/words.
The Art of Noticing: Mindful Photography
Ayup! For many photographers, their hobby, passion and purpose isn't just about capturing images. It's a vital part of their overall well-being and cognitive maintenance. A practice that ultimately boosts your mental health. How? Via the power of noticing. Photography folks are fully immersed and aware of their surroundings, AKA, mindfulness.
Often without even realising it, we're basking in the calming warmth of an ancient healing tradition. Albeit, slightly differently. At the core, however, focus, awareness and presence are all we need to get started. Something that, I'm sure you'll agree, most photographers posses. As a result, the mind is rewarded with a plethora of feelgood benefits.
Research has shown that MBIs (mindfulness-based interventions) have significant health benefits including decreased stress, insomnia, anxiety, and panic, along with enhancing personal well-being, perceptual sensitivity, processing speed, empathy, concentration, reaction time, motor skills, and cognitive performance including short and long-term memory recall and academic performance.
See More. Notice More.
Photographers slowly and methodically train themselves in the art of noticing, and therefore mindfulness. A heightened sense of awareness is essential if you want to capture unique images. You will eventually see things that others don't. It's incredibly powerful when you think about it.
Have you ever been out with your camera alongside non-photography friends or family? Did they by any chance look at you gone out as you try and capture a photo of a crack in a wall? That's the compelling difference in how photographers interact with their surroundings. We notice things. No matter how small or seemingly insignificant.
As mindfulness can be practiced in many different ways for many different uses, it is a perfect tool for any practitioner’s toolbox.
Mindful Photography
The best thing about using your creative hobby as mindfulness practice is that you don't have to put any effort in. It just happens, regardless of your intentions or desired outcomes. For many, this is where the real magic lies. It can be difficult to stick to a meditation or mindfulness practice, but when it derives from doing something you love, it's easy.
It's hard to argue with, or ignore, the rewards and benefits that mindfulness brings to the table:
Reduced stress
Reduced anxiety
Improved focus
Improved concentration
Feeling calmer
Better coping with difficult thoughts
Improved self-awareness
Improved presence
Lower heart rate
Prime Mind
Something that propelled the mindfulness aspect of my own photography practice was committing to a prime lens. Somehow, by removing the option to zoom in and out (other than with your feet), it forces you to focus even more than you usually would.
All of a sudden, you’ve got to think differently about how you're going to capture each shot. This leads to further immersion and awareness of your surroundings. Seeing and noticing what's around you takes on a whole new meaning.
For an overactive zoom user, primes lenses are perfect for a more mindful photography experience, allowing your true creative vision to come through.
Notice Noticing
This isn't a post on how to notice. As a photographer, you already know how to do that. Instead, it serves a reminder to step back and consider how good you've become at it.
While the general population rush about their day, staring at their phones or focussed on a single vantage point, photographers are doing the complete opposite. Seeing, noticing and absorbing, while remaining fully present and mindful. What's above you? Behind? To the left and right? Let's take a closer look at this beautiful texture or pattern.
Look more, see more, and enjoy the mindful benefits of truly noticing.
Thoughts on Canva AI in Affinity
Ayup! Over the last week, I've been testing out some of the Canva AI tools in Affinity. Without veering (too far) into generative territory, some of what's on offer is legitimately impressive.
I'm not a huge fan of AI when it comes to adding elements to a photo. I stand by my recent post, which explores the idea of not using AI becoming a strong selling point. But what about removal and selection tools? If they're better with AI, is this acceptable?
Everything that makes Affinity a precision tool for creative professionals remains at its core: the speed, the control, the depth. Now, those same qualities are enhanced by Canva’s technology, giving you new ways to work faster, experiment more freely, and know that your tools will always keep up. Whether you’re refining a complex composite or extending parts of an image, these features work quietly in the background, supporting your process without ever getting in the way of craft.
The Canva AI Tools I've Found Most Useful
Using Affinity for graphic design and photo editing, I can certainly see myself using some of the Canva add-ons. Although I'm locked into an annual Adobe subscription (joy!), I've jumped the gun and removed all of their apps from my Mac. Not an easy process, given the tonnes of files it leaves behind after uninstalling everything.
Anyhow, I digress. There are a few bits I've been missing such as upscaling, advanced selections and generative expand. With a Canva Pro account, all of this and much more is available right inside Affinity.
A lot of Affinity users aren't overly keen on AI. I get it. But to me, the following are simply editing and design tools. In another life, maybe they wouldn't even be called AI. Other than generative expand, there's nothing here that photographers and designers haven't been doing for decades already.
Let's take a look...
1. Remove Background
The Remove Background tool is seriously exciting. It does one thing, and it does it very well. As with all tools of this nature, it works best when there's a clear definition between the subject and the background.
The mask it creates is phenomenal. It's as accurate and exact as you'd really want it to be. Zero adjustments required. As creative folks often need to remove backgrounds from their images, this one has the potential to start getting plenty of use across the board.
Automatically detect and isolate the main subject in an image with Select Subject or seamlessly erase unwanted backgrounds with Remove Background.
2. Object Selection
Next up, the Object Selection tool. This one's a little bit confusing, as you’ve already got Object Selection in Affinity itself.
The Canva AI version is supposedly more specific and meticulous. Hovering over different aspects and elements of your image, you'll see what it's suggesting to select. Super useful, although I'm not yet convinced it's any better than the version that comes already built in (requires a separate download and still uses machine learning).
In recent tests, they seem to behave in exactly the same way. That said, whichever one you use, it'll do a ruddy decent job. Hurrah!
3. Generative Expand
Generative Expand is something I often used in Photoshop. The fact that it's now in Affinity makes me undeniably happy.
This tool is perfect for adjusting image ratios for different use cases. For example, a mockup file will usually be in landscape. But what if we want to convert it to portrait for Instagram? Sometimes you can simply crop it, but often you'll need to change the canvas size and adjust the background accordingly. If said background has shadows and the like, this isn't always easy.
Alas, Generative Expand to the rescue. It seamlessly fills in any background gaps, et voilà. Good to go.
4. Super Resolve
In Photoshop and Lightroom, you can easily upscale your images when needed. Often useful when you're designing something and the provided/downloaded files aren't big enough.
If you made the switch to Affinity, this wasn't an option until now. With Canva AI enabled, we have Super Resolve (or Super Resolution). It seems to have two names, depending on where you look.
It does exactly what it says on the tin; upscales your photo or image. Additionally, whereas in Lightroom, it simply doubles the size of your file, Super Resolve gives you the choice to select the scale percent.
Paired with the arrival of Image Trace in this version of Affinity, we've got some pretty powerful upscaling tools for pixel and vector files.
Top tip - If you're working with a tiny pixelated file that you want to Image Trace, run it through Super Resolve first. This produces an infinitely superior end result.
5. Portrait Lighting
Lastly, although I'm not a portrait photographer, I had a quick play with the Portrait Lighting tool when editing a new profile photo. I'd seen a few video demos of this on YouTube. Oh my! Again, seriously impressive.
This tool basically lets you add studio style lighting to your image. You can move it around to where you need it, adjust loads of settings, and also use more than one light if needed.
I just used it to even out the lighting on the darker side of my face. Simple, quick and easy. What's not to love?
Will my content be used to train AI?
Your content in Affinity is not used to train AI-powered features, or to help AI features learn and improve in other ways, such as model evaluation or quality assurance. In Affinity, your content is stored locally on your device and we don’t have access to it. If you choose to upload or export content to Canva, you remain in control of whether it can be used to help AI features learn and improve — you can review and update your privacy preferences any time in your Canva settings.
Final Thoughts on Canva AI in Affinity
Wile I won't be using anything like Generative Edit or Generative Fill, some of these Canva AI tools are right up my street. The five examples above aren't just AI for the sake of AI (Adobe). They're a genuinely practical addition to any creative workflow.
Ultimately, this is the final piece of the puzzle. There's nothing I can't do in Affinity now that I used to be able to do in Photoshop or Lightroom. Happy days! Then there's the pricing.
An Adobe Creative Cloud Pro subscription will set you back a whopping £66.49 per month (£797.88 per year). How has this become anywhere near acceptable? Affinity, is completely free and the optional Canva Pro account will set you back £13 per month (£156 per year, or pay £100 annually). That's a vast difference when (depending on your exact needs) the tools are comparable.
I'm sold. To me, these are simply modern photo editing and design tools. If we have to call them AI, then so be it. Either way, they're exceptionally powerful and ready to shake things up across the creative industries. Are we finally seeing some genuine, viable competition for Adobe here?
Reframing SEO For Business Websites
Ayup! Following my post on Search Engine (Un)Optimisation for my personal site, I've also made a few significant changes to my business site. The only difference this time is that I do actually need it to rank well. That said, I've completely switched up my approach.
For a little bit of context, the website is one year and nine months into its SEO journey. It's been extremely slow (and often stagnant) progress. What's more, many of my competitors who literally put zero effort in were outranking me. Yikes!
Something had to change. My goal of reaching the top spot in all of our key areas was fluttering around 25% complete. So yeah, during the last major update to the site, I implemented everything below. I've waited four weeks to write this, giving enough time to see how it all panned out.
Trying too hard at SEO is bad for SEO
Ultimately, this is the conclusion I landed at when it comes to SEO. Previous efforts did OK. Nothing special. The issue, it seems, was that none of it was overly natural. The entire site was optimised for the sake of being optimised, rather than designed and built purely for the user.
I'm a big fan of the Yoast SEO plugin for WordPress. It's served me extremely well over the years. However, I can't help but thinking it's contributing an unhealthy level of over-optimised sites to the web.
