Sam King's /now

/now — 2026-02-02

Mon, 02 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Location

Back in Vancouver for the foreseeable.

We finished our road trip across Canada. West coast to east coast… and back again. I think it was around 30,000km in total. We didn't get to see any of the 3 territories since we mostly hugged the border, but saw 9/10 provinces only skipping Newfoundland. I was getting tired of driving by that point, but no doubt we'll go back, just maybe in a hire car next time.

It was an experience of a lifetime for sure, and I feel very lucky and privileged to have been able to do it. I was able to work here and there from the road which made things a lot easier and gave us more flexibility of where we went.

We had no idea how diverse the Canadian landscape is, from the rugged coastline of British Columbia to the vast prairies of Saskatchewan, and the rolling hills of Ontario. It was a truly remarkable journey I will cherish forever.

We decided to head back to Vancouver because despite seeing all of Canada, it just felt like the best place to be. We got another 2 years on our visas. We're not sure if we'll use it all up, but another year at least is the current plan.

Photography, video, and crows

I haven't been shooting as much since we got back. I think 5 months of living out of the car makes you go a bit insane and you need a break from it. Instead I've been pulling out the video camera and spending some time with the local crows down at the beach. Getting to know their behaviour and mannerisms has been fun. Kind of embarrassing having 20 crows follow you up and down the beach because they see you as the peanut dispensery, but it brings me a lot of joy.

Work

Still freelancing and enjoying it. Not much more to say on that subject for now. Love being able to work when I want. Most of the team I work with are in Europe so there's little timezone overlap anyway, so I do a lot async and it works well for me. I can spend the morning at the beach with a coffee and breakfast, and then head back to get into deep work for the day.

Projects

I've been distracted a lot lately. Refrakt is still ticking along, but I really need to sort out some of the infrastructure costs. It's no longer covering it's own expenses and I get it. I'm not actively working on it, or spending a lot of time there, so it's kind of quiet and people are using other platforms instead. I wish I still had the same energy for it as I did in the beginning.

I started working on an alternative called akkeri. It was built on atproto, the same thing that powers bluesky. Great for decentralization and data ownership, something I wish Refrakt was built on now. However the further I got with it, the less I was sure about about building anything for social. I think my ideals are leaning back towards people having their own sites and old school webrings instead. I just get sucked into the social side and it's not really in my nature to be "always on". Something running a platform requires, so it's tough for me to still get excited about it, and it's sat in my projects folder untouched for a few months now.

Despite that, I've been messing around with making games and just doing fun little side projects instead. Back to learning mode. Currently I'm messing around with a deck building roguelike/rpg crossover. No idea if it'll go anywhere or if it will suffer the fate of my other projects. Time will tell, but it's fun for now which is all that matters I think.

What's next

No strong sense of what's coming up really. Waiting for the day AI takes over all our jobs and we're back to making art and having fun again, although not sure that will be the actual outcome but I can dream.

I'm still going to be working, maybe getting back into the flow of photography again.

I think my main goal is to just go with the flow a bit more. Follow my interests and see where they lead me. Trying to care less about being the one to make the perfect online space for creatives, and more about making things for myself and sharing if it's genuinely useful.

/now — 2025-08-03

Sun, 03 Aug 2025 00:00:00 GMT

Location

My partner and I left Vancouver at the end of May and have been traveling across Canada for the past two months. Everything we own is in the car. We're staying in Airbnbs along the way, finding our rhythm as we go.

We've zigzagged across BC and Alberta, chasing weather and whims. The Sea to Sky corridor through Squamish and Whistler to Lillooet. Wine country in the Okanagan—Vernon, Kelowna, Summerland for my partner's birthday. Nelson and the Kootenays with their endless mountain roads. Revelstoke and Glacier National Park were personal highlights. The touristy trio of Jasper, Banff, and the Icefields Parkway. Calgary for supplies. Dinosaur country in Drumheller and the badlands.

Currently writing from Medicine Hat. Next: Saskatoon and Regina, then the long prairie stretches to Toronto or Montreal.

