I was photo of the day on Unsplash

The beginning

If you have read my about page, you know I have professional experience as an art director/UI designer/designer/baker. So many names in this job, it is wild. There was a time when Dribbble was at its prime: everyone wanted an invitation, everyone tried to post every day, everyone was fully into it.

The connection with Unsplash, you might ask? I am getting there. One day in 2013, a Dribbble post caught a lot of attention. It was a photo of a MacBook Air, with a link in the post description: www.unsplash.com. You could see high-resolution photos available to download for free. I even still have a screenshot of the site.

I do not intend to tell you the story of Unsplash as its creator experienced it, only how many designers discovered it.

My first post

Two years later, the site had evolved and it was possible to create an account to post our own photos. I found it interesting to share high-quality photos with a community that had shared so many with me for two years, and from which I had benefited a lot.

• My first post in 2015 -

A ruddy duck in the moat of the Chateau de Nantes

So yes. A duck? You might say. I did not really believe in it, but I told myself I liked this photo, so rather than sharing nothing, I posted it. Unsplash chose to include it in the “selected photos”, meaning my photo appeared on the site’s home page or among the highlighted photos of the category. Seeing your work highlighted is very motivating.

This happened a few more times afterwards:

Photos selected by the site have the yellow visual.

Unsplash became a platform where I enjoy posting photos, where I am happy that my work is recognized and showcased. I can follow the posts of some of my friends there, a delight.

Unsplash and the future

Here we are in 2022, and I am setting off to discover the Alps! I take a lot of photos there, and one evening, as the sun is about to set, a magnificent light falls across the side of the mountains. I hesitate for two seconds because the waiter at the bar where I am sitting has just brought me a beer, it is cold, and my camera is all the way at the bottom of my bag. Finally I take it out and make a photo that will end up on the Unsplash home page for 24 hours. Thanks to the 200mm, by the way.

That day, my Unsplash profile recorded 6 million page views, 7 million views on my photo, and 140,000 downloads.

The Alps on the home page <3

Since then, Unsplash has launched the Unsplash+ photo service. A high-quality photo service selected by the site for 6 euros per month. The free part of the site, where everyone can contribute, is still present. You need to be selected by Unsplash to be able to offer photos for the Plus service. I had that chance in December 2022.

Thank you for reading, see you!