VISUAL TRENDS: When is a ‘house’ a Home?

Last night I read a report on the visual trends in stock image sales published by Getty Images. It hightlights a shift in the idea of ‘Home’. According to their analysis of client keyword searches, Getty suggests there is a move away from the idea of a house as a ‘lifestyle’ decision or an ‘investment’, to the idea of the house as Home. No longer simply a ’space’ which can be designed and managed, the Home is a place with its own set of meanings: symbols such as ‘dwelling’, ‘retreat’, ‘freedom’.

With the keyword ‘house’ now appearing as one of the top ten search terms on Getty’s website, this change in emphasis has clear implications for the stock photographer. My natural inclination is to rethink how I will look at houses when shooting stock.

Feel free to give an example of what you’ve done and share your lessons in comments below so we can all improve our photo techniques!

Take a look at Getty’s report.

‘Home: The Visual Benchmark in The Recession’ (pdf), Getty Images, 2008

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