20+ Wacky Stock Photos That Are a Form of Modern Art

Ally Perry • Writer and Editor

Feb 18, 2024 6:00 AM EST

Stock photography is one of those things that has only got better with age. What started a hundred years ago as a way to make magazine articles more eye-catching has blossomed into a massive internet phenomenon and a long-standing inspiration for memes. Despite having a pretty utilitarian purpose on paper, photographers make stock images out of the wildest things. In fact, some can make you ponder what purpose they were created for at all.

I'm not saying this like it's a bad thing. On the contrary, that is the true beauty of them. Perhaps their real intention was to be gawped at in a list like this. Seeing most of the examples below, that's easy to imagine. More than anything, they belong in some kind of modern art museum as opposed to the feral backwaters of the internet. Perhaps one day, somebody enterprising is going to make that happen for them.