For those of you who do not know, Unsplash.com is a website where users can post their images for other users to download and use for any project of any type.
Free images. Absolutely and without strings.
And so many photographers are so very pissed about it.
Me… not so much.
In fact, I have images there for free.
You can see why Unsplash is no threat to assignment photographers. Most of the work there is not the kind of work that gets assigned, nor is it complete enough to be a total stock solution.
And it fits a niche in our new world of marketing and sharing.
“Sharing”… it’s a word that scares a lot of people, but it shouldn’t.
In fact, it is completely understandable and is a much larger force than the ‘gatekeepers’ could ever have mustered.
A word about gatekeepers: they suck.
Gatekeepers are a throwback to the medieval times when the King would ‘choose’ the artist based on whatever the King thought was important.
Who are gatekeepers?
Publishers.
Editors.
Guilds.
Unions.
Associations.
Critics.
People who band together to decide how to keep other people from doing something that may be a threat to their own comfortable existence.
They sit high on the hill and ‘allow’ their chosen ones to ascend.
Bullshitters of the highest magnitude.
Because by the time the gatekeeper is in place, the artists that are being protected are old, dated, and in many cases irrelevant.
The up and coming artists must appeal to the gatekeepers for admission which means they must water down their own work to appease the gatekeepers or be in constant turmoil as they are chastised, criticized and have every attempt to be marginalized foisted on them.
The day of the gatekeeper is quickly vanishing.
Write a book, publish it on Amazon. No gatekeeper.
Want to have a radio show? Podcasts are huge with nearly no upfront budget needed, nor a “license’ from the government.
How about movies? Shoot it on an iPhone, edit it on an iPhone, and distribute it on YouTube.
Want to teach someone how to do something? Create a course and sell it or give it away or… whatever you want. No need to be an ‘accredited’ teacher. (More gatekeepers.)
The gatekeeper mentality is thankfully receding. Fast.
Not fast enough for me, but then I am an impatient jerk.
WHY I GIVE AWAY PHOTOS ON UNSPLASH
Because for decades I have made images that no one has seen.
Because for decades I have had boxes of images that few people have seen.
Because my existence on this planet is finite, and my photographs should not bear the same fate.
Because my images deserve to have a life of their own, not held back by a gatekeeper… not even me.
I give my images away in hopes that someone will see one of my images and smile.
Or use it on their blog, or website, or magazine.
Let the image have a life – live on and be as happy as a series of lines of code can be.
I know some of you are rolling your eyes and thinking… wow, dude, that’s a lotta woowoo there.
Maybe. I don’t really care.
I think of the alternative: When I am gone, the hard drives will be erased to make room for more cat videos, my website will eventually expire, and the few mentions on social media will simply fade away.
Fine for me.
Sucks for my images.
So I just set them free.
What I shoot for myself is for me to decide what to do with them, not gatekeepers fearful that it will somehow intrude on their business.
Watch the video above to see how that is largely unfounded.
And if you happen to see one of my images out there in the world, say hi… and wish it well.
If you have comments or discussion points, pop them into an email and send them along. Or comment on the YouTube page.