.
This could create a very positive impact on those organizations. It is also possible to create a more positive view of the church, and Christian themes in general through the right photography. Also consider this: you are helping churches, missionaries, and other organizations that don’t have the money to hire or buy photography that really meets their needs in conveying the Gospel.
By giving away photography from your ministry you are essentially partnering with countless organizations in helping spread the Gospel globally and visually.
Creating an Impact Locally
By having a branded Unsplash Account and posting your best work you are creating a library for your Creative Team to reference anytime they need a quick photo for a project. Sure you can have a hard drive, or internal server and host thousands of photos for your team to crawl through searching for the right photo.
But if your Unsplash account has the best of the best of your collection and it is all photos that are on point with how you want to communicate your brand visually then it will become the go-to for your creative team internally.
Anyone who wants to represent your brand in the community as a brand ambassador can use this library as well. You know that church member who wants to create a facebook event for something going on at the church and then uses something they found on google images to represent it. ???? Well, now you can redirect them to an Unsplash account for your church brand.
How do you create an Unsplash account for your Church Brand?
It’s free to start an account in the name of your church or organization. Sign up and add some photos. It’s that simple. There are some photography standards that you will have to follow. They need to be a good quality hi-res photo. You can learn more about their standards here.
Here are a few of my personal tips on what photography you should post.
- Use photography that features your worship service, your events, and your outreach.
- Make sure that the people in your photography agree to allow you to use their photo. Because the photos are free for anyone to use your subject may find his or her own photo on a billboard.
- Take photos with other churches in mind. Consider how another organization might use a photo and what kind of photography they might need.
- Keep your photos on point with your brand. This is not about making sure your logo in every photo, but it is making sure that the ethos of your brand is conveyed visually.
- Take community shots. Show off locations around your city. Show your impact in the community around you. This is especially useful when reaching out locally. Show your community through images that you are proud to be a part of it.
- Think like a designer when taking a photo. Designers love it when a photo both illustrates the subject matter and has plenty of white space for text and design elements.
Verified Accounts
Brands are eligible to become verified on Unsplash. Verified brands receive a blue verified badge on their Unsplash profile. Currently, this is only in beta and has not been rolled out to the public. But you can contact them to request a verified badge for your brand account at [email protected].
In conclusion. If you have the ability to create high-quality photography of your brand. I recommend adding a branded Unsplash account to your brand strategy.
Check Out Our Podcast where we Interview Unsplash User Ben White.
Ben White: World Famous Christian Stock Photographer [Podcast #208]
Paul Steinbrueck says
Interesting idea. I use Unsplash quite a bit but never thought of posting church pics to it.
Benjamin Smith says
Every church has a unique brand voice and a unique perspective on the Gospel. This would be a great opportunity for you to spread that brand voice and perspective to others while also contributing to making high-quality visual representations of the Gospel available to partners worldwide.
Blessing Mpofu says
This is brilliant Ben. I love the simplicity of churches serving other churches with what they’re already doing. Some great Kingdom building stuff here Ben. ????????