Imaginary

Bi-plane Air Show

7/23/18

    The topic for the week of the above challenge was dramatic skies, and the suggested starting image was these pink and blue clouds from unsplash.com. The largest plane is a FK 23 Bantam Frits Koolhoven, 1918 Rijks NG-2011-1 displayed in the Rijks Museum in The Netherlands (their photo). The other two bi-planes are from pixabay.com. A big thumbs-up goes to Vickey for masking the Bantam and sharing with the rest of us in Pixel Fight Club Continues.

Adobe’s Create blog from January 8, 2018, NOT ANOTHER FREE IMAGE CLICK-BAIT ARTICLE By Terri Stone tells about several real places to get public domain images. Of those, National Gallery of Art, Getty Museum, Walters Art Museum, NASA, NOOA and Rijks Museum. I find the Dutch museum the most interesting. Here’s what Terri says about the Rijks Museum: 

In late 2012, the museum began a bold experiment by not only making it possible to download high-quality files of its collection, but by actively encouraging people to do so.

The Rijks’ Linda Volkers explains: “By allowing people to use and remix our collection, our art gets new relevance in today’s world. People we call ‘culture snackers’ don’t necessarily go to museums, but they like beautiful things. When they see and enjoy our art online, they are connected to it even though they don’t visit in person. It pulls down barriers. You don’t have to know everything about this piece of art. If you look at it and have a nicer day and are inspired to do something with the art, it’s good for the people and for us.“

The Rijks Museum’s brand-awareness plan has paid off; for example, participation in the Rijksstudio Award, for which contestants make a new creation inspired by a museum piece, has exploded in numbers and global reach since it began in 2014. (“In 2017, our top 10 entries were from 9 countries,” says Volkers.)

But let’s get back to what you really care about—the freebies. To get an image, browse the website, and when you see something you like, simply click the scissor icon to download it. The only requirement is that you first register for a free account called a Rijksstudio. You can browse by artist, style, subject matter, and more. Most of the collection is no longer under copyright, but if you stumble across the odd outlier, you’ll see a “not available to download” message.