Practical Photography

From a design point of view it is has always been useful to just go to a stock photography website, type in a keyword for the brief I was working on and quickly download a relevant image. Simple, cheap and quick, you have a quality image for your work and can send it off to print no worries.
But this trend is the easy option. You get a suitable image for the job, but what about all the other projects that have a similar generic keyword. It seems that designers are getting lazy. Everywhere you go, looking through publications, leaflets, websites etc, you see the same stock imagery. I appreciate that when working to a deadline it can be hard to get a photographer to organise a shoot for the image you had in mind, and often other factors need to be considered such as weather, models and such, but as a designer I like my work to be unique and individual.
This use of stock photography seems to limit creativity, fair enough you get a picture that fits but is it really the most imaginative solution or the best aesthetically that will fit the brief and set the work apart from your competitors.
Don’t get me wrong stock websites are useful, and I myself have uploaded my own photos and illustrations for a few extra pennies. I just wish less so called professionals would use stock photos on such a regular basis. I’m sick of seeing the same images everywhere and for work to be published or put online then really have a bit of respect for yourself and do it yourself!