Please note: This section is an overview, written in plain language to provide basic information about the TECstock service. Before you use the site, please take time to review the full Terms of Service and Privacy Policy pages. Those pages provide great information and details about the service, and it’ll make the team of lawyers who wrote them feel really special.
What is this TECstock thing?
We’re so glad you asked! In fact, asking is what made TECstock a reality. For years, we’ve heard from communicators across The Episcopal Church that when they searched online for pictures of churches and worship and holidays, nothing they found ever looked like their parishes or services of Holy Eucharist. Requests for a usable, categorized, searchable home for images has been our most requested service. These requests were the catalyst for TECstock’s creation.
We know there are great photos out there – The Episcopal Church is full of talented folks capturing beautiful shots of worship, and community gatherings, and incredible spaces. But the missing link has been a platform to share this media with the world. Until now.
TECstock is a completely free, community-sourced platform for images (and in the future, other media) capturing the life and complexity and diversity of The Episcopal Church. Whether you worship in a gothic-style cathedral, coffee shop, or modern space, we believe that the photos you use should look like, well, your church. To do that, we need your eyes, your perspectives, and your images.
Where do the images come from?
TECstock is crowd-sourced.
That means the images in these galleries come from the Church community. Instead of relying on a few images provided by the Church Center, we’ve developed a place for all of the photographers across the Church to share their best work in curated galleries.
Anyone with an account can upload their photos for consideration and use. Uploads must be high quality images, and up to 15 images can be uploaded at one time.
When images are uploaded, they go into a queue that is reviewed by a member of The Episcopal Church Office of Communications team. The best images are selected and made available for download and use by the public.
Can anyone use this service?
Yes! Anyone is free to create an account, and download or share photos. All you need to do is register here and you’re good to go. Note that creating an account requires you to agree to the TECstock Terms of Service, which lay out all the details about how to use the platform.
How much does it cost?
This is our favorite part. TECstock is a completely free service, provided by The Episcopal Church Office of Communication.
How can photos downloaded from TECstock be used?
Photos can be downloaded and used by any registered TECstock user without restriction.
This part is really, really important: When a TECstock user uploads photos to the platform, they acknowledge that they have the rights to upload and distribute the photo, and that they have collected any necessary waivers from subjects of the photo. We can’t stress this enough – the burden of photo copyright is on the uploader. Please read the entire Terms of Service for TECstock before uploading any photos, and if you’re not absolutely sure that you have the proper permissions and rights to share the image, don’t upload it.
About Photo Attribution
Attribution is not required for photos downloaded from TECstock, but it’s always a nice way to say thank you to the photographer. Photographers are listed alongside each image if that information is provided by the user uploading the photo.