Driving positive change on both sides of the camera with Christina Vaughan

Credit: Adobe Stock/Amin McDonald/Cultura Creative.

For Christina Vaughan, photography is not only an art form, but an opportunity to celebrate diversity — and champion it within her own industry. Vaughan is the founder of Cultura Creative, a stock photography agency that represents authentic, inclusive imagery, both in stills and video.

Born in Sheffield in the north of England, Vaughan’s father was a steel worker, and her mother came from the Mizo tribe of northeast India.

“Tigers used to come and sleep under the house she was born in,” says Vaughan. “In the morning, they would be gone, you'd never see them. But you'd see their footsteps, and that's a little bit about life. We know things are there, and we don't see them, but it shouldn't stop us believing that they're there.”

Realizing dreams together

As she was growing up, Vaughan’s mother taught her to look for the opportunity, not the obstacle. When she went overseas and began working in photography, Vaughan realized that there were not many women in the industry — and even fewer women of mixed heritage. Returning to London, she resolved that from that point on, she would create work that truly represents our world today.

In recent years, social injustices throughout the US and the world, coupled with personal milestones and the pressure of lockdown during the pandemic, inspired Vaughan to not only document diversity. She felt called to take more action to encourage that diversity wherever she could.

“It was like a bolt of lightning that I needed to do something to bring about change,” she says. “I wanted to create an agency that was very inclusive, where people would feel comfortable and safe.”

And so Vaughan’s agency Cultura Creative was born in 2021.

A celebration of diversity

The Cultura Creative Adobe Stock portfolio includes photos and videos of people with disabilities, LGBTQIA+ community, people of color, and people of mixed heritage. Vaughan is committed to putting more diverse individuals behind the camera as well.

Her company is dedicated to working not only with diverse content creators, but also with make-up artists, stylists, producers, and editors from the BIPOC community to create an entirely inclusive stock collection.

“We want to recruit, train, encourage, and develop photographers and videographers from this background to create content,” she says. “Let's make sure all these voices are heard.”

What sets Cultura Creative’s images apart from ways that diversity is typically portrayed? One quality that immediately shines through is optimism. According to Vaughan, optimism and love of life were among the most important qualities of both her parents. Vaughan took this outlook to heart and has instilled it within her own agency and its work.

“Often what you see in news and press is the downside of diversity,” she says. “You see the problems, and we're not ignoring those, but we also feel there's so much to celebrate in these communities. For example, within my family and culture, food is a really big thing. Sometimes we don't see the celebrations based around family values, food, togetherness, and community. We are seeking to celebrate that in our imagery.”

Vaughan is proud that her employees are living and breathing the values of her company, and that is evident in the images that viewers see.

A valued partnership

Adobe Stock has worked closely with Cultura Creative almost since the company’s inception, and Vaughan is encouraged by the collaboration.

“One thing I've learned over these many years is you can't do things on your own,” she says. “If you really want to make an impact and drive change, it's important to collaborate, share, and work with like-minded corporations and individuals to help achieve those aims.”

Vaughan especially values the data-driven insights that Adobe Stock offers her organization.

“Adobe Stock has access to so much data and intelligence around the needs and requirements of designers and art buyers across the world,” she says. “They understand what the market wants, and they share that intelligence with us, as well as ideas and creative briefs. It feels like a true collaboration.”

Always looking forward, Vaughan is confident that the best is yet to come.

“I get more excited about the work we produced in this last year than I produced over the last 25 years because it feels like it's living and it's vibrant, and it's alive, and it's changing and it's evolving even as we shoot it,” she says. “I'd like to think with Cultura, that anybody could look at me and the team and feel that they could realize their dreams, that there are barriers in this world, but we can overcome them. And that if you pursue your dreams, you'll find a way.”

Explore the full collection of stock photography and footage from Cultura Creative on Adobe Stock.