SEO over-optimisation sacrifices clarity and usability in the pursuit of perfection, often leading to frustration instead of results.
Keyword stuffing, excessive internal linking, and irrelevant content targeting might seem like good optimisation strategies, but they can actually harm your search rankings and, more importantly, your credibility with visitors.
First, there's the user experience nightmare. When design elements, marketing CTAs, and SEO-driven content are all competing for attention, your website becomes chaotic.
Swapping out Yoast
First up, as with this site, I swapped Yoast over to SureRank. Similar deal, but bundled up as a frankly refreshing modern alternative. I love it.
Instead of the traffic light system, you've got a handy list of suggestions that may improve your rankings. The best bit, any that aren't applicable to your particular page can be dismissed. This keeps it all looking lovely and clean. No horrendous red warning lights greeting you every time you log in.
Overall, using SureRank instead of Yoast resulted in much more natural wording and copy. Not only has this been an improvement for our visitors, but Google seemed to prefer it, too. Possible proof that they really do want to rank content that aimed at users, not search engines.
A clean, fast, intuitive interface that feels at home in 2025 — not like something built in 2010. Simple enough for beginners. Streamlined for pros.
Consolidating area pages
Secondly, two separate pages that were targeting different areas were consolidated as one. The homepage is now the only place a potential client needs to visit to find all the info they need.
While duplicated area pages seem to work for some of my competitors, I wonder how much longer they'll continue ranking. Just in case (and also to improve the user experience), I've knocked that one on the head.
A redirect from the second page to the homepage improved rankings in all the areas that the other service area page covered.
Making an effort to avoid duplicate content helps me deliver the best UX possible, which is what we’re all aiming for as marketers, right?
Completely removing the blog
Lastly, probably the boldest move of them all, I removed the entire blog. Why? It was bringing in tonnes of pointless traffic. Lovely for vanity metrics, not so lovely for conversions.
We're all told to build up content clusters and drive E-E-A-T, yet none of our potential clients or customers were interested in any of the blog posts. Instead, they visit three key pages.
Home
About
Contact
This had me questioning the entire relevance of the blog. I'm trying not to think about how many hours I devoted to it, haha! To try and save some of the possible E-E-A-T that it may have helped with, I added an FAQ section to the homepage.
Using the Kadence Accordion block, you can a) set the title to an H3 and b) include FAQ schema. Bonus! I redirected any popular blog posts to the home page and answered that particular question in the FAQ section. Any bits and bobs that were showing up in Google FAQ's remain present, but now link straight to the homepage rather than a blog post.
The Kadence Accordion block with FAQ schema supports a limited set of HTML tags within FAQ answers to enable basic text formatting. Google recognizes the following tags: <h1> through <h6>, <br>, <ol>, <ul>, <li>, <a>, <p>, <div>, <b>, <strong>, <i>, and <em>. All other tags are ignored.
Google’s structured data guidelines permit these tags in the Answers as they improve readability and user experience without altering the content’s meaning. Including basic formatting helps make FAQ answers clearer and easier to scan.
The results
Four weeks later, having carefully studied the rankings, the changes have been positively positive. Wohooo! Mostly green upwards arrows in the Semrush position tacking tool. All of our areas received a significant boost and continue to improve week on week.
Overall visitor numbers have dropped, and the domain authority score lost eight points. This was to be expected. However, traffic to the pages that matter is up, as are enquiries and bookings.
Moral of the story, don't over-optimise. Business blogs aren't as useful as they used to be. Fix duplicate content and focus all of your attention on the pages that your potential clients or customers actually use.
As a result, the user experience improves, the whole site becomes more natural and ultimately, this is what search engines want. Happy days!
The Competitive Advantage of Not Using AI
Would you really want to hire a freelancer or agency that heavily used AI? What if it's not all it's cracked up to be after all? Could there be a rising demand in clients not wanting anything to do with AI?
These thoughts follow a rather interesting episode of the Marketing Meetup podcast. The title was AI and the Law. The general message I came away with was that it's a lot more hassle than it's worth.
Ryan Lisk from Hybrid Legal joins us to talk about the legal side of what marketers need to know about using AI in your work. There’s a consensus in marketing that “everyone’s using AI”. Whether that’s the case or not, we do all need to be aware of the potential legal impact of using AI. Especially with client work.
Legal implications aside, I'm also seeing a fairly dramatic backlash against AI. Not about the technology in general, but how it's being implemented into absolutely everything. Often at the sacrifice of what users actually want. This was particularly evident at Adobe Max 2025.
No AI will be used in the final work
It's difficult to imagine a world without ChatGPT or image generation tools now. These are here to stay. That said, there needs to be a clear definition of what's acceptable when it comes to working with clients and customers. Where you draw the line is ultimately how a business could start leveraging its positioning as a strong selling point.
A guarantee, of some sorts, that no AI will be used in the final work. I know I'd be happy with that. Additionally, I'd even be drawn towards a freelancer, company or brand that includes this as one of their values.
A strong guideline is that if you feel that any reasonable viewer of your photography would feel deceived if you told them how you had created your photograph, then you've crossed the line.
But you'll fall behind
It's unbelievable how quickly this common misconception has spread across the business world. Well paying clients will always require high-quality results. As it stands, this can rarely (if at all) be achieved with AI.
Again, I'm starting to think that instead of falling behind, not using AI in your final work is nothing other than a competitive advantage. The quality of the work, copyright and intellectual property rights are just a few of the areas that will benefit.
Failure to secure AI systems can lead to data breaches, which could damage the company’s reputation and erode customer trust.
Slower, calmer, better
Lastly, I really can't stand the 10X productivity mindset that AI has inflicted on businesses. If everyone is getting ten times as many tasks completed, ten times quicker, then we're simply going to run out of work. Furthermore, minds will be frazzled, and the quality will be much worse than it could potentially have turned out. What a chaotic mess.
A slower, calmer approach to any creative work leads to infinitely better results. I don't know about you, but my brain quickly enters shutdown mode as soon as things start cranking up to a rapid pace.
Carefully considered, well-thought-out creativity improves the outcome for both the freelancer or agency, as well as the client.
No respectable business wants to pay for generic artwork or copy. Maybe this is where the opportunity lies; a guarantee that no AI will be used in the final work. Who knows? I guess we'll see how it all pans out over the next year. For the moment, at least, I think it could certainly be used as a selling point to clients who require exceptional standards.
One Week Later - Will Affinity Replace Adobe?
Ayup! Following the outrageously exciting announcement from Affinity last week, I've gone all in. Seven days of exclusive use, and not just for photography purposes, either. I have thoughts. Let's do this!
To give you an idea of how making this switch might affect your workflow, these are the Adobe apps I use most days:
Photoshop
Lightroom
Illustrator
InDesign
Photoshop and Lightroom were my go-to options for personal projects, and I used Illustrator and InDesign regularly for clients and my business.
Greeting from the future; here's a full Affinity review following almost four month's of daily use.
The Pros & Cons of Using Affinity Over Adobe
First things first, there's no replacement solution for Lightroom photo management here. This is to be expected, but we do have most of the settings and RAW tools available that you'd find in Lightroom.
As a result, I've rediscovered the humble Photos app from Apple. Same deal with Lightroom when it comes to folders and management. What I also stumbled upon, was a fairly powerful set of editing tools. For basic adjustments, cropping straightening, sharpening and even spot removal, there's no need to even leave the app. This all works with RAW files too. Not sure when this all happened, but it's super-useful.
That said, I've been primarily exploring Affinity's ability to fully replace Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign. Spoiler alert, these apps have now been removed from the dock on my laptop.
The price
While half of the internet are completely fuming that Affinity dare to do something different, the rest of us are pretty happy that it's now free.
I get the concerns, but from everything I've read, watched and listened to, Canva and Affinity played a very smart move here.
Your content in Affinity isn’t used to train AI features — we can’t access local files. For content you choose to upload to Canva, you’re in control. You can review and update your preferences any time in Canva settings.
Canva have gone on record to say that they've been able to make Affinity free due to their sustainable business model. Obviously, they're hoping to grow their premium subscribers, but it's 100% optional.
Furthermore, for only £13 per month or £100 per year, I'll be signing up. That is, just as soon as the Creative Cloud subscription that I'm locked in to ends. Sigh.
Even if this price does go up, as frequently mentioned by the negativity brigade, it's still a huge difference compared to Adobe. Like enough to pay for a pretty decent holiday. I know which I'd prefer each year.
All-in-one
I'm particularly loving absolutely everything being in the same app. It's freaking genius! So much quicker and easier for pretty much everything.
Each workspace is now called a studio. You can easily switch between Pixel (formally Photo), Vector (formally Designer), Layout (formally Publisher) and Canva AI. All studios can be turned on or off, so it only shows the ones you'll want to use.
In addition to the above, there are built in Typography, Colour Grading, Retouching and Slicing studios, available if needed.
PSD files with Smart Objects
Adobe Illustrator files
InDesign Files
Nope! Your InDesign files won't open with Affinity, but there is, apparently, a workaround.
Affinity Publisher is able to open IDML (open XML) and not INDD (locked format). Additionally markzware.com has a tool for Mac to convert from INDD to IDML.
For photographers
Let's dive into the photo editing experience with Affinity. Most enjoyable! As you can see from my Bluesky post below, there are plenty of options available. That said, I've only been using the Pixel and Develop studios.
This all works in much the same way as previous versions of the app. Develop is the equivalent of Camera RAW, and therefore has most of what you'd also find in Lightroom.
