Links

Remember blogrolls? Before algorithms decided what was worth reading, people just linked to other people. Consider this a continuation of that tradition — friends, creators, and projects I think are worth your time.

• Carolyn Hazel Drake →

  An artist and arts educator based in Portland, OR and Phoenix, AZ, Carolyn makes work that lives somewhere between the sacred and the junk drawer. Textiles, ceramics, and domestic objects assembled into installations that somehow make you think about death, memory, and the strange weight that ordinary things can carry. Her work opens with a quote from Junichiro Tanizaki about finding beauty in darkness, which sets the tone perfectly. Quiet, considered, and genuinely moving — the kind of art that sticks with you long after you've left the room.

• Jay Fram →

  Jay's the guy you call when you need photos that actually make people stop scrolling. A Portland-based commercial photographer, Jay shoots everything from healthcare and education to architecture and corporate life, with a client list that proves he cleans up nicely on set. Whether he's capturing a roofing company or an oncology center, he brings the kind of warmth and craft that makes even a budget meeting look meaningful. Basically, if it needs to look good, Jay's your person.

• Noah Kalina

  • Noah Kalina →

    An artist and photographer based in Lumberland, New York, Noah is best known for Everyday — a self-portrait project he started in 2000 that turned the quiet act of showing up into one of the most recognized works in contemporary photography. When he's not photographing himself, he's shooting for clients like Google, Gucci, and Disney, documenting black walnut trees and the Delaware River over decades, or writing his newsletter about photography, life, chickens, and other fun stories. Essentially, Noah has found a way to make patience his superpower — and he has the archive to prove it.

  • Hotline Show →

    A weekly YouTube show where anyone in the world can call in and ask Noah anything — and they do. Mostly it's about photography and creative work, but really it's about everything: existential spiraling, gear obsession, chickens, fog, the worst emoji you can send someone, and the slow realization that none of it matters (in the best possible way). New episodes drop every Sunday, and Noah describes it himself as "a video podcast about photography, creativity, and the slow realization that none of it matters." Honest, funny, and oddly comforting — like calling up a friend who happens to know a lot about cameras.

  • Newsletter →

    A weekly dispatch from Lumberland, New York, where Noah writes about photography, creative life, and whatever grabbed his attention that week. It's been running for nearly 200 issues, which is the kind of commitment that puts most people to shame. Equal parts personal essay, behind-the-scenes peek, and honest accounting of what it's actually like to be an artist — including the flat tires, the dry spells, and the occasional chicken update. Free to read, though he won't turn down a subscription. One of those newsletters you actually look forward to opening.

  • Archive →

    Twenty-plus years of published and personal work, all in one place and presented in deliberately random order. Portraits, landscapes, editorial work, fine art — the full range of what Noah has made, stripped of categories and context and just let breathe against a black background. It's less a portfolio and more a time capsule: the kind of thing you click through and suddenly realize twenty minutes have passed. Simple, quiet, and quietly impressive.

  • Tears →

    A tear sheet is a page pulled from a published magazine, book, or catalog proving your work actually made it into the world. This is Noah's collection of nearly 200 of them, spanning from 2004 to the present. The New York Times Food Section next to a Catskills community magazine, Yale Architecture alongside a self-published zine — it's an honest, unfiltered record of a career in full. Less a highlight reel, more a complete paper trail. The name "Tears" is a little melancholy on purpose, and that feels just right.

  • Domino Sugar Factory →

    Since 2010, Noah has been quietly returning to the same subject: the old Domino Sugar Factory on the Williamsburg waterfront in Brooklyn. The site is as simple as the project — then and now — two words that do a lot of heavy lifting. The "then" photos show the gritty, atmospheric factory in its original state; the "now" photos show what's become of it: a glass dome grafted onto a century-old brick shell, luxury condos rising next door. No editorializing, no captions. Just the building, the sky, and time doing its thing.

  • Everyday →

    Since January 10th, 2000, Noah has taken a self-portrait every single day. That's 9,468 days and counting. What started as a teenager's curiosity about the passage of time became one of the most recognized photography projects on the internet — 27 million YouTube views, exhibited in Switzerland, recreated at the VMAs, and immortalized by The Simpsons. The site itself is a beautifully obsessive archive: every photo tagged by year, month, location, camera, beard status, and more. As Noah himself puts it: "we all know how this ultimately ends." Cheerful stuff — but also genuinely one of the most remarkable long-term art projects anyone has ever committed to.

• Lindsay Elliott →

  A Vancouver-based photographer with a talent for making everything look simultaneously aspirational and completely real. Lindsay shoots commercial campaigns, lifestyle work, portraits, and travel — basically wherever there are interesting people, beautiful places, or a good story to tell. With clients ranging from Booking.com to Procter & Gamble and editorial credits in The Sunday Times and The Globe and Mail, she's the kind of photographer brands call when they're tired of photos that look like stock photos. Find her on Instagram as @lindsaytakesphotos, which is honestly the most honest Instagram handle in the business.

• Tom Leininger

  • Tom Leininger Photography →

    Tom is a photographer who has decided that doing the dishes and fixing things around the house deserves the same dramatic lighting as a Renaissance painting. His work finds the art hidden in everyday suburban life — staged with intention, lit for effect, and guaranteed to make you look at your to-do list a little differently. Equal parts conceptual artist and reluctant homeowner, Tom is out here making chores look cinematic.

  • Newsletter ##30## →

    Tom's newsletter, Dispatches from the Midwest, is exactly what it sounds like: honest, unhurried notes from a guy juggling teaching, photography, and the relentless pace of life. Published whenever time allows (which, between redesigning his classes and getting sick at the worst possible moment, is a moving target), it reads like a conversation with a thoughtful friend who's genuinely trying to carve out space to breathe. If you've ever felt like you're just surviving instead of living, Tom's probably writing about it.

• Seth Werkheiser

  • Blog →

    Seth is the founder of the Social Media Escape Club, which tells you pretty much everything you need to know about his worldview. His blog is a punchy, no-nonsense feed of short posts about the open web, independent publishing, music, and the general absurdity of how people use the internet. He also makes music as HUNTERTHEN — soundscapes for your interplanetary commute, apparently. Whether he's ranting about DNS settings or questioning why anyone would pay $500 for a Zoom call with a stranger, Seth writes like someone who has fully opted out of the algorithm and is having a much better time for it.

  • Social Media Escape Club →

    Seth's home base for helping creative people quit social media and actually own their audience. The premise is simple and a little radical: your Instagram posts can't be seen by people who don't use Instagram, but an email newsletter can reach anyone with an inbox. With over 6,000 subscribers, Seth has clearly struck a nerve. Equal parts practical resource and gentle intervention, the site covers email strategy, newsletters, and why 600 email subscribers beat 4,000 Facebook followers every time. Bold yellow branding, zero corporate fluff.

• Diego Palma →

  A digital strategist who specializes in connecting brands, ideas, and stories with actual human beings — which turns out to be harder than it sounds. Diego's client list runs from the United Nations and HBO to TEDx and Voto Latino, which gives you a sense of the range. Growth marketing, social media, UX design, data insights — he covers the full stack, and he's particularly drawn to work that has a real-world impact. Also worth noting: his site is hand-coded with love, which says something about the man.