It’s summer! Half a year has shot past since I last wrote to you. Back then, I was looking at the year behind us and sharing some wee stories. Now, I’m choosing to press the reset button, and I wanted to tell you why.
Photos, mostly
I began writing on Substack in late 2022 after being worn down by the endless algorithmic treadmill of social media. Facebook and Instagram were soul-destroying. Reddit held no attraction. Mastodon was a ghost town. Don’t even get me started on LinkedIn. What had been my favourite platform for many years, Twitter, was largely dead to me, later to become dead to most right-thinking folk – so many who lost huge follower counts.
In another life, I was the owner of a small independent record label called Too Many Fireworks. Something I learned, forgot, and learned again was that owning your own audience is crucial. It’s essential to have followers that can’t be taken from you should a platform close, merge, or become the personal plaything of a fascist ex-trillionaire.
Substack seemed attractive as the founders sold themselves as being an alternative to social media. Algorithm? What algorithm? Exactly what I needed, I thought. Over time, I grew Photos, mostly to a couple of thousand subscribers and wrote some in-depth and popular essays. Through Photos, mostly I met some lovely folk and found some excellent work. I created the now defunct Photostack list that’s been superseded now by other excellent indexes. Shame on Substack for still not having a Photography category!
So what’s the problem, pal?
The algorithmic changes Substack introduced over the last few years, from Recommendations to Notes, diluted the platform’s allure and my reason for choosing it. These features certainly had their positives. Would you have discovered Photos, mostly had it not been them? Still, the walled garden I was promised was turning into a country park, everyone shouting at each other, and far too many happily hurling slurs.
The one frantically fluttering red flag I couldn’t live with was Substack’s lack of any moderation of substance for far-right-wing cranks. Transphobes, Holocaust denial, neo-nazi content all earning from, and making money for, Substack. The platform’s refusal to draw any rhetorical red lines began to seem less neutrality and more political choice. As Israel has conducted its horrifying genocide in Gaza, Substack has supported publications like The Free Press in pushing the flagrantly dishonest Zionist line. My own line had to be drawn, and I decided to stop posting to the platform last year. When human-trafficking tortoise, the manosphere’s own chinless wonder, Andrew Tate joined Substack, my decision seemed vindicated.
For what it’s worth, if anyone else is considering leaving Substack, there’s an excellent website with some history, articles, and options of where to go: leavesubstack.com
Gone, but not forgotten.
In my absence, though, the recommendation engine has continued to do its work. Some readers have fallen away, but others stumbled upon me and subscribed – welcome to you!
I have always planned to come back to the newsletter, though I couldn’t decide where and when. That was, until this week. In the midst of some long-needed website renovation, I had a reservoir of curiosity enough to click on Jetpack’s Newsletter option. Turns out, I didn’t need to find a Substack alternative; I had one right at home all along.
With a little time, patience, and tedious use of Cmd+C and Cmd+V, I’ve brought over the Photos, mostly archive to this website, resurrecting the newsletter along with it.
As with most creative decisions in my life, the name of this reborn newsletter was settled upon after excessive indecision and inner conflict, almost as if my life depended on it. Ridiculous. As a title, Photos, mostly worked on Substack as it somewhat unsubtly described the content of the newsletter in an ecosystem of writing that spanned from memoirists laying their life bare to independent journalists breaking stories of the corruption of governments.
The name was much less descriptive when found, as it now is, on the website of your friendly neighbourhood street photographer. A new name was required, and as I was nearing the end of my rope, I settled on The Contact Sheet. See what I did there?
The Contact Sheet
On The Contact Sheet, you’ll find the occasional essay on the philosophy and practice of street photography, highlights from what I’ve been photographing, works-in-progress, some photos, links to some stuff I’ve written on the website, some exclusive print offers, and in the future, maybe a return to the short-lived Conversations, mostly series.
As I’ve stolen the name Dispatches for elsewhere on the website, the monthly round-up of photography news and other bits and pieces also has a shiny new title, along with a simpler format, and it will appear, when I get it started, as f/stops.
You can revisit all the Photos, mostly posts that have recently moved over to the website, including the State of Street Photography 2023, now updated for 2026.
Even with the change of name and a simpler format, the newsletter will stay, mostly, the same. Like when Marathon became Snickers in the ’90s.
Still, I know this move away from Substack may lead some more casual readers to unsubscribe. I completely understand, and no hard feelings. Thanks for sticking with me during the Substack years. Good times!
If you decide to stick around, thank you. Truly. This move from Substack takes me away from the recommendation engine and the safety of the wider platform, setting me out on my own. So if you like what you read, please recommend The Contact Sheet to a friend or two. It’ll really help.
What’s next?
Much like Photos, mostly; both newsletters will appear monthly, each more or less on a biweekly schedule. Regular posts should start in August, so until then, have a great summer!
Cheers!
And finally…
If you’ve enjoyed this issue, I’d be very grateful if you could recommend it to any photography-loving friends.
This newsletter is free to read, however, as a freelancer in the creative arts, every penny counts. If you like what I do, please consider buying me a roll of film. You can do so by clicking here, or by aiming your camera at the QR code below. Your donations help me keep making photographs and writing.
All labour required to publish The Contact Sheet is undertaken by me alone. As I try to be a better socialist, I donate 10% of all income to anti-capitalist, leftist, or progressive causes or organisations that help make the world a better place. Thank you!