After two tumultuous and unpredictable years, 2022 was about learning to live in the unknown. At the beginning of the year, we offered our community creative briefs and a set of values to guide them in this time of open opportunity and everlasting flux. Our clients came to us looking for ways to convey meaning for their brands with notable tone shifts and evolving human interactions. Regardless of genre or style, 2022’s values, forces, and drives showed us themes that we can all tap into now and well into the new year.
In 2022 we sensed a change in our client’s needs: more than ever, the emotional content of “aspiration” shifted. Safety, sustainability, and equality were now our greatest and most pressing goals. Compassion and optimism felt necessary. So too, did honesty and fresh perspectives.
There was a demonstrated need for human stories expressed in raw, imperfect, candid, and authentic ways. We saw an appetite for humor and fun again, and with it, vibrant and energetic tones. And nobody could ignore the great increase in first-person-POV, user-generated content (UGC), and less-produced aesthetics, reflecting the status of social media as a primary touchpoint in our lives and its influence on visual culture.
The state of flux in our society has been regenerative for creativity. To celebrate our artists and their incredible work, we’re sharing the best Stocksy photos, videos, and illustrations of 2022 and the values we all hold dear.
Hope
Let your brand visuals radiate a sense of hope and optimism with stock images and footage that uplift.
Authenticity
Promote authentically diverse work with stock images and footage that provide fresh interpretations of contemporary concepts and new perspectives.
Significance
Capture the pivotal and profound moments in life with poignant and sincere stock images and footage.

Vision
Use forward-thinking stock content to imagine a future driven by creativity and innovation.
Energy
Bring your campaign to life with dynamic and kinetic visual story-telling.
Conscience
Reflect your progressive values with stock content that illuminates social and environmentally conscious messages.
Connection
Bring people, concepts and ideas together with stock images and footage that touch on our drive for connection.
The everyday
Celebrate the small, routine, imperfect moments that make up daily life and make us all human.
Vibrance
Elevate your platform with bold, bright and vivid stock visuals that resonate with energy and capture the on-trend “the heightened look.”
Play
Don’t be boring. Stand out from the crowd with stock images and footage that embrace humor and plain out weirdness.
Community
But really, the most important ingredient is each other. Stocksy’s community is here to help you tell a story about your community.