Photography & representation
People, places,
and the stories between them.
Clearly brings the world into view so we can understand one another and the systems we share. Every photograph should help make a real connection while respecting the lives within it.
Editorial standard · October 19, 2026
A person.A life beyond the frame, with agency and dignity.
A place.A real setting with its own history and context.
A moment.A particular time, never automatically the present.
The purpose in 2026
A shared world.
Room for difference.
A street, a classroom, a workplace, a gathering: each can reveal something about how life is organized. Our aim is to make those connections understandable while keeping the particular people and places recognizable on their own terms.
Global representation belongs here. So do joy, expertise, care, disagreement, creativity, work, and ordinary life. A photograph earns its place through what it helps us understand.
This is the standard guiding Clearly’s continuing review. It is not a claim that every image across every connected project has already been verified.
How we choose and present photographs
Context is part of the image.
Give people their agency.
Show people as participants in their own lives. Avoid turning a face or a community into a generic symbol of need, confusion, failure, or virtue. Include the range of things people do and make.
Keep the place and moment clear.
Name verified locations and dates near the photograph. A global scene belongs with its own context. A local service should use imagery of that service or a clearly explained illustration. Archive images do not establish current conditions.
Let the evidence set the meaning.
Describe what the source and image support. Do not assign a pictured person an opinion, financial situation, diagnosis, service need, or experience we have not verified. An illustrative question is not their testimony.
Consider permission and dignity separately.
Check the photographer’s license and the people’s interests as distinct questions. A copyright license does not establish subject consent, agreement with our message, or endorsement of Clearly. Unknown permission remains unknown.
Give children additional care.
Consider privacy, age, the intended use, the child’s interests, and available child and guardian permission. When context or permission is unclear, use a better documented alternative. Identifiable children should not carry an unrelated brand message.
Preserve the meaning of the frame.
Check desktop and mobile crops. Keep details needed to understand the scene, credit the creator, link the source and license, and disclose alterations. Generated imagery must be identified as illustration and must not stand in for documentary evidence.
Keep the choice open to examination.
Record why the image belongs, what is verified, and what remains uncertain. Revisit the choice when the surrounding story changes. A beautiful photograph can still be the wrong photograph for a particular question.
The first review · three specific cases
What careful context changes.
These source checks inform the current editorial decisions. They describe the uses being reviewed; they do not make claims about the people pictured.
A community gathering
Mozambique has its own story.
The source identifies a community meeting in Mozambique, photographed by Tom Cat King on April 16, 2016. It does not establish a connection to Riverside City Hall or identify the meeting’s purpose.
Editorial decision: retire its use as the picture for a Riverside City Hall problem. Any retained global use needs a visible Mozambique caption and a connection grounded in the documented scene.
Original photograph and record · Tom Cat King · CC BY-SA 4.0
A university campus
Students in a specific place.
The campus photograph shows Southern Arkansas University students outside the science building on April 25, 2012. The source does not connect those students to Victor Valley College or establish anything about their financial aid.
Editorial decision: retire this image from VVC-specific and aid-confusion pairings. A broader education use must identify the actual campus and avoid assigning an experience to the students.
Original photograph and record · Cdbrice00 · CC BY-SA 3.0
An adult and child
Warmth still needs context.
The source for “Mother and child smiling” credits 20masum and supplies a copyright license, but lacks a meaningful description or location. Its summary and embedded dates conflict. Subject and guardian permission for Clearly’s use is not established by the available record.
Editorial decision: retire the image from generic human, family, and brand placements while context and permission remain unresolved. This is a choice about appropriate representation, not a finding about the photographer or family.
Original photograph and record · 20masum · CC BY-SA 4.0
A decision to retire a use is distinct from confirming its removal everywhere. The review record separates source findings, editorial decisions, and implementation checks.
A reviewable record
Keep the reason with the photograph.
The record below covers this standard and the three source checks above. Other images and independently hosted Clearly projects need their own review.
Open the standard and review record ↗- What the photograph depicts, with verified place and date.
- Its purpose in the specific page or story.
- Creator, original source, copyright license, and modifications.
- Subject permission evidence, recorded separately from copyright.
- Unsupported implications to avoid, including implied endorsement.
- Review scope, decision, and remaining verification.