Once you've made your edits, flip back to the Pixel studio, where you can make any further adjustments that you would have in Photoshop. The Inpainting Brush is particularly powerful for removing smaller objects from your image.
The Object Selection tool (uses machine learning and requires an additional download) is also extremely powerful when it comes to masking certain parts of your photo.
Again, it's nice not having to keep switching apps. Everything you need, all in one place. Happy days!
The only thing I'm slightly missing is an auto-straighten option. While it's no bother adjusting it manually, I did use the auto-vertical setting in Lightroom a fair amount.
Faster workflow. How I make my Kaleidoscopic Photography series images. Now in quick fire rapid mode with Affinity.
A week with the new Affinity app - First impressions
So over the last week, I've carried out a wide variety of tasks with Affinity, that I'd previously have used Adobe for. These include:
Setting up commercial print files
Making mockups
Editing stock vectors
Logo and branding work
Photo editing
Print/layout design
Did it handle everything perfectly? Well, other than a few Adobe files not opening correctly (which I'd always be able to find a workaround for), yes. It really did. This has me instantly questioning why I'm paying Adobe so much per year? I'm sure many of you are in the same boat.
This isn't my first experience with Affinity. I used version 2 extensively, only returning to Adobe for Dimension, Lightroom and a few of the advanced selection tools in Photoshop.
Following Adobe Max 2025, and it's AI obsessed vision of the future, I'm not looking to stick around. I'm not against AI, I use it moderately, as do many creatives. However, nobody asked for it to completely take over our most-used tools.
This is where Canva and Affinity have resonated with a lot of frustrated Adobe users. They recognise our values. They removed the need for a subscription, offering some AI tools to those who need them.
What's more, they've built one of the most exciting digital art, design, layout and editing tools that we've seen in a long time. Well, ever, really.
Will Affinity replace my Adobe tools and insanely priced subscription? Yes, it most certainly will.
Affinity Just Changed The Game For Photographers
Ayup! Lots of creative folks have been eagerly awaiting today's announcement from Affinity. The internet has been going wild since the much-loved apps were removed from sale a short while ago.
Speculation and rumours flooded social media and YouTube, with murmurings of subscriptions and it all going to shit. Alas, all the drama was firmly silenced in the last hour. Affinity is now completely free. Yes!
It's had a much-needed brand refresh, and now comes packaged as Affinity by Canva. This was to be expected. Additionally, all three apps, Photo, Designer and Publisher are now combined as one absolute powerhouse of a digital art, design, layout, illustration and editing tool.
Ultra fast, super smooth, and incredibly precise, Affinity keeps up with you when you need it most. Every adjustment, filter, and layer effect updates live, meaning you can see your work exactly how it will export and achieve pixel-perfect designs every time.
Affinity
Affinity Might Just Have Timed This Perfectly
This announcement arrived, rather conveniently, on the last day of the Adobe Max 2025 conference. If you managed to catch any of the presentations, you'll know that the word AI was being used around 100 times per hour on average. The response seemed underwhelming.
At one point, the guy on stage had to prompt the audience to cheer. This says it all. While most creatives aren't against AI, there needs to be a balance. This is where Adobe have gone against what it's users actually want. They're rapidly heading towards absolutely everything in their apps being controlled by AI. No thank you!
Lots of frustrated creatives. Too much AI. Along comes a new, improved version of the most worthy alternative to Adobe. Pretty strategic (in a good way), I have to say.
Non-destructive editing keeps your original layers and files intact, giving you the peace of mind you need to be truly creative. No smart objects or workarounds. Stack edits, then tweak, erase, reorder, or remove them, without ever committing or flattening.
Affinity
What's new?
The first thing you'll notice is the incredible new website, affinity.studio. Super sleek and extremely well-designed. As mentioned, you'll also see the new Affinity branding and logo. Again, really nice work here.
To download the app, you simply have to register or sign in, then you have access to both the Mac and Windows versions (iPad is coming soon). Once you open it up, it'll feel familiar to previous Affinity users. The tool icons have been updated, and you can easily change between vector (previously Designer), pixel (previously Photo) and layout (previously Publisher).
Fully-fuelled photo editing. From epic image composites to non-destructive RAW editing, Affinity has everything you need from your pro photo editing software.
Affinity
What's the catch?
The only thing you won't have access to is Canva's AI tools. These are available with a Canva Pro subscription, for those who require it.
Other than that, the free version of Affinity gives you access to some seriously powerful design and editing tools.
Yes, Affinity really is free. You can use every tool in the Pixel, Vector, and Layout studios, plus all of the customization and export features, as much as you want, with no restrictions or payment needed. If you’re on a Canva premium plan, you’ll also be able to unlock Canva’s powerful AI tools within Affinity.
Affinity
Rethinking Adobe & Affinity
I switched from Adobe to Affinity in 2024, but recently returned to Adobe. This was mainly for my personal work and a few issues with PSD mockups not working properly in Affinity. One of the first things I'll be testing out as I dive into the new app.
That aside, the Adobe Max conference really isn't sitting well with me this year. AI isn't the be all and end all for most creatives. Yes, it can be used productively and in some cases, speed up our workflow, but nobody asked for AI everything.
At the very least, I'm swapping back to Affinity for all of my work related tasks. Over at my business, Leaflet Lion, we design and set up print files for clients, which is much easier in Affinity. Everything I do in Illustrator and Photoshop can now also be done in Affinity.
That just leaves Lightroom. Not rushing into anything there, as it's by far my favourite Adobe app. Plus, I'm stuck in their delightful subscription model for another half a year or so, anyway.
Creative freedom (that's actually free)
I think it's fair to say, nobody saw this one coming. Canva and Affinity have quietly shocked and impressed the whole of the internet.
A really exciting move that's bound to stir things up with Adobe users. Props to Canva, the new(ish) owners of Affinity. They've played this game very well. I'm super-excited to see how it all pans out now.
Right then. Excuse me, I have a new app to go and explore. Wohooo!
Is it Worth Contributing Photography to Unsplash+?
Ayup! I've been contributing to Unsplash for over five years now. In this post, I'm sharing some thoughts and insights on the paid work available via Unsplash+. How it works, how much they pay, and the pros and cons.
I'm writing this from the angle of an amateur/enthusiast. Photography isn't my primary source of income, rather, an occasional provider of short holiday funds. Free adventures! That's what I'm talking about.
Unsplash+ launched in October 2022. The new premium service meant subscribers get access to the best of the best that Unsplash has to offer. Additionally, for the first time ever, photographers were about to start getting paid for their contributions. Wohoooo!
Anyone is free to apply to become an Unsplash+ contributor. You don't necessarily need to have built up a library of free images first, either.
We are looking for people with creative ideas, originality, an eye for detail and a commitment to producing exceptional quality imagery.
We welcome both professional and hobbyists to apply and we will provide resources on releases and intellectual property considerations to get you started on your Unsplash+ content creation journey.
How Unsplash+ Works For Photographers
Once you're accepted into the program, you have access to a set of monthly briefs. These are based on trending searches and the most in-demand subjects. Some months there will be briefs that fall in line with your photographic style and subjects, other months there might not be.
At the time of writing this article, the briefs are focussed on the Unsplash Photography Awards for 2025. You can enter images into the following categories:
Architecture & Interiors
Experimental
Film
Nature Animals
Fashion & Beauty
People
Up to 10 images can be submitted per category, with payments of $30 to $50 per photo. As far as I'm aware, this is the only photography competition that pays folks to enter. Happy days!
Usually, however, the briefs are a little more specific. For example, white textures, neutral backgrounds, etc. Furthermore, the price per image dips down to between $5 and $30 (ish, I think this varies).
That said, you can usually enter up to 30 images per brief. So what you'd normally do, is submit a series of photos. If they were paid at somewhere in the middle, say $15 each, that's $450.
How much am I getting paid per image?
One of the minor frustrations of Unsplash+, is that you don't actually know how much you'll be paid. Yes, you know it will be somewhere between the minimum and maximum, but the exact amount is only revealed on your statement.
These are sent the following month, with the payment a short while afterwards.
Unsplash+ licensing
While the photographer retains the copyright of the image, Unsplash holds the exclusive rights to sell the image once they've paid you for it.
Put simply, this means you can't then use the same image on another stock photography website. I have no issues with this whatsoever, but if you're looking to sell your images on more than one platform, Unsplash+ won't be a good fit for your business model.
Your contract with Unsplash will be non-exclusive (meaning you can shoot for other platforms or partners outside of Unsplash). However, the content you submit that’s accepted in the Unsplash+ library will be exclusive to Unsplash+, meaning you agree that you will not license accepted content with other platforms or partners.
The pros and cons of Unsplash+
For me personally, there are no cons to contributing towards Unsplash+. The fact that I'm getting paid for doing what I'd have been doing anyway is a massive win. However, this is fully subjective, and will depend on your own situation and circumstances.
It could be said that a one-off payment, rather than an ongoing commission, is unfair. In fact, photographer, Peter Orsel has some rather strong feelings on the subject.
Unsplash is pretty clear about their contributor payments. They don’t believe in a royalty system, so they decide to pay for every image that got approved by the quality and model/property checks. The payment will be around $5 to $30 dollar per accepted images as a one time payment.
Peter goes on to conclude his article by mentioning he earned $2000 in a year with stock photography. This was achieved through royalty payments based on a certain percentage per image.
Fair play, but you can easily earn this (and then some) with Unsplash+. One of my best months was well over $800. Granted, this can then swoop down to $0 the next month if the briefs don't fit your work. But still, over the year, it's more than possible to earn much more than you would from royalty payments.
