A Year in Review
Let’s take a look at our highlights from 2019
We may be in a new decade (hello 2020!), but we aren’t so far into the future that we can’t take a minute to look back at 2019 and reflect on all of the milestones, happy memories and incredible new heights that our community has reached over the past year.
Major Milestones
55,136,436,858 viewed images in 2019
195,038,108 downloaded images in 2019
In May, we reached 1 million images contributed to Unsplash, allowing more people to create, more problems to be solved, and more progress to be made. And we owed it all to our passionate, creative community.
It didn’t take too long after that to reach one billion all-time photo downloads in July. Which means, our community has inspired and enabled 1 billion creations — from presentations to paintings.
But that’s not all! Some of our top contributors also hit some pretty epic milestones in 2019. A huge congrats goes out to the following community members for reaching (wait for it)… One billion views!
One billion views
We really can’t say this enough: We are honestly so amazed by our community and the ways they continue to push open photography forward.
Top Contributors
We were blown away by the next level contributions these next 10 photographers made to the community this past year — and judging by their views and downloads, all of you were as well. Here are the ten most viewed & downloaded photographers this year:
New & notable photographers
The Unsplash community grows more and more each day and brings to light so many new, talented photographers. Here are ten standout photographers that caught our attention and made an impact this year:
Newsworthy Moments
From the 50th anniversary of the moon landing to Hong Kong protests, the community contributed some incredible newsworthy shot this past year.
Holi
Known as the ‘Festival of Colours’, in March of 2019, people from across India celebrated the Hindu Festival.
Hong Kong Protests
In June 2019, millions from Hong Kong took to the streets in reaction to plans to allow extradition to mainland China. The protests continue to this day.
50th Anniversary of the Moon Landing
July 20, 2019 marked the 50th anniversary of the first humans landing on the Moon as part of NASA’s Apollo 11 lunar mission.
Historical milestone in Iran
For nearly 40 years, women in Iran were barred from watching football at a football stadium. In October, this ban was lifted for the first time in decades.
Protests in Chile
The subway fare in Santiago in October sparked civil protests across the Chile, demanding changes to the country’s economic and political system.
Climate Action
We’ve seen a surge of protests around the world to bring attention to the global climate crisis. From images of Extinction Rebellion in London, to protests in Germany, photographers on Unsplash have taken to the streets to highlight this issue.
Let’s take a look at our trends
The editors have seen trends develop over the past year that brought new life to the library. Here they are:
Film
In 2019, we saw a flurry of incredible images shot on film. From nostalgic photos from another era to grainy images of sunny days on the beach — we’ve seen a rise in people discovering (or rediscovering) shooting analog. So much so, that we’ve even introduced a Film Topic on Unsplash, accessible directly from the homepage.
Mobile Photography
This year, we saw mobile photography taken to the next level. Which goes to show, you don’t need expensive equipment to get great shots. Lucky for us, a few of our favourite mobile photographers even shared a few of their tips & tricks here.
Portrait Photography
People, captured. This year we saw tons of powerful portraits on Unsplash — all encapsulating a range of human emotion.
Playing with Perspective
From shots taken from great heights, to photographs that evoke a sense of scale — images showcasing new perspectives have been popping up on Unsplash this past year.
Here’s to an amazing 2020
We love taking the time to reflect on what we’ve all been busy building, together. 2019 was filled with some pretty epic milestones, lots of amazing new photographers to welcome to the community, and tons of outstanding photos finding their new home on Unsplash. We can’t wait to see what 2020 brings as we continue to push photography forward.
