Frequently asked questions
License, downloads, credit, places, the photographer: answers to the most common questions about Karl Forterre's photos.
Who is Karl Forterre?
Karl Forterre is a French photographer and writer based in Niort. He photographs gardens, architecture, landscapes and the sky, in France and Spain. All his photos are published on Pexels, where they have been viewed 878,500 times and downloaded 3,950 times; this site presents 919 of them.
He has also published two books with the Société des Éditions du Poitou in 2023, the short story Darshan and L'histoire du petit Théo, a novel-length tale, and devoted his master's thesis to authorial mediation on authors' websites (University of Poitiers, 2023). His books and graphic work are presented on karlforterre.fr.
Are the photos really free, even for commercial use?
Yes. Every photo on this site is published on Pexels, under the Pexels license: they can be downloaded for free, without an account, and used freely, for personal or commercial purposes, with no fees to pay. You may edit them, print them, and publish them on a website, in an advertisement or on social media. Details: Use my photos.
How do I download a photo in high resolution?
Open the photo's page on this site, then click “Free download on Pexels”. On Pexels, the free download button offers the full-resolution original or a lighter version. No account is needed.
Do I need to credit the photographer? How should I cite a photo?
It is not required, but always appreciated: “Photo: Karl Forterre / Pexels”, ideally with a link to the photo's page. In an article or academic work, cite the photo's title, its author, Pexels and the address of its page; each photo page also gives its Pexels number, which makes it easy to find again.
What does the Pexels license not allow?
Selling an unaltered copy of a photo (as a poster, a print or on a product); showing an identifiable person in a bad light or in an offensive way; implying that a person or brand shown in the photo endorses a product; redistributing the photos on another stock photo or wallpaper platform; using them as a trademark or logo. Only the official text of the Pexels license is legally binding.
Why does every photo lead to Pexels?
Pexels hosts the photos in full resolution and handles downloads, free of charge; the images on this site are in fact served by Pexels. This site presents them: in series, in galleries of themes and places, and by color. Each photo page links to its Pexels page, where it can be downloaded.
Where were the photos taken?
In France and Spain. Each place has its own gallery: Basque Country, Asturias, Galicia, Camino de Santiago, Pyrenees, Bordeaux, Niort and Poitou, Loire Valley, Charente: Cognac and Angoulême, Paris, Normandy and Brittany and Vosges, Lorraine and Alsace. The series tell the story of a place or a moment: Total solar eclipse in Galicia, The gardens of Villandry, The Universidad Laboral in Gijón, The Cathedrals coast at Ribadeo, The Way of St James in the Béarn, Below the Pic du Midi d'Ossau, Starry nights, Lighthouses and tides, from Granville to Saint-Malo, Ten days on the road, from Niort to northern Spain and Bordeaux and the Girondins monument.
How can I find a photo of a particular subject or color?
The galleries arrange the photos by theme (sky, gardens, architecture, sea, animals…) and by place; other pages sort them by dominant color, at the bottom of the galleries page. Under each photo, “Similar photos” suggests images that resemble it. Karl Forterre's Pexels profile also brings all his photos together.
Have these photos been used by the media?
Yes: Pexels has reported uses on CNN.com, NYTimes.com, Cambridge.org, Dictionary.com and TheFreeDictionary.com. This is only a small part: Pexels does not report every download. The photos concerned are gathered on the Used in projects page.
Is the site available in other languages?
Yes: in French, English and Simplified Chinese. The language button at the top of each page switches from one to the next. On the Chinese pages, links lead to the Chinese interface of Pexels.
How can I follow new photos?
On Pexels, with the “Follow” button on Karl Forterre's profile; through the site's RSS feed; or on Bluesky and Mastodon, where a photo of the day is posted every morning; or on RedNote (Xiaohongshu), where the Soviet Croissant account shares his photos.
How can I contact Karl Forterre?
By email, at contact@karlforterre.fr, or on LinkedIn.
What is authorial mediation, the subject of Karl Forterre's thesis?
In his master's thesis (Master 2 Livres et médiations, University of Poitiers, June 2023), Karl Forterre defines it as follows (translated from French): “Authorial mediation is a process by which the author connects the public with their work. Its various channels include bookshop events, social media, television appearances and a presence on an author's website.”
The thesis, L'influence de la médiation auctoriale du site d'auteur (“The influence of authorial mediation through the author's website”, full text in French as a PDF), draws on a questionnaire completed by 102 visitors to author websites and on interviews with people involved in creating them.