Is it worth contributing to Unsplash+?
To conclude, my next Unsplash+ payment will be enough to pay for a short holiday abroad. Therefore, on a personal level, it's well worth contributing towards. Is it for everyone? Absolutely not. Can you make a decent side-income from it? Hell yes!
In case you hadn't guessed, I'm a big fan. This is probably the only way I'll ever earn anything from my photography. While bringing in an income isn't really part of the plan, it's always a welcome addition.
When the Unsplash+ briefs line up with your style and subjects, you're literally getting paid for what you'd have been doing anyway. I'm calling that a winner!
Photography Adventures in JPG [Extra Fine]
Ayup! I think I'm done shooting RAW. My photography workflow with JPG (set to extra fine) is quicker, easier, leaner and ultimately, a lot less faffy.
Of course, shooting RAW comes with plenty of benefits. However, I'm not entirely convinced that they're always as worthwhile as we're led to believe. Especially with recent, ongoing developments in technology.
Obviously, most photographers, do, in fact, use RAW (or RAW & JPG) as their go-to set-up. Fair play. However, depending on your needs and requirements, I can't help but thinking it's just a massive waste of disk space. This is the anti-hoarder in me speaking. Too many files piling up on a memory card, hard drive or cloud service freaks me out a little bit.
Just JPG
I've had my camera set to RAW + JPG since I got it. No idea why. I guess, in the back of my mind, the RAW files were a backup just in case I need to revert back to the true original. As it turns out, I haven't needed to.
It's a relatively common notion that professionals who are serious about photography shoot RAW. While I'm not a professional, I am serious. Thus, I'd like to call assumptions similar to the below quote, somewhat outdated.
If you are serious about your photography, you should always shoot in Raw format. If you are just taking pictures of your family for fun, and you are OK with not taking advantage of the capabilities of your camera, then, by all means, shoot in JPEG.
Plenty of folks who take their craft seriously, whether professional, enthusiast or amateur, shoot JPG. There's no right or wrong, simply whatever's right for the individual photographer.
Here's why I'm a) ditching RAW, and b) seriously enjoying the improved workflow that shooting in JPG brings.
Extra Fine - Suits Just Fine
Sony Alpha cameras have the option to set your JPG captures to extra fine. I'd imagine other camera brands also have something similar. This basically provides a superior quality JPG with less compression and a larger file size.
It's verging slightly closer to RAW, while maintaining all the benefits of JPG. The tones, detail and sharpness quite literally blow my mind.
The image is compressed in the JPEG format and recorded using a higher quality than with [Fine].
Increased Productivity and Workflow (not to mention fun)
This entire process relates quite nicely to film photography. It forces you to get as much as possible right in-camera at the time of shooting. I've managed to dial in the exact look I want with just a few tweaks to one of Sony's creative looks.
BW (black and white)
Contrast: +8
Shadows: -8
Paired with aperture priority mode, this really rather basic adjustment produces consistently inspiring results. In most cases, it's better than I'd have ever been able to edit the photo in post. Happy days!
On returning from a photography trip, the last thing I want to be doing is spending days editing hundreds of photos. Thankfully, I no longer need to. Yes, I'll make small tweaks here and there. Possibly adding some vignette, sharpening and a mask or two, but that's usually it.
Rarely do I need to touch the exposure, contrast, highlight or shadows sliders in Lightroom. For me, this is a massive win! It saves so much time.
If I ever need or want to, plenty of the images I've captured would be good to go as they are. I really love this idea.
Modern cameras changed the ground rules. JPEG engines aren’t the crunchy dinosaurs we remember from the 2000s. Picture profiles are nuanced, highlight protection is smarter, and in-camera noise reduction isn’t a smear-fest anymore. On the workflow side, clients want speed, consistency, and files that slot straight into their channels. The best format is the one that gets them there at professional quality with minimal friction.
I Shoot JPG - What?
So there we have it. I'm now firmly in the camp of photographers that don't take their work seriously. And I'm more than OK with that.
Again, this process works for my own personal requirements. It certainly won't be for everyone, especially professional landscape and nature photographers, for example.
That said, I think JPG is enjoying a well-deserved resurgence, partly spurred on by film simulation modes and creative looks. These powerful little presets provide a certain visual aesthetic that's not always easy to achieve in post. Get it looking right in-camera, jobs a good'n!
It's quicker, easier, and even provides a new level of excitement and intrigue. Furthermore, the storage savings are colossal, which, as you know, satisfies the anti-hoarder in me.
A Healthy Level of Obsession
Have you noticed the one thing that your favourite photographers, artists, designers or writers possess? An obsession for their craft. Pure, unadulterated passion for creating, sharing and improving their work.
In most cases, these folks got to where they are now by obsessing over form, practice and persistence. I've used a few creative sectors as examples, but this ethos applies to absolutely everyone who has (or will) become well known for what they do.
Athletes, scientists, music and film producers, entrepreneurs and even YouTube presenters. They don't just half-arse their way to the top. They live for what they do. To me, this is truly fascinating. What differentiates most of us from the likes of Albert Einstein and Leonardo da Vinci?
Obsession, when channelled positively, can help fuel persistence toward goals. It can serve as an emergency energy supply to persevere when most people’s gas tanks are depleted. Obsession can act as a compass—orienting daily mundane activities—to eat, breathe, and sleep positioned toward the object of obsession and ultimate goals.
Grit & Purpose
Another way of phrasing obsession, is grit. A trait that's strongly linked to success. In her book, Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance, professor of psychology, Angela Duckworth explores this in great detail.
Without giving away too many spoilers, as you can imagine, the book's conclusion is that grittier people nearly always do well for themselves.
Work that brings purpose and meaning drives ongoing enthusiasm and determination. A crucial list of ingredients that will ultimately provide all the motivation required to continue doing (and enjoying) what you do.
Grit is about working on something you care about so much that you're willing to stay loyal to it...it's doing what you love, but not just falling in love―staying in love.
Passion & Enjoyment
Of course, all the grit and obsession in the world won't get you very far if you don't enjoy what you're doing. Finding your true passion isn't always easy. In fact, while the statistics vary, it's clear that the vast majority of people never figure out what they truly love doing.
Maybe these are the lucky ones. I don't know. It's certainly going to be a lot less stressful. Many studies also report that pursuing your passion is a completely absurd and terrible idea.
This, I guess, is fully subjective. Perhaps in terms of a career, I can somewhat agree. For example, if I were to try and make photography my main source of income, I'm fairly confident I'd be homeless within three months.
However, when it comes to hobbies and pastimes, you still need a reason to carry on. This is where obsession, grit, purpose and passion come into play.
When people are in their Element, they connect with something fundamental to their sense of identity, purpose, and well-being.
Become Obsessed
When we apply the above ideas to our own practice, it helps influence and direct your decisions. As your work consumes your thoughts, it also provides a much-needed break from any negative or anxious emotions.
A healthy level of obsession leads to increased focus, flow and motivation. When you tap into this energy, good things happen. Your work will improve, your mental health will benefit, and you'll be edging closer and closer to the next step-up in your creative journey.
Initial Thoughts on the Sony Alpha System
Ayup! I’ve been shooting with a Sony Alpha set up for about a month now. I thought I’d share some first impressions, alongside why I chose Sony over my beloved Fujifilm.
As an enthusiast photographer, I’ve previously used various iPhones, Fujifilm, a Pixel and (albeit briefly) OM System. Fujifilm was always a firm fave, but I also love the flexibility and increasingly sharp quality of mobile photography.
Following a brief stint completely messing up my work/fun/life balance, I decided I wanted to get back into shooting with a camera. And so the search began.
I eventually settled on a Sony A7C II and 50mm F2.5 lens. The challenge of a fixed focal length is something I definitely wanted to return to. Additionally, the idea of a full-frame sensor was, ultimately, one of the primary deciding factors.
When 50mm is actually 50mm
If you’ve been following any of my recent articles, you may know that I’m on a mission. A mission of simplicity and productivity. This might sound a bit stupid to some photographers, but a full-frame camera ties in nicely with the simple part.
For example, a 50mm focal length is exactly that. With any of Fujifilm’s APS-C camera’s, a 35mm lens is the equivalent of 50mm. I know, I know. It’s not difficult to work out, but something just appeals about the focal length being the actual focal length.
Colours
Another main reason I didn’t go with Fujifilm was the colours. They’re just too damn good. While I’m trying to only shoot in black and white for the foreseeable future, I knew full well that Fuji’s film simulations would tempt me in. Classic Chrome, you say? Go on then, just a quick experiment or two. Before you know it, your consistent black and white Instagram grid is awash with (gorgeous, cinematic) colour.
Sony has creative looks. Similar to film simulations, but, depending on your preferences, the colours, just aren’t quite as nostalgic or vintage looking. For me, this is perfect. Less temptation to start playing around with colour.
I’ve been using the BW (black and white) creative look, with the contrast at +8 and the shadows at -8. Everything else just left as it is. This has been producing outstanding results. It’s rare that I need to edit the exposure, contrast, highlights, shadows, whites or blacks afterwards.
Aperture Priority Mode
So far, I’ve mainly been shooting in aperture priority mode. This lets me use the built-in aperture ring on the lens, while the camera figures everything else out. It’s extremely good at doing this. I tried full manual for a day or two. It was a disaster. I’m definitely not that guy.
Shutter speed priority mode is also getting a bit of use. Eventually, I want to start shooting some longer exposures of crowds and/or water. This mode lets you set the exposure time, while the camera figures everything else out. I’ve got a few decent shots so far, but need a lot more practice in this department.
