Getting My Feet Wet with Photography
My journey discovering photography.
The Newest Thing in Photography
There’s a special kind of joy in catching a quiet moment with your camera and sending it out into the world on Unsplash — a small, generous offering that someone else might use to tell their story. Watching your images live free and spark ideas, wallpapers, blog headers or travel daydreams feels like leaving little windows of your life for strangers to peek through. Each upload is both a gift and a hello: a reminder that beauty shared freely can travel farther than you ever intended.
Getting Started
My newfound obsession with photography finally pushed me to upgrade from phone snaps to something with a little more bite. After too many trips of relying on my Samsung Galaxy — great for quick posts, not so great for capturing the real texture of a place — I decided it was time to get serious.
Rather than splurge on a brand-new body, I scored my brother’s Canon 7D for a few hundred dollars. It arrived with a Sigma 18–50mm f/2.8 zoom and a Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 prime, and I added a compact 24mm f/2.8 to the kit right before my Peru trip. Armed with that trio of lenses, I finally felt ready to chase better light and sharper stories on the road.
Unsplash — Gorgeous, Free Photos to Inspire You
Last week my brother introduced me to Unsplash — a fast-rising hub for stunning, copyright-free photography. Yes: free. Launched in Montreal in 2013 by Michael Cho, Unsplash has grown into one of the globe’s go-to photo communities, now supported by over 70,000 contributing photographers — and I’ve just joined their ranks.
Getting started is simple: sign up and submit 10 images. Within a day, you’ll hear back about whether you’ve been accepted. If you’re fortunate, one of your shots might be spotlighted on Unsplash’s homepage — the single best way to gain visibility and reach a massive audience overnight.
Puppy Love
Machu Picchu
Reflections
Snow Covered Mountaintops
Paradise
Rain Drops on My Mind
Walking Among the Clouds
What Dreams are Made Of
Unsplash seems to favor a certain kind of photo — the moodier, shadow-rich shots, those with crisp, clean lines, or images that flirt with a soft bokeh glow. Those styles tend to stand out. I’ve had eight of my images featured on the main page so far and I’m hoping for many more.
It’s an inventive platform for sharing imagery, though I wonder how professional photographers who depend on paid work feel about it. Some expect Unsplash to eventually introduce monetization so contributors can earn but for now it’s a wonderful way to get your work seen — definitely worth trying.
Update | I’ve since taken my photos down but I still turn to Unsplash as an invaluable resource, especially for concept development in my day job. And I’ve also noticed they’ve started focusing on advertising to “hire” photographers.
