Foto di Martin Martz su Unsplash
Unsplash is an online platform with millions of free images to download in high definition. There is a paid program for access to everything and another for creatives who participate in briefs that can result in modest earnings. Unsplash buys the photos it is interested in and pays for them.
I signed up for the second type of program and am waiting to join if Usplash decides I’m up to it.
If you want to know more, visit Unsplash. There are positive and negative comments and opinions online, as always.
What is it?
A platform of free ‘illustrations’. In fact you will find both photographs and illustrations, using any tool.
Foto di Eduardo Goody su Unsplash
This is the goal, and Unsplash isn’t the only one doing this, I realize. The web today is made up of “wow” images preceding text of any kind. There’s no such thing as text without its image. I even tried this experiment: not placing any images over text. Well, it’s a disaster.
I first visited Unsplash in 2023 because I needed some images for a couple of posts that I don’t remember where they ended up. Participating as a contributor, that is, leaving my photographs free, copyright-free, wasn’t even an option: the idea made me sick.
Furthermore, at the time, it was very clear that the selection was made to illustrate concepts, feelings, emotions, and ideas that were always in line with the most banal illustrative needs (stunning presentations of a future of guaranteed success and money for all).
Foto di Razvan Chisu su Unsplash
I, on the other hand, was (and am) a semi-amateur photographer with very abstract inclinations, as far removed from commercialism as can be.
I returned to Unsplash almost by accident, after a good three years. The platform has grown in size, but above all, it’s overrun with photographers, some more professional, many amateur. And with truly extraordinary photographs and images, true works of art.
What am I doing here, on Unsplash?
Meanwhile, over the years, I’ve worked hard on my photo archive, and after much work, I now have a nice external drive full of splendid photographs that I was very fond of, but only I could see them. A small satisfaction. Publishing them for profit was out of the question. So what?
Foto di Samsung Memory su Unsplash
I’ve hung up my egocentric self-importance, and here they are, ‘my’ photographs, the images I’m so fond of. And to my great surprise, two weeks after the first upload, the most popular one is precisely the one I never expected: the image of a cabbage leaf, in B&W, subjected to a bold (digital) solarization. Incredible.
Foto di antonio massara su Unsplash