Ease of use
Returning to photography from the world of mobile photography, I wanted something that was easy to use. The iPhone, Galaxy and Pixel all make it effortless to capture stunning shots. This is one of the huge appeals for me personally. I want to think about the framing and composition, but not so much about the exposure, highlights and shadows.
Thankfully, the A7C II is on par with our trusty mobiles when it comes to ease of use. Once you’ve got everything set up properly, it’s an absolute doddle.
Never judge a man by the size of his sensor
Having spent the last few years working with a tiny sensor, how does it compare with a full-frame sensor? Honestly, the gap is continually closing, but there are still plenty of advantages to using a camera over a smartphone.
For people viewing your image on social media, it’s not going to make a whole lot of difference. However, when we start to view the photo on bigger screens, the full-frame sensor wins, hands down.
Not only in terms of sharpness and detail, but also, the tones and richness of the blacks. They’re in a world of their own. I’m not sure how best to describe it, but my mobile shots often seemed a little thin. Lacking a certain depth or quality.
Overall happiness with Sony Alpha
I won’t beat around the bush here. In case you hadn’t guessed, I absolutely love this camera and lens. The Sony Alpha system certainly isn’t where I thought I’d end up, but I’m glad I did. The main benefits include the portability, the full-frame sensor, ease of use and, of course, the quality of the images.
The more I explore the possibilities of the A7C II, the more intriguing it gets. An incredible bit of tech, packed into a tiny body. What’s not to love? I don’t have the funds to own too much photography gear, but this camera will easily see me though the next four or five years, at the very least.
Very excited. Very happy. Highly recommended if you’re looking to step up from the world of mobile photography. Trust me, you won’t be disappointed with Sony Alpha.
Creative Constraints: Photography & Focus
Ayup! I’ve recently been shooting absolutely everything with a 50mm lens. It’s often been as frustrating, as it has rewarding. That said, in any artistic pursuit, a creative constraint will (usually) decrease distractions, while increasing focus.
The easiest comparison is Netflix. We’ve all been there. So many options, just keep scrolling, and scrolling, and scrolling. There’s too much choice. Wouldn’t you rather have 10 highly regarded films from a specific genre to pick from? This is the ethos we’re working with here. Fewer decisions, higher rewards (or results).
A creative constraint can be in the form of time, budget, gear or technique limitations. It’s purpose, is to explore new ways of thinking, as well as homing in on a specific approach.
How about instead of seeing these things as frustrating roadblocks, we start to frame those constraints as positive influences on our creativity?
The limitations of a prime lens in photography
The most common example of a creative limitation in the world of photography, is a prime lens. These little barrels of joy (and irritation) are usually sharper than a zoom lens. The only catch, you’ve got one fixed focal length to work with.
Unless you’ve got the funds to buy multiple prime lenses (nope), as well as the desire to carry them around with you (nope), then you’ve got yourself a creative constraint. Congratulations!
The focal length that you choose will really depend on what you intend on shooting. Two of the most popular are 35mm and 50mm. Street photographers frequently use a prime lens, with 35mm often being their go-to choice.
Having a single focal length to work with genuinely makes you think more about the composition. It means you have to use your brain and work the composition with the constraints of the focal length you’ve chosen, and not let the lens dictate the focal length by giving you the option to just sit there and zoom in and out.
Prime Vs Zoom Vs Mobile
With most mobile cameras, these days you’re prepared for all sorts of different scenarios. Ultra-wide, wide and telephoto options, all available at the click of a button. I’m a huge fan of the flexibility that an iPhone, Pixel or Galaxy provides.
Additionally, we’ve reached the point where it doesn’t usually matter what camera, lens or phone you use. Nobody’s inspecting the sharpness of your images as they spend a grand total of 1 to 2 seconds looking at in online.
With some types of photography, it’s difficult to tell the difference between a shot taken on a £5000 camera and an £800 smartphone. The divide, it seems, becomes more apparent as you enter the telephoto/dreamy bokeh realm. Our phones still have a little catching up to do here, but they’ll get there.
There is no such thing as a perfect lens for every occasion. The flexibility of zooms is hard to beat with primes; however, the image quality, speed, and sharpness of primes are simply not possible with most zoom lenses.
Ultimately, a zoom lens or mobile phone will present you with more opportunities. Depending on your style, genre or subject, this will often be advantageous. But, circling back to the Netflix analogy, could it also be a distraction, of sorts?
The frustration / The reward
As mentioned, shooting with one fixed focal length isn’t without its moments of dissatisfaction. For example, spotting a beautiful window scene while walking down a canal path in Birmingham.
The light, the timing, the people behind the window, perfection. With a 50mm lens, you’ll often need to zoom out a little with your feet. Except, in this case, there’s a pool of water behind you.
Darn it. One of many missed captures. Once you start to figure out what might work with your chosen focal length, you start to pay even more attention than you normally would with photography. Pure, unfiltered mindfulness.
The act of feeling frustrated is an essential part of the creative process. Before we can find the answer — before we can even know the question — we must be immersed in disappointment, convinced that a solution is beyond our reach. We need to have wrestled with the problem and lost. Because it’s only after we stop searching that an answer may arrive.
The rewarding part, is just the other side of frustration. The creative mind is constantly seeking a solution. Paired with your refined focus, a beautiful flurry of unfolding ideas await.
It adds a whole new level of fun and creativity to your practice. Furthermore, it offers the opportunity to research how other photographers use (or have previously used) your chosen focal length.
Learn from the masters
To stock up on ideas, head over to your search engine of choice and look up your focal length. For example, running a quick search for famous photographers that used 50mm brings up a wealth of inspiration.
Henri Cartier-Bresson, being a prime (see what I did there?) example. As soon as you start to absorb images from some of the true greats, it’s hard not to get excited about the opportunities that your lens offers.
His preferred lens was the 50mm, just like most Leica photographers use one lens more than 95% of the time. Yes, Henri Cartier-Bresson likely did the same.
For better or worse, you’ll also find a plethora of YouTube channels offering tips and advice on your chosen lens or focal length. Some are actually very useful and inspiring. Of course, this is nestled among the unbearable ads and desperate plea for likes, comments and subscribes every two seconds.
Is 50mm the all-rounder that I hoped it would be?
When I decided to get back into shooting with an actual camera, I knew I’d have to make some sacrifices. Following months of research, I decided my one and only lens would be a 50mm.
The hope, was that it would serve as an all-purpose solution. Or, at least, as all-purpose as a prime can be. Initially, I also thought I’d carry on using my mobile for any other required focal lengths. This didn’t work out, as I became instantly obsessed with putting the 50mm through its paces. We’re now in an exclusive relationship.
Sony’s portable/F2.5 primes, that are ideal for their smaller cameras, come in 24mm, 40mm and 50mm. In hindsight, I think I may have chosen the 40mm, but at the same time, I’m loving that little bit of extra detail you can capture with the 50mm.
50mm is about as close as we can get to our eyes field of view. When you shoot at 50mm, the image feels natural and you can make the viewer feel like they’re inside the image looking on at the subject of your photograph. We feel at home in the image.
So far, I’ve easily been able to capture my usual architecture shots. Nature comes a close second, with relative ease. Macro isn’t really an option, but it does focus fairly close to a subject, with some instantly pleasing results.
Portraits are one of the main reasons folks go for a 50mm. While I don’t shoot people regularly, if at all, I have no doubts that this focal length would be the perfect fit.
Pick a constraint, any constraint
Using a fixed focal length is one of hundreds of constraints that can be applied to any artistic practice. Ultimately, limiting your options, enhances your results, despite the frustrations and annoyances along the way.
I always have to remind myself; if I’m getting annoyed with a creative pursuit, it simply means I’m passionate about it. You care about it enough to want to produce your best work.
A self-imposed constraint will open up new avenues. New ways of thinking. In terms of photography, it helps you see a location you’ve visited a million times in a whole new light.
Some restrictions will work out for the best, others not so much. None of them are permanent (unless you want them to be). I guess the main point of this post is, if you don’t impose creative limitations, how will you ever know what could have been?
24 Hours on Pixelfed – What to Expect
Ayup! I’ve recently been researching more on how the Fediverse works. While I’ve been using Mastodon and Bluesky for a while now, I never fully understood how it all clicks together. I still don’t, but as I attempt to rectify this, I stumbled upon Pixelfed.
What’s this then? A free, decentralised, open-source image sharing platform. It likens itself to Instagram, but without the ads, algorithm or stalking/tracking. Sounds promising so far, right?
Yesterday, I asked the good people of Mastodon if they use (or have previously used) Pixelfed. The responses weren’t great. Words like cumbersome and buggy were prevalent. Some said it was OK, but nobody got overly excited.
The next step was to take a look for myself. Following a relatively easy onboarding process (I just signed up to the .social instance), I had a quick gander at what’s what and where’s where, then posted my first photo. Here’s how it all panned out after that…
Pixelfed is built on ActivityPub, which is a decentralized social media protocol. In practical terms, Pixelfed allows separate Pixelfed servers to communicate with one another (the idea is similar to how you can send an email from a Gmail account to an Outlook account).
Hey folks, I’m new here
You know the drill. New platform, slightly cringeworthy introduction as your first post, etc. I wasn’t really expecting much, but I included a few relevant hashtags. Once the post was live, I browsed through said hashtags, and quickly found a few photographers to follow.
In a recent article, I mentioned the slower pace, calmer vibes and nicer people that you find on Mastodon. It’s exactly the same over on Pixelfed. Fourteen complete strangers offered an extremely warm welcome in the comments.
