While working as a photographer in Los Angeles last summer, Nick Hannon uploaded his images on the internet. In order to sell digital photographs 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.

At that time, foreign shipping businesses made deliveries to customers in North America worth around $500 billion. International shipping firms allowed anybody to take pictures of their containers, and they afterwards sold copies of the photos for a fair fee.