First step...

...on my substack journey

This is my photography newsletter with fresh weekly photo stories of Edinburgh and beyond that you can get direct by email if you subscribe - free if you choose or pay a wee bit for extras

Someone emailed to suggest I add a wee tips payment option - for those of you who don’t want to subscribe but would like to offer something as a “Cheers mate, enjoyed that” option. So here it is.

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“This is Tom Duffin’s Photography Journey.”

They wrote that bit for me, automatically, the substack machine…and actually…it’s not a bad fit for this explanatory post.

I’m starting my substack journey for a few reasons…but primarily because I need to wrangle control over my online output…but still keep going with the daily words and images that I’ve been sharing on social media. So it’s really more like continuing the journey…but using a different mode of transport.

not sure if the bus is Facebook or Substack in this metaphor…decide for yourself (ignore the weephotos watermark, a brand I dropped a while back)

Feeling compelled to produce a daily offering on Facebook has kept me working hard…disciplined even…and given me an audience to please…and a standard to keep to. I’ve shared over 3000 posts and 5000 images over the years, with a “following” (cringe) of 21 thousand sets of eyeballs. Some image posts can go a bit Hairy McLary with one recently getting over 500 thousand impressions…but…

this image got 507,885 impressions on Facebook, 5426 reactions (likes, hates etc) and zero sales

…but…

…but still I have no real control over who sees my stuff…and when I want to tell people about some ways to see more…or even how they can choose to pay for my work…the throttling hands close tight around the windpipe of self proclamation…and very few eyeballs see those posts.

So let’s jump on this bus and continue the journey…with a full-on multi-image post at least once a week…and a lot more content in addition. Some of it will be old photography work you may have seen before…refreshed and used in context with longer descriptions…or to illustrate a story or a technique…and some of it will be brand spanking new…the pixels sooked down the digital umbilical cord straight to Substack.

the moon is a favourite subject of mine…with a few of my favourite people

Lots of my work is taken in my home city of Edinburgh…and I make no apologies for showing you our places, people and events…and snippets of some of the work I’m doing with clients. I love working with such a diverse range of people and there is always something interesting to learn from each job…and a few stories to tell. When I teach one-to-one sessions and run group workshops I may even share the work of those learners too.

Taken by Nabia on our photography workshop with Edinburgh Young Carers, this is Edinburgh’s Princes St at that special twilight time.

If you decide to subscribe…wahey…a fuller bus makes for a much more interesting journey…and please do also share your comments…even if it’s just to say hello and how you found me.

You’ll see there’s an option to pay a wee bit every month…but you can also choose not to…and please don’t pay if you can ill-afford to. At some point I will produce certain content which will be for paying subscribers only, and then there will be a free option for those who are skint. Let’s wait and see.

This shot of Edinburgh Castle and Salisbury Crags took me 6 years of trying - the rest of the city was blanketed in the haar cloud that rolled in from the North Sea - one minute later it was just a sea of cloud.

For now…I need your help letting folk know I’m here…in comments on social media…by forwarding my emails…or that weirdly effective old fashioned thing of talking to them in person. I’d really appreciate your help in building our team over here…bigger…noisier…and with heaps more freedom than over on Facebook…Twitter…or Instagram.

Something I really love about Facebook is the comments people make on my posts, sharing your thoughts, your criticisms, telling your stories to add to mine, so please do keep that coming and make your comments below on this platform too.

Maybe see you out there.