Ayup! As I was planning my departure from Unsplash, I needed a public archive/library replacement. That place is Glass. A new home for my ongoing work, while I keep a recent selection here on my website.
My platform of choice needed to cover a few essential requirements:
- Fully functional via web browser
- A public, web-based profile
- Acts as a file backup
- Clean, modern and well-designed
- Displays EXIF data
- Links to my website
- Enables collections/series
Seven ticks, with the added bonus of a built-in community. What’s not to love? Although I’m already juggling Mastodon, Bluesky and LinkedIn accounts, the environment on Glass is genuine, supportive, and inspiring. More than happy to spend time engaging with folks here.
What is Glass?
Glass launched in August 2021 as a subscription-based photography platform. It was founded by Tom Watson and Stefan Borsje, with João Dordio (developer) and Amanda Powell (operations and community manager) making up the rest of the team.
It’s funded entirely by its users, meaning no venture capital and no pesky investors to please. Hell yeah! Glass was built as a response to a very broken internet. This is a place where photography and community come first. Zero ads, zero algorithm.
The value isn’t how many people see your photos. It’s the photographers who push your work further, the conversations about craft, and the kind of feedback that actually helps you improve. The connections on Glass run between members, not through an algorithm. That kind of space doesn’t happen by accident.
Paid Membership
A big part of the USP is that every photographer pays to use Glass. This leads to more authentic, considered interactions. A free tier is available for viewing, but to upload your work, you need an annual or monthly membership.
They’re extremely well-priced for what you get. The most popular Standard plan is only $39.99 per year or $6.99 per month. The annual option comes out to $3.33 per month. It’s hard to argue with that.
It includes unlimited posting, full community access, a public profile, Series, and custom iPhone and iPad app icons.
The second option is the Patron plan at $129.99 per year. Quite the jump, but plenty of users have gone all-in. This is nice to see, and a good indication of how photographers value the platform.
It includes Standard plus early access, three one-year gift links each membership year, a Patron badge, and exclusive app icons.
No Stalking, Ads or Algorithms
Sold! I honestly have no idea how photographers battle the algorithm day in, day out. It’s exhausting. Thankfully, an increasing number of online spaces recognise this, with Glass being one of them.
You won’t spot a single ad, and photos from the accounts you follow rock up in the order they were posted. Yes! Just like the good old days. None of your activity or behaviours are tracked, and your data is private, secure and not for sale. It just keeps getting better!
Glass does not build behavioral profiles, track how long you look at photos, sell your data, or optimize the product to keep you scrolling. Basic service measurements help keep Glass healthy but are not used to create an advertising profile.
Search & Explore
One thing I absolutely love is searching by tags or camera. When you upload a photo, you can add up to three predefined tags relevant to your image. Mine are usually:
- Black & White
- Architecture
- Urban.
When you click on any of these tags from your published image, you’ll see other related photos. But it doesn’t end there. Glass pulls in all your EXIF data and (optionally) displays what camera/lens you used to take each photo. Clicking your camera name then shows you other images taken with the same gear. Nice!
There’s also a powerful search function. At least on the desktop version, which seems to work a lot better than the mobile app. For example, I tried to find a photographer via my iPhone. It didn’t search for users, only photos, meaning I couldn’t find them until I was back at my desk. No biggie, but worth noting.
Lastly, the Explore feed is a curated selection of images worthy of your attention. All in all, everything about discovering other photographers and visual inspiration is seamless and highly intuitive.
Every day, we manually select some of our favorite photos shared to Glass to populate the main feed on Explore. No addictive engagement algorithms or “What’s Hot Now” nonsense going on in the background, nothing to game. Just the favorites from the Glass Team that we hand-select. It’s a wonderful way to surface the best of our community, discover new photographers to follow, and get inspiration right away.
A Firm Focus on The Image
Glass removes likes and egos in favour of meaningful engagement. The photograph is front and centre, with a passionate, enthusiastic community forming the platform’s foundation.
You can appreciate an image, but nobody will see it other than the photographer. Follower counts are also removed from the equation. You can click on any profile and see who they’re following and who follows them, but the total numbers aren’t visible. Smart move.
Comments are public for all to see, though. With no algorithm to game, they’re cringe-free and really rather kind and constructive.
No complaints on image quality, either. Clicking to view anything in full-size is a moment of pure joy. Lovely stuff! Should you ever need them, you can download your original files from Glass. This is a handy way to back up your photos. Simply head to your profile, then settings, then download data.
We’re not trying to build a social network. Glass is a community of photographers. A place where photographers get together, share, learn, and grow. It’s not optimized for constant engagement and promotion or meant to be a space where you collect numbers and counts for manufactured dopamine. For that, we needed a different way to quickly send someone some good vibes — we got to work on Appreciations.
Glass Photography Community: Conclusion
There’s absolutely no pressure to post on Glass. Its subscription model, free from ads, algorithms and tracking, gets my vote allllllll day long. The result: it naturally attracts people who genuinely care about their craft. In turn, this leads to a bunch of supportive, like-minded photographers sharing and talking about what they love most.
The desktop UX/UI is beautifully designed, making it a pleasure to navigate. It’s clear that a lot of thought and attention goes into how everything looks. Presenting your work on Glass feels premium and elegant.
Early reviews touted it as an Instagram alternative, but Glass is all about building a community rather than just another social network. So far, so good. Putting photography and photographers first is a refreshing treat these days.