So I’m planning to start this as a little series where a couple times a month I’ll be sharing what I’ve been listening to, my round-up of go-to podcasts and episodes that I’ve come across that I enjoy and have helped me learn something, encouraged me, changed my perspective, etc.

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1. Per My Last Email

I listened to this on a walk this week and immediately saved it. It was some of the best and most realistic advice I’ve heard on a podcast, even as someone 10+ years into my career. It reminded me of ways that I did “network” whether I realized it or not, and the ways I still need to continue to. This one’s a must-listen.

2. The Happiness Lab

This one’s for the ones afraid to ask for help. I wouldn’t be anywhere without friends, peers and fellow creatives – even some strangers, that have helped me along the way. Give this one a save and a listen this week!

3. The Owaken Podcast

Okay, this one may seem a little “woo-woo”. You can either trust me, or skip this one if you want. But I highly recommend giving it a chance. There’s so much info in this episode, that even if you take away one thing it could be life-changing : )

4. Internet People

This is actually the podcast I listened to right before I sat down the next day to start writing my Substack. They made this series about Substack that was so good and super encouraging for anyone (like me) who gets caught up sometimes too much in planning, instead of just starting. This podcast is super worth the follow.

5. Hidden Brain

This is one of my all-time favorites that’s been in my saved podcasts for years. I’ve probably listened to almost every episode. This one specifically I listened to this week, and is a nice reminder of where our ideas and inspiration come from, and how to cultivate our creativity.

Thanks for reading! I hope you will find a new favorite listen or discover something new from this list and that something in these sparks a mindset shift, inspiration, or realization the way that they did for me.

Leave a comment if you have any favorites too 🎧

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Keep exploring:

• Shop creative templates & mockups → palette.supply

• View my commercial photography portfolio → nicolemason.co

• Follow along on Instagram → @neekmason

A lot of you are new here – thank you for subscribing, and welcome! I’m so glad you’ve made your way to Palette 🎨

This post is an overview of a few of the ways that I make money, aside from doing photography (shoots, productions, etc.) itself. I’ll start rolling out more in-depth posts in the near future for paid subscribers on how I started each of these avenues – how long it took to see significant numbers, how much this changes my income (with real reports), lists of ideas, platforms, and ways (with specific links) you can support your creative career with these options as well. I’ll also provide referral codes / invites to the platforms that I can.

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Okay, let’s get into it. Number one is my favorite and the one I’ve been doing the longest – 10 years as of this year!

1. Licensing your images (Stock Photography)

This is probably my favorite and most direct way for photographers (and other visual artists: videographers, illustrators, painters, etc.) to get started with increasing their income. You already have the work, and chances are, it’s been posted somewhere once, forgotten about, and is now sitting on a dusty hard drive on the shelf. Here’s just a few examples of the type of imagery that is licensed:

The number one thing I hear most from photographers when I tell them about licensing their work to make more money like this is something like: “I don’t think my work would sell” or “My work isn’t the right type” for stock photography. If that is what you’re thinking, I highly advise you to look up what stock photography looks like today (like right now) because it’s a lot different than what it was 20 years ago. No more clip art on white backgrounds.

Of course, not all of your work may be the type to license as stock photography, but there a number of ways to think about it and separate this in your creative practice. You could just license the candid film photos that you take on trips, or iPhone photos and videos in your library, and save your artistic integrity for the real soulful work. But people get very creative and put some really high quality imagery on these platforms, so there’s no right or wrong way to do it, it just comes down to how you want to share your work.

As a sneak preview to what I’ll share more about in upcoming paid subscriber posts:
my payout is at nearly $1k this month so far from licensing work I’ve already made, and some of them are images I made years ago that are still selling today.

2. Selling art prints

This is such a fun way to get your artwork out into the world – into people’s homes, on their walls, AND earn some extra cash at the same time.

There’s a couple of ways to do this:

A. You can sell prints yourself, on your own website or a site like Big Cartel, and partner with a company or local shop that prints and frames your work. This is a wonderful option if you want to be involved in the process with each and every print and definitely a way I would love to do it in the future.

OR

B. There are a number of companies out there that will handle everything for you (fulfilling orders – printing, framing options, shipping, marketing, etc.) and simply send you a share of the profits. I’ve tried both ways, and for me, this is the way I chose to go because I wanted a truly passive income from selling prints. I don’t have to spend any time talking with customers, creating posts to advertise the prints or host a website where I sell them. All I do is send an invoice once a quarter and get paid.

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3. Selling digital products

I sell a number of digital products like portfolio & shot list templates and real-photo mockups that designers and creatives can use to showcase their work and build into their own process and workflow.

How it works: I come up with the ideas and direction for the products based on my own experience as a photographer, collaborate with designers on the layouts, and then I do everything else to create the actual products, upload them to my website, fill in the designs with images, etc.

