📸 The Kotlin Royalty-free Photo Contest
Tags: kotlin, photos, unsplash
Published: 2020-05-01 10:37:14

**The Kotlin photo contest is finished! See the submissions here:**

{% post mreichelt/kotlin-photo-contest-thank-you-for-your-submissions-of3 %}

Some time ago I was creating a Kotlin talk. And while drafting the slides I did some research which images I could show. So I did what I prefer to do most: Open [unsplash.com](https://unsplash.com) and look there. If you don't know it, Unsplash is an amazing site which offers freely usable images for everyone. And the quality of the images is stunning! What's even better is that you can use all the photos for commercial and non-commercial purposes. But this time, I typed the keyword ['kotlin'](https://unsplash.com/s/photos/kotlin). At the time I write this blog post, this is what I found: Gaining emptiness!

![Unsplash search for Kotlin shows zero results](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/i/ijmasjdpg55wjga2f53v.png)

Logically, I thought: Alright, Kotlin is too specific. Let's search for ['code'](https://unsplash.com/s/photos/code) instead. And indeed, some beautiful images came up. Here some examples.

This one here is really nice: the lighting, the colors, the scene set just perfectly – but it's showing JavaScript:

![Photo showing JavaScript on a MacBook](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/i/fosqncfwvg9y5ijhinds.jpg)
<figcaption>Photo by <a href="https://unsplash.com/photos/95YRwf6CNw8">Clément H</a></figcaption>

This one here shows only code on screen, and emphasises the syntax highlighting. But who of you would even write (or read) minified code? Usually, we developers prefer nice, tidy code instead.

![Photo showing minified code](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/i/i4idl2vjv3shguebnyal.jpg)
<figcaption>Photo by <a href="https://unsplash.com/photos/MgtHZ4zlC1U">Markus Spiske</a></figcaption>

Here are two developers working together on something. Wouldn't it be nice if we could have photos of developers working on a Kotlin project, or with some Kotlin cups or stickers nearby?

![Group of developers working together](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/i/excetpvsm36l6sxr8vup.jpg)
<figcaption>Photo by <a href="https://unsplash.com/photos/IgUR1iX0mqM">NESA by Makers</a></figcaption>

I found pictures of [JavaScript](https://unsplash.com/photos/1IW4HQuauSU), [Python](https://unsplash.com/photos/ieic5Tq8YMk), [CSS](https://unsplash.com/photos/_yMciiStJyY), [HTML](https://unsplash.com/photos/5Ntkpxqt54Y), [Java](https://unsplash.com/photos/1td5Iq5IvNc), [PHP](https://unsplash.com/photos/OqtafYT5kTw) and even a photo of some [SVG](https://unsplash.com/photos/Ek9Znm8lQ1U) code. That's nice if you were looking for those. But no sign of Kotlin.

Wouldn't it be nice to have some photos that show how clean and readable Kotlin can get? Wouldn't it be nice, the next time you create a blog post, a talk or simply a web page, to have a collection of diverse Kotlin photos to pick from? Wouldn't it be nice to show the world your favorite language?

## 🌟 The Contest

I proudly present to you: **The Kotlin loyalty-free Photo Contest**!

Create photos or pick favorites of which you already made, and upload them to [Unsplash](https://unsplash.com/). Remember to add `kotlin` to your photo title Tag your photos with `kotlin`, as well as all other tags that are fitting. Whether it is Kotlin code, a group of Kotlin developers, or photos with the Kotlin logo: The more creative the photos are, the more fun! 🎨

The contest runs for 2 weeks and ends on **May 15th**. Then I will create another post - highlighting the 7 most noteworthy photos!

### **🚨🚨🚨Update🚨🚨🚨**: Your photo might not appear in the [search results for 'kotlin'](https://unsplash.com/s/photos/kotlin) instantly, even after a few days. I contacted Unsplash about this. Don't worry though: Just post a link to your photo on Twitter with the hashtag [#KotlinPhotoContest](https://twitter.com/search?q=%23KotlinPhotoContest), or leave a comment below! I'll make sure no awesome photo gets overlooked! 🙂

## The Fineprint

- **Quality over quantity:** Please don't upload any photo you have, but pick just one or very few personal favorites, and make sure those are of high quality.
- **Rights**: You must own the rights to the photos you upload.
- **License**: If you upload photos to Unsplash, you agree to their [license](https://unsplash.com/license) and [submission guidelines](https://help.unsplash.com/en/articles/2534415-submission-guidelines). Be aware that if you upload a photo there that anyone will be able to use your photo anywhere for free, without having to give you credit (though many will give you credit anyway).
- **Stay safe!** We are experiencing a pandemic. Whether you are at work, home or in nature: Always remember to maintain a safe distance, wash your hands and overall: stay safe.

## Stay in contact

I can't wait to see the photos you come up with! If you share your Unsplash photo on Twitter, use the hashtag [#KotlinPhotoContest](https://twitter.com/search?q=%23KotlinPhotoContest) to share and communicate with others. Also, @ me with [@mreichelt](https://twitter.com/mreichelt), and I'll promise to not be shy with likes and retweets! 😊

*If your reading this post and you have a different language that is close to your heart - feel free to give your language some love! For example, I didn't see photos for Swift, Rust, Dart (with Flutter) and many more…*