Additionally, as I pointed out that I have no idea what I’m doing, most of them offered tips and advice on navigating the platform. Lovely!
Buggy and cumbersome
Quickly circling back to the generous feedback received on Mastodon, I can confirm that Pixelfed is, indeed, buggy and cumbersome. Not to the point of putting me off using it, but it’s about as smooth as a badger’s arse.
A few things that spring to mind are:
When you follow someone, it follows them, but the button doesn’t change to following until you refresh the page.
I couldn’t access the comments via the mobile app.
People in the comments suggested other accounts to follow, but when you click on them, it doesn’t find them.
The notifications are easy to miss / distinguish between likes, comments and follows.
The back button on the browser nearly always needs pressing twice.
The desktop version is much more manageable than the mobile app. Thankfully, I post everything from a laptop anyway.
Many Instagram users have been seeking out alternatives to the Meta-owned platform after the company said it would eliminate third-party fact checking and revised its “Hateful Content” policy to allow denigrating comments against women and trans people, among other changes.
High engagement levels
I know, I know, likes and comments aren’t a worthy validation of your work. With that said, any photographer will still appreciate them. One of the things I was most pleasantly surprised by on Pixelfed, is the engagement.
Keeping in mind that this is a brand-new account, my first post received way more likes and comments than on any of the other social media channels I use.
Unlike on Instagram (other than sharing to your story), reposts are also a thing on Pixelfed. If you like a photo, you can share it with your followers, and others can, of course, repost your photo to their audience.
Account duplication?
So I think I was supposed to log in to Pixelfed with my current Mastodon account. Instead, I set up a new account on their .social instance, but now there’s another me showing up on Mastodon. Confused? Yes!
I’ve reached out for help, but it looks like I’ll need to merge the two accounts at some stage. Now I’m wondering, does what I post on one platform then automatically show on the other? Further investigating required.
Update
You do need a separate account for both Mastodon and Pixelfed. Photos posted on Mastodon show up on Pixelfed (either under hashtags or if someone is following your account on there). Pixelfed posts will also show up on Mastodon, again under the hashtags used or if someone is directly following your Pixelfed account on Mastodon.
The best advice I’ve been given, is to use Pixelfed for photos, and Mastodon for text / sharing blog posts, etc. Makes sense. It does still result in two separate accounts showing on Mastodon, however, which I’m not a huge fan of.
Portfolio
Lastly, I’ll briefly mention the portfolio option. Honestly, I’m not sure how this differs from your profile page, other than removing most distractions, which I guess is nice. It provides a clean layout, with your images, name, photo, a link to your profile and an optional RSS feed button.
Photographers without a website could easily get away with using the built-in portfolio instead. While it’s not going to be a permanent / long-term solution, it’s certainly a thoughtful addition.
The best way to share images so people can glance at them easily is to use the portfolio feature. It’s simple to configure. You can manually decide what images go into the portfolio or set images to be the most recent ones. RSS feed is supported, too and many other content options can be selected.
Is Pixelfed a worthy Instagram alternative?
I guess this will depend on your specific requirements and goals. Pixelfed could potentially replace Instagram, if you can persevere with it’s slightly less user-friendly experience.
If you’re aiming for features from your camera brand, this won’t happen on Pixelfed. Sony, Canon, Nikon and Fujifilm aren’t hanging out on the Fediverse. With that said, how likely is it that they’ll ever see one of your images on Instagram these days?
Based on the first 24 hours spent on Pixelfed, I think I like it. I won’t be closing my (recently re-opened) Instagram account just yet, but as I start to learn more about the Fediverse (and get a little more involved), I can easily see the appeal here.
The people are kinder, the pace is slower, the engagement is higher. What’s not to love?
5.30pm: Do Nothing – Be Bored
Being bored; a dying art form that’s effectively removing the free flowing, fun and creative headspace that it offers. Nobody reaches peak boredom anymore. In fact, as soon as the slightest hint of tedium comes our way, we’ll whip out a screen-based device to fixate on.
If you’re lucky enough to have experienced the era before phone addiction, you’ll likely remember all the fun that boredom brings. This is a result of your brain striving to come up with entertaining, productive, or just plain ridiculous ideas.
And that is what we’re missing out now. An unstimulated, idle mind, working its cognitive and creative magic. The purest form of idea generation.
Scheduled boredom
In a recent episode of the DesignThinkers podcast, keynote speaker and global design leader, Stephen Gates, said that he schedules time in his daily to-do list to become bored. This got me thinking, why aren’t more of us doing this?
I will literally put blocks of time that just say ‘be bored’, and it’s an hour-long meeting.
Of course, I thought I’d give it a go, mainly for nostalgic purposes, but also as an experiment. What will happen? How comfortable or uncomfortable will it be? Will I actually be able to nothing at all?
I think most of us have become accustomed to always doing something, no matter how small. In his podcast interview, Stephen says he reads or listens to music during his allocated boredom slot. Still a nice departure from an otherwise hectic schedule, but I wanted to remove any and all forms of mental stimulation.
So, at around 5.30pm each day, I’ve been setting a 30-minute timer, leaving my phone in the next room, and doing nothing. Nothing at all, other than sitting on the sofa and looking around like some sort of psychopath.
In a way, it’s a little like meditation, except also the complete opposite. In this practice, the mind is freely encouraged to go absolutely wild. Observed, unobserved, conscious, subconscious, daydreams, they’re all fair game.
Yikes! You need to do this, this, this and this
The first thing to pipe up is nearly always a barrage of things you need to do the instant your thirty minutes is up. Often useful, but equally unnecessary.
For example, I’ve often thought of things that needed doing that I’d completely forgotten to put on that day’s to-do list. On the flip side, most things you think you need to do straight after your boredom sesh can usually wait.
In a series of studies, researchers found that subjects who were asked to do mundane, boredom-inducing tasks were more creative afterward. Boredom is a “variety-driving emotion,” meaning that it primes us to seek out new and different — therefore creative — experiences and solutions.
Fighting the urge
Once I’ve settled in and let my brain wander, the real challenge begins; fighting the impulsive urge to get up and do something. This is really quite fascinating. Why can’t we just sit for a while and enjoy the time out?
It’s genuinely a pretty uncomfortable feeling to start with.
Stick it out
Following several stern words with yourself, the time spent doing nothing does actually become enjoyable. I’d go as far as calling it refreshing. In contrast to our normal day-to-day activities, it’s just nice to know you don’t need to do anything for a short while.
Thoughts come and go, ideas emerge, stories unravel, and creative explorations start to form. Relaxation even starts to creep in. Bonus!
Boredom has been scientifically proven to be a precursor for creative thinking, which is why many creatives find that their best ideas come when they’re engaged in mundane tasks, such as doing laundry or taking a walk. Boredom relaxes the brain and turns off its usual filters, allowing it to explore new ideas without the constraints of usual thought patterns.
The longest 30 minutes ever
I’ve cracked it. I know how to slow down time. Sit and do nothing for thirty minutes. It will feel like thirty years. A slight over-exaggeration, but still, this half hour is looooooooooong! Surely I’ve forgotten to set the timer?
As the years fly by quicker than ever, maybe boredom is the remedy? Or, at least, a slower pace with fewer distractions. I guess, at its core, we could whittle this down to two things.
More time out
Less screen time
Sorry, I’m busy being bored that night
Boredom is a creative superpower, and yet so many of us (myself included) have been neglecting it. We’re feeding our brains constant stimulation for every minute of every hour that we’re awake.
What if we could regain a portion of our headspace back, by simply sitting and doing nothing? Not meditating, not reading, not pacing, just pure nothingness.
This little experiment reconnected me with the idle mind. A creative zone where big, small, pointless and meaningful ideas happen. A drastically underused mental space with huge potential.
Who knows how this will pan out. Maybe I’ll eventually get bored of being bored, but for the time being, it’s on every day’s to-do list. 5.30pm – Do nothing – Be bored. If I’m honest, I’m really rather enjoying it. Maybe you will too?
Writing Online 2.0 – Search Engine (Un)Optimisation
In a blog post published back in April, Joost de Valk, founder of WordPress SEO plugin, Yoast, mentioned something that really got me thinking. The article was titled The unintended consequences of making SEO “for everyone”. It questioned the quality of the online content we’ve all been mindlessly pumping out.
In trying to democratize SEO, we also helped shape habits that led to a web full of “optimized” content, not all of it valuable.
Joost goes on to mention the traffic light system within Yoast. This is the part I related to most. I’m 100% guilty of writing exclusively for the green lights of joy.
We turned SEO into a checklist. Our traffic light system, meant to encourage good habits, became a finish line. People wrote to get the green light. They optimized, published, and moved on. Sometimes they were writing with purpose. But sometimes, they were just filling in the blanks.
Joost sold the company to Newfold Digital back in 2021, which is, most likely, part of the reason he’s now free to express his personal concerns with the plugin.
I use Yoast on both of my own business websites, as well as all of my client’s sites. It’s served me extremely well over the years. More often than not, hitting a full house of green traffic lights does, indeed, produce significant ranking improvements. But at what cost?
Au naturel Vs completely unnatural
If you’ve ever written optimised content, you’ve probably become accustomed to keyword research, focus keywords, transition words, readability scores and inclusive language. For example, you’re not allowed to write words like insane any more, for fear of offending somebody.
So, how does all of the above affect your writing? Well, it leads to a really quite bizarre modification of how you’d usually write. Ever wondered, that doesn’t sound like me? Or, why am I including these words that I’d never normally use?
