Is this the worst stock photo ever taken?

What you have below is, in many ways, a classic stock photo. In fact, person writing abstract concepts on mirror is what you might call a stock stock photo. This one’s useful for those times when you need an image to complement a tough-to-illustrate subject and you’re too busy, too cheap, and/or too careless to find something, anything else.

This particular iteration—with its realist (i.e. not great) handwriting and duder with vaguely Euro-style shirt (or is it Eastern?), chin hair, and a neck as thick as his head—is actually quite unique. The nationality of the subject is hard to trace (the shirt creates ambiguity, but I’d put him somewhere in Eastern Europe) and he doesn’t seem particularly bright, so you’re not sure if he’s writing these economic terms for our edification or his own. I suspect it’s the latter.

Is it the worst stock photo? No. It’s bad, but they get much, much worse.

See also: Women Laughing Alone with Salad

January 14, 2012