Naz Hamid

Bringing Absenter back and reflecting on owning a domain for 26+ years made me realize that I wish the site kept its nature, but at the same time realizing play and experimentation is in *my* nature. nazhamid.com/journal/abse...

I still love making websites. And over at @aphera.co, we have a new one. The branch was started in July, and 713 commits later, we pushed it live.

These are my favorite images from our Kuala Lumpur trip this year. Batu Caves is a beautiful and stunning religious site that has evolved a lot over the decades, which I feel conflicted about. See the context (title/(i)) for more on that. absenter.org/2026-09-25/b...

Nigella Lawson in GBBO is excellent. Here for it. She goes toe-to-toe with Paul, but is gracious and has energy. I will also die on the hill of things need more salt.

v1.6 of @aphera.co is out today and I really, really like the small things here. Lots of details, but the refreshed sidebar and toolbar are particular faves. A little preview of the toolbar with some of the colorful photos I captured at Batu Caves in Malaysia.

I had a lot of fun tracing my history with music and how formative the early years were, and continue to be. Thanks, Jason! www.crucialtracks.org/blog/intervi...

V1.5 brings histogram, waveform, and color scopes to Aphera, which are useful tools to gauge how “balanced” your image is. We're still fans of letting your eye do the judging though. Take a look in the latest update, now with 30-day trials.

NOPE

SF Zine Fest 2026, the antithesis of slop. nazhamid.com/journal/sf-z...

Huge fan of @nazhamid.com 's photoblog, and, as a result, this stunner of a photograph.

New The Afghan Whigs album (I love all things Dulli) and a new single from Fontaines D.C. to temporarily quell the internal torment. (also saw a bright blue replica of the French chore jacket on someone today and immediately wondered whether it was the Palantir merch and oh fuck)

It is always difficult to build something, with a new way of doing things, and be judged solely on that difference. Comparison is always sought after, if only to make sense of what you’re looking at.

A nice surprise! Thanks to @petapixel.bsky.social for the mention. petapixel.com/2026/08/21/a...

We get asked this, and compared to the behemoth of imaging tools. I took a moment to answer this, and take a look at what kind of product and company Aphera is.

A moment of reflection on @aphera.co 1.0, written high in the woods overlooking a lake in Washington. nazhamid.com/journal/aphe...

2.5 years in the making, and 1.0 is here. It's been a gratifying journey to make durable software that we feel challenges the notion of what working with images today should feel like.

I took a little trip down memory lane recollecting with fondness and admiration at the indie Mac studios that make some of my favorite software (that version of the Panic website is my favorite). What it means to own your tools, what @aphera.co will cost, and why. aphera.co/now/own-your...

Valley of Fire, NM Feb 2026 Getting my bearings with @aphera.co and really, really loving the keyboard-focused workflow and tools. Definitely finding the fun in post-processing again!

Miles gets it! We're definitely putting more control in the user to decide how *their* images should look rather than allowing knobs and controls to dictate what *should* look good.

What a lovely site. Of course, @jasonsantamaria.bsky.social designed it.

Stunned to learn that Om Malik passed away. I got to know Om through my work with True Ventures, and we shared a number of fun conversations at Sightglass Coffee about fonts, design, and aesthetic. He had a lot of taste and was a gentle soul. om.co/2026/06/24/1...

The worst time to think about or buy external storage, whether SSD or HDD, is right now. The prices are wild. My existing drives are worth double to triple what they cost. *i love this for us*

What's old is new again and don't call it a comeback (I've been here for years!). My original domain since 1999 has been revived as a good ol' photo blog again, with some of the flavor of its last incarnation. #photography #blogs absenter.org

Two things have been bothering me, so I wrote about them. One is a font, the other is "craft." And what we've had all along. (Also, hello, Bsky again? Not sure what we'll find here after time away, but let's be curious.) nazhamid.com/journal/craf...