While working as a photographer in Los Angeles last summer, Nick Hannon uploaded his images on the internet. In order to sell digital images on social networking platforms, Hannon initially invested in IMAGE4.com. In August 2010, the business filed for bankruptcy, and he started working for Orbit Imaging in the Netherlands. Orbit Imaging made the most of the opportunity to take pictures of international shipping containers and provide the digital pictures to customers and businesses abroad.

Deliveries from international shipping firms to customers in North America at that time reached close to $500 billion. International shipping firms allowed anybody to take pictures of their containers, and they afterwards sold copies of the pictures for a fair fee.