Why I love the digital products route:

• Semi-passive income (a lot of work up front, but then very passive)

• Doesn’t require me to physically show up anywhere

• It’s fun and rewarding

• Don’t need to work on it every day

• I can add products at my own pace, and launch new ones when I have time.

• Shop pretty much runs on auto-pilot once it’s setup

• Literally making money while you sleep

I have a passion for design and systems that improve my day-to-day as a creative and business-owner, so this direction fit perfectly for me.

But your digital products could be anything:

• online course / workshop

• PDF guide

• website templates

• printable digital products

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Thanks for reading, I hope this was helpful! 🎨

Make sure you subscribe to receive more posts like this one, and if you feel inclined to upgrade to paid, you’ll get access to the chat and future posts where I dive deeper on these topics and get really real and transparent about these ways to diversify your income as a photographer, creative or artist.

Keep exploring:

• Shop creative templates & mockups → palette.supply

• View my commercial photography portfolio → nicolemason.co

• Follow along on Instagram → @neekmason

Can’t decide what camera to bring on a trip? on your bike ride? for your casual night out with some friends? Or maybe you just haven’t been taking as many photos as you used to and want to pick back up. I’ve got one that I want to share with you after a few years of bringing it almost everywhere.

What I’ve learned for myself when it comes to capturing day-to-day moments, is that I want to bring the camera that I’m not going to hesitate to use. The one I’m not afraid to get sandy at the beach. The one that I’m not precious with but still takes photographs that feel really special.

A few years ago I picked up this $50 camera with very low expectations that has now become the camera I bring with me no matter what I’m doing or where I’m going. It basically lives in my bag. I highly encourage you to pick one up!

I introduce to you: the Kodak Ektar H35 Half Frame Film Camera

A quick overview of why this makes for the perfect grab-and-go camera:

• no settings (other than flash / no flash)

• fixed lens and aperture

• built-in flash

• 72+ images per roll of 35mm film (2 images per frame!)

• lightweight

• only requires 1x AAA battery (for flash)

Sample Images

I’ve pulled together a number of the photos that I’ve taken with the half frame over the past few years, and tried to pick a variety of scenarios and lighting so you can get a good sense of the images it captures and what you might want to use it for.

Note: when you drop the film off from this camera, I always tell them / write a note that I’d like the half frames scanned as pairs, but you can get them scanned as individual full frames too.

Here are some examples below:

I hope that this image gallery is helpful if you’re considering picking up a point and shoot camera for travel or everyday moments.

Quick note: this post may include affiliate links, and I may earn a small commission if you shop through them — at no extra cost to you. I only share things I actually use or genuinely love.

Keep exploring:

• Shop creative templates & mockups → palette.supply

• View my commercial photography portfolio → nicolemason.co

• Follow along on Instagram → @neekmason

1. The Swell Catch-All

I was not originally sold on this, but it has quickly become one of my favorite pieces in my home. It sits right at the top of some long and narrow stairs as the first thing you see in my place, so it’s so nice to have it be a fun art piece in place of a regular shelf with hooks. Even when it’s messy and full of jackets, bags, keys, etc. as you can see – it still adds a pop of color and a little statement to an otherwise boring wall.

2. Square Flatweave Rug from Nordic Knots

I’ve never been much of a rug person. But when I discovered Nordic Knots, things changed. I love how this large checkered pattern is playful but still elevated and brings just the right amount of color and warmth to the office / guest space in my garage.

They have a number of different color combos for this pattern:

3. Print by Thomas Lodin

I’ve admired French photographer Thomas Lodin’s work for years and he’s still one of my favorite artists in the surf space. He has a way of capturing the magic and the feeling of surfing and surf culture in a very experimental and beautiful way that translates directly to the nature of surfing itself. This print is one of my absolute favorites for that very thing: it’s graphic, full of negative space, and most of all it feels like a unique moment; the shaper, the board, like an image that no one else could really recreate. Definitely check out his work if you are looking for some art.

Here it is on the wall in a previous home I lived in.

4. Snow Peak Lounge Cushions

I actually don’t own these, BUT, they have been on my mood board forever. I love that they are both cute and functional so you wouldn’t have to hide them away when not in use. I think they will be the perfect floor cushion for movie nights or bringing along in the van for camping and the beach.

5. Aarke Coffee Maker

Hands down the most beautiful machine I think I’ve ever seen just to make some drip coffee. Of course it’s from Sweden.

6. MIMA Table Lamp

This little lamp from SIN is so cute and elevated. I’ve used it in my kitchen on a shelf, on a book case. It would make a great bedside light as well. It can really go anywhere.

