3 Great Sites for Searching for Images & 2 Additional Sites to Explore

1) Etsy: http://www.etsy.com/
While this is a site for artists and craftsmen to sell their original work, it also serves as a treasure trove of imagery! The member-curated galleries bring together objects (and images of the object!) that are connected by a theme. It’s like browsing other people’s inspiration boards with the option to buy!

2) Oobject: http://www.oobject.com/
Although it’s not searchable, this is a good site for warming up your creative juices by looking at themed lists of images of objects. The themes are usually very amusing! Since it’s object-themed you can see lists of “vintage hairdryers” and “12 iron lungs.” However you can also see lists of photographs and video, such as “images of the worlds largest crowds” and “videos of plane landing from the cockpit.”

3) VidQue: http://vidque.com/
Brings together videos from YouTube, Vimeo, TED, and Blip.tv into one searchable site. You can also explore via categories. Like many sites that allow you to network with friends by sharing favorites, VidQue describes their method to narrowing search results as: “Rather then simply analyzing a popularity of each video, we treat each user as a unique individual allowing for a successful and rewarding video discovery experience over time.”

Some additional sites to explore:

4) StumbleUpon: http://www.stumbleupon.com/
Another good way to discover interesting websites. As you visit sites you can specify things that you like or don’t like and share with friends. It will also let you narrow your search to only images. One of my TAs spends a lot of spare time “stumbling” and swears by it. He always has at least one interesting site to share after a stumbling session!

5) Vimeo: http://www.vimeo.com/
From their website - “Vimeo is a respectful community of creative people who are passionate about sharing the videos they make.” It’s full of professional, original videos. People post short films and experimentations with cameras and video and can participate in online, collaborative video projects. My Audio/Video 2 students get a lot of good and challenging ideas for their projects from this site.