“One of the best ways for a brand to deepen their engagement with the 500px community is by challenging and inspiring them with unique creative briefs,” stated Andy Yang, CEO of 500px. Called Photo Quests, brands can provide a creative prompt and users can submit content for consideration.

Lonely Planet, a travel publisher, participated in the Photo Quest pilot program, sourcing much of the content for their recently published book “Toilets: A Spotter's Guide.” The book features 120 pages of toilets from the world’s most unusual restrooms. 

Some 840 photographers on the 500px platform participated in Lonely Planet’s Photo Quest, submitting 6,000 unique images for the book. Fifty images from that campaign were included in the book.

"We were able to source more photos for the book than we expected," stated Robin Barton, an associate publisher at Lonely Planet.

It’s a win/win for brands and 500px users alike—brands can gain some positive traction among 500px’s user base. Plus, it allows photographers a chance to have exposure on a much larger scale than they may readily have access to.

Brands like Canon and Meyer-Optik-Görlitz have also run Photo Quests on 500px, garnering more than 36,000 submissions.