I know I have. It’s far from natural. But, to a certain extent, it serves a purpose. SEO is how I acquire pretty much all of my new clients and customers. It’s also one of the services I offer, although only on a local scale. With that said, we’ve slowly drifted into a sea of sameness when it comes to written content.
Most highly optimised content is nothing other than a conversion tool. For this reason, the articles often bombard the reader with distractions, pop-ups, CTA’s, affiliate links and ads. In a word (or three), they’re annoying AF.
Switching it up
This is an extreme example, but here on my personal site, I’ve opted for a completely different setup to any of my other websites. It’s extreme in the sense that I don’t really need it to rank anywhere.
My blog posts and pages aren’t optimised for anything other than sharing my work and thoughts. This was a conscious decision, primarily based on wanting to enjoy writing again. A return to curating words with a deeper meaning
Of course, you could argue that, in this instance, I don’t need an SEO plugin at all. However, as WordPress doesn’t include settings for even the most basic requirements (title tags, meta descriptions, etc), I’ve been using an absolute corker of a plugin.
Modern SEO Without the Bloat. No clutter. No confusion. Just a simple, lightweight SEO assistant that helps your site rise in the rankings.
Yoast → SureRank
The first tool I swapped out was Yoast. Again, I’m a big fan, but writing in the way I am here, would only result in a barrage of red traffic lights.
Instead, I thought I’d give SureRank a try. This is a much more modern SEO plugin with a cleaner interface. It works behind the scenes, as well as allowing you to customise title and meta tags.
The best bit about the plugin, though, is its suggestions. While they’re incredibly useful, some of them don’t apply to this website. With Yoast, you’d then be stuck with the red lights of doom. With SureRank, you can simply dismiss the suggestion.
This is a much cleaner, calmer way of implementing some very basic SEO settings, without it becoming intrusive or distracting.
Grammarly → LanguageTool
In much the same way as optimising your content changes how you write, Grammarly has been spurting out some peculiar suggestions of late.
I’ve been keeping an eye out for a decent alternative for a while now. LanguageTool is currently covering all bases, plus it’s open source. There’s a free version which I’m currently using, or a premium upgrade for £59.90 per year.
Receive tips on how to improve your text while typing an e-mail, a blog post, or just a simple tweet. Whatever language you’re using, LanguageTool will automatically detect it and provide suggestions. To respect your privacy, no text is stored by the browser add-on.
So far, I’ve not had any ridiculous suggestions of how to rephrase your sentence so that it sounds like someone else wrote it. Rather, a simple highlight every time I spell something wrong, or miss a comma, etc.
No images, no rules, no CTA
Lastly, with the aim of sustaining the motivation to write, I opted for text only blog posts. Creating tailored images or graphics often adds an extra layer (or barrier) between writing and publishing.
Additionally, the frequency and length of said blog posts will be whatever feels right at the time. It’s much more tempting to log in and write when a post can be as long or short as you want it to be.
One of the most refreshing aspects, however, is writing without any intention. No focus keyword, no social sharing buttons, no ads, no affiliate links, no call to action. All of which, we’ve become accustomed to with (over) optimised content across the web.
Writing from the soul
It feels good to be writing naturally again. Somehow, optimising everything for search engines has drained the life and soul out of the articles we’re producing.
While optimised content (when written tastefully) has its place on the web, we’re missing out on everything that makes writing fun. No rules, no traffic light system, just honest, thoughtful and expressive words.
A personal blog, it turns out, is the perfect space to take everything you know about SEO, and do the complete opposite. Give it a try. You might even find you enjoy writing again.
Anxiety Vs Passion
For those who don’t know me personally, I’m one of the most socially anxious human beings on planet earth. I came, I saw, I made it awkward.
For the sake of my businesses, I’ve found a way to embrace said awkwardness. As a result, I can still usually build pretty solid relationships with my clients. That is, until there are more than one of them in the room and my brain turns to porridge.
At this stage in life (somewhere in between 41 and 43), I think it’s fair to say that this is who I am. No amount of therapy, extreme exercise or Buddhist retreats are going to fix me. Although I’m fully aware of their benefits, the one thing that’s lacking in activities like this, is passion. The drive and enthusiasm to pursue your goals.
But what about leaning into your actual passions as a form of self-help? This is something I’ve practiced in two forms for well over a decade now. Firstly, a combination of walking, hiking and exploring. Secondly, creativity, primarily in its visual form, but written comes a close second.
Anxiety management
A true passion gives you something to look forward to. It’s like when you book a holiday and spend every moment of the countdown in visualisation mode. Occupying your mind with thoughts of doing something you love results in less time spent thinking about how bad your next (insert your deepest insecurity here) is going to be.
If there’s something you’re passionate about, pursuing that passion can be a source of energy as well as a way to supercharge your own learning and development.
Ultimately, the more you enjoy an activity or hobby, the more you’ll plan your life around it. The further down the rabbit hole you delve, the less you seem to worry about anything else. It provides purpose, which, in turn, provides resilience, motivation and wellbeing.
Nope! Maybe. OK.
Us anxious folks seem to dread almost everything other than sitting at home with a book. I’m in no way an expert here, as I avoid countless social activities, but what if you could say yes to a few more invites, with the excitement and enthusiasm for your passion to see you through.
I use this all the time. I’d rather be at home or out doing something I love, but I’ve also got to show my face and try to appear normal for a certain amount of time.
When people are in their element, they connect with something fundamental to their sense of identity, purpose, and well-being.
Oftentimes, it can be easier when you’ve got that niggling thought in the back of your mind about your passion project. A little burst of mental energy and feel-good endorphins to power your social battery. At least, until it’s an acceptable time to make your excuses and run for the hills.
Knowledge is confidence
When you reach a certain level of knowledge and understanding in any given practice, your confidence in that area grows. This, again, is an opportunity to sidestep your unruly, not to mention unhelpful thoughts.
A creative pursuit can also help to build your self-knowledge, growing your understanding of what makes you, you.
Self-knowledge refers to knowledge of one’s own mental states, processes, and dispositions. Most agree it involves a capacity for understanding the representational properties of mental states and their role in shaping behaviour.
ScienceDirect
Mindful passion
In my last post, I talked about the benefits of photography and creativity for mindfulness. In much the same way, nurturing your passions will serve as a calming, healing and therapeutic respite from your otherwise anxious thoughts.
Doubling down on what you really love gives your soul a little extra purpose. A meaningful desire that, in today’s franticly paced lifestyles, should never be underestimated.
Photography & Creativity For Mindfulness
Meditation and mindfulness. In the traditional sense, it ultimately boils down to remaining present. This is typically achieved with an ongoing practice of sitting still and quietly observing your thoughts.
Some folks find their groove with it all, clearly reaping the rewards and benefits that it brings. Others, however, not so much. I’d firmly place myself in the camp of said others.
What I can do, though, is directly focus my attention on a creative activity or pursuit. I know a lot of photographers and artists lean in on this form of flow state.
Photography + flow state = mindfulness
From planning your trip and exploring your location or subject to immersing yourself in the editing process, photography offers the perfect mindfulness opportunity.
Half the time, you don’t even realise it’s happening. Regardless, the more you practice, the more space you free up in an otherwise intense barrage of thoughts.
With the current pace of life snowballing into chaos, slowing down and spending time on your hobbies is more important than ever before. The added bonus with photography, you’ll double up your endorphins just by being outside and getting your steps in. Additionally, if you throw a bit of nature into the mix, you’re feelings and emotions certainly won’t be complaining.
Mental health
With mindfulness, be it sitting and focusing on the breath, or diving into a creative passion, comes a subtle, yet noticeable boost in mood.
Again, I’ve heard many photographers discussing their practice as an essential ingredient in their overall well-being. Pure, calming and tranquil. It’s therapy.
As your work develops (quite literally if you’re using film), you end up bumping into plenty of like-minded folks online. Meaningful connections help to nurture your enthusiasm and purpose. This, of course, will also benefit your mental health.
Turn it into a thing
Once you find your feet with a chosen creative outlet, make it a thing. Make it your thing. Find your people, share your work and engage with your community.
A healthy level of obsession comes highly recommended. If you can reach the point where you’re infinitely passionate about what you do, it’s hard to think of anything else. From a personal point of view, this helps keep the volume of your thoughts at a manageable level.
Lots of the photographers I follow and admire display this type of enthusiasm and dedication. They’ve made their practice their thing. It’s a pure joy to see and/or listen to.
Whether you’re a complete newbie, an amateur or a pro, own what you do. Call yourself an artist or photographer, and shout it from the top of a mountain. You are what you practice.
Creative meditation
If, like me, traditional meditation isn’t quite working for you, immersive flow states in creativity are a perfect alternative. It works with any hobby that you enjoy.
The more you enjoy it, the more you do of it. The more you do of it, the more you focus on it. The more you focus on it, the calmer the mind becomes. It’s a win/win situation with the added inclusion of purpose and passion.
AI Overwhelm
Is anyone else completely bored and overwhelmed with AI hype? The volume of new tools and content is rising at an unmanageable rate, while the average quality collapses into a horrendous heap of mediocre (at best) turd.
I’m not against AI, more so, the drama that surrounds it. I’ll occasionally use Gemini to help generate any code I might need for WordPress. Additionally, I dabble with Adobe Firefly to test out ideas based on my own photography or 3D renders.
As it’s baked into pretty much everything now, I guess most people are using it in some way or another, but fuck me! It’s getting a bit much, isn’t it? The barrage of news and scaremongering is completely infuriating.
