VisualGPS Creative Trends Culture Repicturing Rural: New Visuals for Rural Life in the US

Today marks a significant milestone for us as a Creative team. We are launching our very first collection and a corresponding playbook for marketers, media publishers, agencies, and beyond, focused on reimagining visuals of rural United States. This work was a true labor of collaboration and care amongst many individuals within Getty Images and our partners over at Land O’ Lakes Inc. And I personally am thrilled and full of immense pride to see it out in the world. So, how did this project come to be?

As all our work does, it started with several questions. What counts as a rural place? Who gets to define what it means to be rural? What stories do we overlook about the rural experience? At first, I wondered how exactly we would answer them, but thanks to the Land O’ Lakes team, we were not starting from scratch.

Their research uncovered some key crucial insights that grounded our own work:

• Rural is not the opposite of “urban”
• It’s more diverse than is often depicted
• Industry looks different, but exists and thrives
• Community and connection are the heartbeat of rural life

Our team’s challenge became answering whether these realities are reflected in the imagery used most frequently by the brands, media, agencies, and other major players in visual culture. Then, looking at the ways in which our existing pre‑shot library or content we planned to create on behalf of Land O’ Lakes through our Custom Content team could fill whatever visual gaps we encountered.

Despite some estimates that 87.4% of US land is considered “rural” and some 20% of the population lives there,¹ according to Getty Images' VisualGPS research, only 5% of popular visuals are set in rural places. When visuals do focus on rural stories, what is seen are outdated and limiting clichés that belie the richness and expansiveness of rural experiences. 

On rural people

Visual stereotype: People are not likely to appear in visuals depicting rural places, and when they are, it’s often outdoors rather than showcasing the interiority of their lives at home, amongst their loved ones, doing the activities of everyday life we all experience. 

Our opportunity: To highlight visuals that focused on real rural people of all backgrounds, their intimate relationships—be it their families, their partners, their friends—and the authentic aspects of their everyday lives, whether at home, or at work.

On rural places

Visual stereotype: Rural places are more likely to be depicted as uninhabited, sprawling, sunny landscapes in only a select sliver of the United States: The American West. Yet, rural towns and small cities, exist at every corner of the country, each with their own distinct natural features and unique built structures, and habits of settlement.

Our opportunity: To showcase rural places as more than passive backgrounds and instead emphasize the myriad ways places around the country are ecologically and industrially diverse.

On rural activities

Visual stereotype: Activities of everyday life in rural places exclusively center on either taking in the great outdoors—usually alone—or doing agricultural work.

Our opportunity: To focus on the varied experiences that make up a “life well lived” in rural places, from working, to going to school, to visiting your local doctor, to doing things that bring comfort and joy!

This is only a sliver of what we uncovered in our research. The scope of what’s needed to spark change for rural storytelling is vast, and full of possibility. We believe in the power of imagery to disrupt narratives about communities often unseen and here’s a richness in rural life that is ready to be made more visible. Join us in this work today!

Sources
[1]  HRSA