When I’m not writing about church/culture/politics/sex-robots, occasionally I’m going to be blogging about blogging around here. I love writing, but I also really enjoy all the related web/social/design/networking that make up this whole crazy mess. So I guess this is a pretty good place to start, because every good blog/post should have good a good picture at the top.

Sometimes I’ve spent as much time combing through Flickr/DeviantArt/Google looking for a decent image I could use for a blog post as I did writing the actual words. In retrospect, I should have just spent $5 to buy a good image and move on with my life. But back then, I didn’t know about Lightstock. Hopefully I can spare you some of the pain I’ve experienced.

Lightstock is a stock photo company providing Christ-centered, royalty-free images to churches, bloggers, designers, and pretty much anybody else who wants great pictures. I came across Lightstock last month, and I’ve been really impressed with their product, their site, and their people. Here’s why I love them:

1. I love their photography.

In my line of work, I occasionally have need of stock photos. For years, this has meant clicking through dozens – or hundreds – of stale, corporate thumbnail images on big stock photo websites in hope of coming across the proverbial needle-in-a-haystack image that would actually be interesting, beautiful, and/or usable. But on Lightstock, I’ve actually enjoyed just browsing their library. If you’re lacking inspiration for a post/project, wandering through Lightstock’s collections might be a good place to mine ideas.

2. I love their website.

If you know me, you know I spend a lot of time on the internet. In the course of a day I see a lot of pretty websites and a lot of ugly websites. Lightstock is one of the pretty ones. It’s clean without being sterile and boring. Whether looking for a specific image or just browsing aimlessly, I’ve never gotten lost, confused, or assaulted with menus. This may seem like a strange reason to love a company, but if you’ve ever gotten mired in a terrible website whilst trying to find a decent picture, I think you’ll understand.

3. I love their people. 

I met Jon and Josh at the Echo Conference in Dallas last month. They’re both super cool guys. I like knowing there’s actual people with faces behind a company. Jon and Josh are those people.

So visit Lightstock. Browse their albums. If you like what you see, connect with them on Facebook and Twitter. When you’re ready to buy image credits, use this link for a 10% discount.

If you want to see more blog posts about blogging/social/web stuff, leave me a note in the comments!

Full disclosure: Lightstock advertises on Redemption Pictures, and I love that they do because they’re a good company and their ads look good on my site. But this isn’t a paid post, and all opinions are my own.