I began subscribing to Adobe Creative Cloud in 2013 after having been a Photoshop and Lightroom user for some time. It was and has always felt like a rather expensive commitment, but it was a valuable subscription given the unlimited access to what is anyways an expensive suite of creative tools and the ability to remain on the latest version of those tools. In the years since, I’ve grown increasingly weary of the subscription model. While it had been my intent to gradually explore and gain skills in a wide breadth of Adobe tools, in reality that expansion was slow and mostly centered around those related to photography, videography, and most recently, art. This resulted in me being increasingly less content with paying up the subscription fee regardless of how much or how often I was actually taking advantage of the tools.
My iPad Pro has been one of the most useful devices in my kit from day one of my ownership (in fact I’m writing this inaugural blog on it). I’ve sought to utilize it more and more for my creative work over time. As a photographer one the most glaring omissions of the Adobe Creative Suite (until recently) was the lack of a true Photoshop implementation for iOS, leaving me to seek an alternative which could fill the gap. This was perhaps the spark which ultimately led to me moving off the Adobe subscription model. It didn’t take long for me to discover Affinity Photo, initially on iOS. The price of the app wasn’t cheap considering the ecosystem, but it looked polished, full-featured and well-received. I gave it a shot and now it occupies a spot on the first page of my iPad’s home screen. A free trial of the macOS and WIndows versions allowed me to try those out alongside Photoshop, and for first time in years I felt like my eyes were being freshly opened to the fact there are not only strongly capable alternatives to Adobe tools, but that they can be licensed perpetually according to my needs as opposed to the vendor’s continual demands. The Adobe subscription model was no longer acceptable to me.
I’ve since moved on to alternative, perpetually licensed creative tools for photography digital asset management, videography, image editing, illustration, sketching and publishing. My Adobe Creative Cloud subscription is no longer in active use and will be cancelled once my current annual commitment expires. As OneOkami.com (as of this draft) is hosted as an Adobe Portfolio website that means I have to migrate off it as well. This blog you’re reading now is the result of the migration.
Welcome to the new OneOkami.com powered by Squarespace. This new hosting solution marks the completion of my migration off Adobe and the full positioning of me actively paying only for creative tools I’m actively using. It’s a great feeling, I’m finding Squarespace to be an elegant and highly productive tool and I’m excited to grow this space growing forward.