The mountains have been everything I imagined as a teenager scrolling tumblr—low clouds catching on peaks, impossible highways carved through wilderness, lakes that don't look real.

Photography

The hard drives are filling up, almost too many photos to process. Mostly mountains, which is becoming a problem. Every view feels worth capturing but they all start looking the same. I keep reminding myself to shoot the small things: the things I'm eating, motel signs, the incidentals that make a place real. The small towns coming up should help break the pattern. The prairies have already been a bit of novelty.

Work

Still freelancing, mostly when I get time. Working from our Airbnbs when we stop for a few days, or when the weather turns and being inside feels less like waste. The "mountains over money" philosophy is holding, though I'll need to hunker down soon to afford the next stretch of gas and motels.

Projects

I'm thinking of winding down Refrakt. Haven't touched the code in about a year. Built it solo without VC or a team, working on it in spare moments. Despite its brief life, I'm proud it became a home for photographers I admire. Without intentional dopamine loops, it's hard to grow platforms. People come, post, then drift back to the big ones.

So I'm building akkeri instead. A digital mailroom for creative work. You don't post to feeds, you send mail. Small bundles of words and images, delivered the next day. Everything's slower, more intentional. It's not a performance but a conversation. A quiet space for artists, photographers, and writers to share what they're making, privately or publicly, always with care.

What's next

Still figuring it out. Rough plan: finish crossing Canada, maybe fly back to the UK in October to meet my nephew (with another on the way). After that, who knows? A year in a van back in BC, or a year back in the UK. The recent state of things there makes me want to stay away, but family pulls.

For now, it's just the road ahead. Saskatoon, then the long prairie stretches, then whatever comes next.

/now — 2024-05-15

Wed, 15 May 2024 00:00:00 GMT

Location

I moved to Vancouver in January 2024. My partner Annesah and I have been exploring the city and beyond. We've circled back to where we first landed in X̱ats'alanexw (Kitsilano), and we're enjoying it loads. The sun is currently out, the flowers are blooming, and we're close to the beach. It's actually a little like our old hometown in the UK, but with the mountains in the distance.

Practice

I've been getting out and taking more photos recently. More than I care to process. I've been posting the ones I like the most to my profile on Refrakt. I've found it's been a great way to get to know Vancouver. I wander out for an hour most days with my GRIII in my pocket, no real direction, just going down new streets. It feels good to be shooting more than I have the last few years, and I'm starting to see more themes in what I shoot, or at least I'm paying more attention to them.

Work

I've joined the team at Future Primitive here in Vancouver. I'm working on a new product called Perma which is going to be really fun. It's also my first legit software engineering role since I transitioned away from product design. It feels nice to be back in a team environment instead of solo.

Refrakt

For the last year, I've been working on Refrakt, a platform for photographers to share their work. It combines my love of photography, design, and engineering. I'm really enjoying learning some software engineering concepts in more depth. It's hard work building it all by myself, but it's very rewarding and I can't wait to see where it goes.

Hobbies and interests

Over the summer of 2023, I went on a pottery course back in the UK. I loved it! It was so nice making something with my hands instead of a keyboard and mouse. Something about being away from a screen was also lovely. I haven't done much research yet, but I'd love to do another course here in Vancouver. Eventually I'd like to make some small wares for myself, and new friends I make here. If you know of any calm studios for hire in Vancouver, please let me know!

/now — 2024-01-24

Wed, 24 Jan 2024 00:00:00 GMT

Location

I just moved to Vancouver, Canada. I'm here on a working holiday visa for two years with my partner Annesah. We're currently in an Airbnb in X̱ats'alanexw (Kitsilano) while we look for a more permanent place to live. Any recommendations for neighbourhoods to live in would be greatly appreciated. Must have good coffee and decent vegan food!

Work

I don't have a job lined up yet, but I'm looking for a frontend or product design role. I'm interested in roles where I can do a bit of both, but I'm open to either. I value working with a team that just gets on and ships things, so early-stage startups are ideal, or at least companies with that kind of culture.

View my work history