7. Bludot Bumper Ottoman

Last but not least, the Bludot Bumper Ottoman. This one is STILL on my list to get, but I can never get myself to go for it. The amount of time one of these has sit in my cart… I either can not choose which color to get, or I have just had some other big purchase to make every time I think I’m going to hit purchase. It’s only a matter of time.

Quick note: this post may include affiliate links, and I may earn a small commission if you shop through them — at no extra cost to you. I only share things I actually use or genuinely love.

Keep exploring:

• Shop creative templates & mockups → palette.supply

• View my commercial photography portfolio → nicolemason.co

• Follow along on Instagram → @neekmason

I could go on. But I’ll spare you and attempt to quickly catch you up on the last decade and how I’ve now, in 2026, arrived at starting a Substack.

Over the last 15 years, I have primarily been a photographer. I set out on what I had no idea would become my career path when I started second-shooting weddings in my hometown in western New York. I went to school for Studio Art and graduated with a BFA in 3 years, and then moved to Portland, Oregon and continued my business (but very much started over) and essentially my adult life at 21. I had no road map, no concept of business structure or taxes, only the belief in this vision of my work I was building and thankfully, the community of a lot of fellow creatives who quickly became friends, and still are to this day, who seemed to want the same path: the opposite of the 9-5.

After a few years, I realized I didn’t want to shoot weddings forever. It was a good way to start a freelance career, get a lot of practice, and have a somewhat predictable income. But after a few years I had this soul tug to do something that felt more collaborative and bigger than myself. I was feeling tired of working and traveling alone and quite burnt out. I was doing family photo shoots and starting to shoot for some local brands and editorial work, as well as some of my own personal “test” shoots, and I kept following that until I could start saying no to wedding work.

In 2017 I started a rentable natural light photo studio in the center of the city, which still feels kind of surreal to me. I creatively named it “The Portland Studio” and unknowingly tapped into some good SEO with that. It took off pretty quickly, and I needed it to because I again, had no plan. (see the trend here?) I could not have afforded the rent if it hadn’t worked. I hired my first employee (shout out Annie) to help manage it, and created a lot of personal work and eventually client work there over the next few years.

I’d mark the start of my real commercial work around 2019 when I did my first production shoot alongside my extremely talented friend Kate Fearnall, who was the Art Director for Allbirds at the time. It was my first time shooting with a crew count in the double digits and a motorhome on set. I was definitely overwhelmed. But it opened my eyes to the type of work you can create with a team, and I was hooked.

Fast forward to 2020, and as we all know, most all of our lives changed course due to the global pandemic. For me, it turned my whole world upside down and was a huge catalyst for change. It almost forced me to not stay where I was. About 2 weeks before the shutdown, I was about to sign a 5-year lease on a new studio in Portland and continue what I was doing with the studio and my work there. It put a lot of my work on pause indefinitely, and I had to close and move out of the studio. Essentially, I had almost no income anymore. And I decided to make the move to California and give it a try. I was reluctant to leave the life and the community I had built in Oregon, but I was equally excited to see what a new chapter would bring.

Upon arriving in California, things were falling into place and unfolding so naturally. I signed with an agency, built my photo career shooting for clients I had never even dreamed of shooting for, met a lot of talented friends and collaborators, and began building Palette (shout out Nix, Hans, Elena & Logan for bringing it all to life).

Palette was my pivot of The Portland Studio. What I experienced with the studio was something special that I really wanted to continue – sharing something with community that seemed to be of real value, that sparked inspiration, that invited others to create. It began as a studio space again (along with prop rental) when I relocated to Southern California, but I always imagined it being more than that, so after a couple more years when I finally landed in LA, I transitioned it once again into digital products for designers, photographers and creatives.

Now, halfway through 2026, I feel like I’m living the next chapter of the dream life I’ve been building for the last 10-15 years. I have nearly 10 years of commercial work under my belt and a studio space of my own. I’m continuing to work with people and brands that inspire me, and the work has me on track for my goals of owning a home, traveling, and continuing to live this beautiful, creative life I’ve always envisioned.

I tell you all of this because I have always wanted to find a way to share the things that I’ve learned along the way (and the things I’m still learning) in a way that feels natural and true to myself, as someone who set out on this path having no idea what I was doing and has now run a 6-figure creative business for years. And I want you to have the context of who and where this is coming from: not some put-together business person who has it all figured out, but someone who has built, pivoted, taken risks and adapted over and over until things started to click. Someone who has made the difficult decisions of when to stay and when to leave. And someone who continues to fall in love with living life in this creative and messy way. This is where this Substack comes in. A space for sharing all the things in my world, that I hope will help you or inspire you in some way.

So welcome to Palette, a home for creative minds.

Much more to come soon.

– Neek

Keep exploring:

• Shop creative templates & mockups → palette.supply

• View my commercial photography portfolio → nicolemason.co

• Follow along on Instagram → @neekmason