Everyone is burnt out
From what I see of people’s personal musings online, folks are more burnt out than ever before. This, in my humble opinion, is largely down to the frankly ridiculous change in pace that’s expected of us. Now that we have AI, we can do everything ten times faster, right? Only ten times? I’ve 50x’d my productivity, bro!
I mean, we could, but is anyone stopping to consider the end result? The output will most likely belong on that pile of turd I mentioned above, and your brain will be completely frazzled.
What we’re losing here is the mindful act of creativity. The slow, calming and mentally rewarding process of spending time and effort on something you enjoy.
Spoiler alert. If everyone starts working between ten and fifty times faster, there won’t be enough work to go around. We’re already seeing frequent waves of uncertainty, leading to businesses cutting right back on their spending.
Paired with the fact that working this way is totally chaotic, this is a reminder to myself (and anyone else that needs it) to slow the fuck down. Work at your own pace, work mindfully, enjoy the moment.
Managing exposure to the hype
Part of my work is SEO, one of the sectors most ravelled up in all of the AI nonsense right now. I’m struggling to even be able to see or listen to this bullshit at the moment. Why has it all got to be so dramatic?
This was actually a huge part of the reason for swapping my personal social media accounts back to photography and design. Overwhelm.
If something isn’t sitting right with you, take a break and come back to it. If it’s still not resonating or connecting, it might be time to change direction.
In terms of SEO, the basic principles remain the basic principles. I’m over here doing what I’ve always done, nothing new. At the moment, this is bringing in more than enough new clients and customers. Maybe this will change further down the line, but for now, it’s stick with what you know.
Fall behind
Everyone says if you don’t keep up with AI, you’ll fall behind. I’m more than happy to do so. You can always find me in the less crowded and chaotic space at the back of the gig.
Who knows how this approach will pan out? One thing’s for sure, it won’t be as catastrophic as the content you see online will have you believe.
Bringing mindfulness back
I guess this post is ultimately about inviting a slower pace back into your life. Meaningful work, creative practices, and a sense of purpose.
Maybe I’ve blamed the increased overwhelm on AI a little here, but in reality, it’s just overwhelm in general. Social media, screen time, digital everything.
We’re all going to use AI in some way or another throughout the rest of our lives, but let’s not forget the old way. Much like the resurgence in physical media, these days were, in hindsight, priceless.
Unsplash – Why I Give Most of my Work Away For Free
I’ve been contributing to the Unsplash library for just over five years now. If you’re not familiar with the platform, it’s a stock photography site, offering images that are free to download and use however you please.
Additionally, they have a subscription plan for premium images. Contributors to Unsplash+ are paid for their accepted submissions. More on this further down.
For the bulk of this note, I’ll be covering the free aspect. Uploading work that can then be used in all manner of creative projects, by anyone who uses the internet.
Why give your work away for free?
Firstly, this is just my personal experience of using Unsplash. It won’t be for everyone. A professional photographer, for example, certainly wouldn’t give most of their work away for free. They could, however, still benefit from the gigantic user base by uploading some of their images.
Me? I’m just having fun with photography. I’m far from being a pro. As a passion project, I also like to keep it free from creative restraints or revenue goals.
Once you start building a portfolio on Unsplash, alongside features on their home and category pages, the view counts are unrivalled. Way more eyeballs on your work than you’d ever be able to achieve on social media.
Your stats include views, downloads and also where people are using your images. Through the Unsplash API, users across various platforms (Figma, Wix, Notion, Mailchimp, etc.) can incorporate your photo into their projects.
Ultimately, this is what I love to see. Otherwise, my work would only sit on a hard drive or, most likely, eventually be deleted.
Popular content & features
To do well on Unsplash, you need to get a feel for what they like. Everything on their homepage and category pages is hand-curated. Therefore, these will all give you a decent idea of what’s popular and most likely to be featured.
As you build out a portfolio, you can start submitting your images to each category page. For example, a shot of a modern building could be submitted to the Architecture & Interiors page.
As mentioned above, these features are where the magic happens (especially on the homepage). Sit back and watch as your views start to enter the millions.
Unsplash also features their contributors in blog posts, such as round-ups of the previous month’s best images, as well as on their social media channels.
Your profile page
Each view of one of your images is an opportunity for the user to click through to your profile page. From here, they can view:
Your photo.
Your bio/description.
An available-for-hire badge (optional).
A support via PayPal button (optional)
Your location.
Options to connect (website, IG, etc.).
Your interests (tags relating to your work).
Your full portfolio.
Any collections that you may have curated.
The biggest opportunity here is linking to your website. Maybe you can then get them signed up to your newsletter if you have one, or they could even reach out asking to work with you.
Unsplash+
Lastly, let’s talk about Unsplash+. This is a paid service that certain contributors can submit to. You’ll need to apply, and from what I remember, it’s probably best to build up your portfolio first and make sure you’ve had a few features.
Each month, they release a new set of briefs. Other than the glory days when the initiative first launched, and you could submit anything, now it’s a little more specific.
Each brief is based on current trends and demands, so it won’t always necessarily line up with your usual style or subjects. That said, there are plenty to choose from, and you can submit to however you many you like per month.
Nowadays, I’m just submitting the odd image here and there if the brief is something I’d be shooting anyway. You’re paid a one-off fee per image, and can usually enter up to 30 images per brief.
Zero regrets
As I’ve chopped and changed creative focuses over the years, built and binned various portfolios, and generally not had any clear direction, one thing remained solidly in place. My Unsplash portfolio.
As I have issues with hoarding too many files, it’s also the only place that many of my photos now exist. Without it, I’d never have seen them again.
In case you hadn’t guessed already, I’m a huge fan! I love the community, the folks that run it, the website itself, and, of course, seeing how and where people all over the world are using my images. Happy days!
How to Lose All Enthusiasm For Everything Fun
I lost my way a little over the last year and a half. The unstable economy, paired with a frighteningly slow patch, does funny things to a business owner.
My previous rule of thumb was to share work-related content online about 25% of the time. This quickly ramped up to almost 100% of the time. Yawn!
Don’t get me wrong, I love my businesses, but not enough for either of them to sustain my personal creative interests. This notion, however, seems to have been buried among the worry of where the next invoice payment was coming from.
As a result, all of the passion projects and pursuits that fuel my mental well-being were abruptly concluded. This way, there’ll be more time to work on the business. Your mental health can just go fuck itself for a while. I’m sure it won’t mind.
It (the mind) does mind
Somewhere, between a year and a year and a half of acting like a respectable, consistent business owner, I realised two things.
It wasn’t much fun
It didn’t work
None of my clients or customers find me as a result of anything I post on social media. Nothing I say or do (this hasn’t been tested to the extremes) has any effect on what I earn.
Paired with the fact that my soul had long departed its vessel on the hunt for some excitement, I almost instantly flipped the switcharoo back to the fun times. Come back, lost spirit. We have some catching up to do.
Things I’d lost all motivation for
Photography
Travel and exploring
Art and design
Music
Things I’m enjoying again
Photography
Travel and exploring
Art and design
Music
The old balance is the new balance
More fun shit. Less boring shit. You can’t say fairer than that. Photography, exploring, and adventures keep me sane. They allow for a mindful escape from the business to focus on absolutely anything I fancy.
This practice isn’t a nice-to-have; it’s a must-have. I don’t function properly without it, which can then, in turn, affect all sorts of other life aspects.
Work, of course, pays the bills, so I’m not in any way disregarding the importance of keeping the momentum rolling. From a marketing perspective, I’m leaning more into what works (SEO), rather than sharing content on my personal profiles.
Work/life balance. It’s a tricky one, isn’t it?
Mastodon – A Calmer, Algorithm-Free Social Platform
Mastodon is one of my favourite social media platforms. The vibe is completely different there compared to anywhere else that I’ve used.
Four key areas make Mastodon especially appealing as an alternative to mainstream social media.
It’s decentralised
It’s open source
It’s not for sale
It’s interoperable (part of the Fediverse)
This means it’s free to use, independent, doesn’t show ads (massive bonus), connects with other platforms via ActivityPub, and, possibly best of all, there’s no algorithm.
All of the above is becoming increasingly rare these days, which is what makes the platform so special.
The people
I started my account sharing WordPress and SEO related content, and have since switched to mainly posting my personal photography projects.
In both instances, I’ve been able to connect with some truly genuine, like-minded people. In addition to all of the above benefits, it’s the community that makes Mastodon such a joy to use.
The folks here are calm, quiet (as in not shouty), respectful, and thoughtful. On the odd occasion that I’ve asked for help or advice across my social channels, it’s nearly always Mastodon users who provide the solution. Hats off to you!
The pace
Mastodon flows at a slower pace than pretty much any other social media platform. While it may initially seem a little too quiet for some, you can fully tailor your experience based on the number of accounts and hashtags you follow.
I don’t personally follow many hashtags, as these will quickly fill up your feed. I much prefer to see my connection’s posts, then head to a hashtag when I’m in the mood for some additional black and white photography, or anything similar.
For creatives
Lastly, there’s a really nice creative community on Mastodon. It’s small, yet thriving. This makes it much easier to connect, keep up to date and avoid overwhelm.
The photography community is especially abundant, with some incredible talent on display. Also, Mastodon seems to be one of the only platforms that doesn’t completely trash the image quality in the preview.
In a world where everything seems to be changing and developing at a frightening pace, Mastodon refuses to conform to trends or normalities.
Instead, it plods along, providing a refreshing alternative to mainstream everything. I love it. If you’re reading this and we’re connected there, I just wanted to say thank you for your inspiration and consistently positive vibes.