Highlux was born from a simple idea: to manage and publish photographs every day in a free, independent way, without being tied to expensive software or centralized services. The only luxuries I allowed myself are:
- An annual Flickr subscription: very low price
- A one-time purchase of Luminar Neo (no subscription): very low price
🌍 Philosophy
This site is built entirely with open-source tools and custom automation. Each photo is processed with Python and batch scripts that add tags, titles, date and time, optimize the files, and automatically publish them to Flickr and WordPress. The result is a complete workflow, without relying on Adobe or monthly subscriptions
🖥️ Infrastructure
At the heart of the project is a small HP t630 Thin Client, purchased for 40 euros and transformed into a silent server running Ubuntu Server. Everything is completely free, sustainable, and energy-efficient: the t630 consumes just 5 watts per day. The domain costs only 10 euros for 10 years. The charm? Knowing that “all of this runs under the living room couch”, with minimal consumption and maximum autonomy. A dedicated virtual machine environment is also available for testing.
Although my knowledge of Ubuntu, Apache, PHP, shell scripting, and Python is limited, the entire project has been possible thanks to the help of artificial intelligence.
I can access my infrastructure from outside, allowing me to “work from anywhere in the world“. Security is still guaranteed, as no ports are opened on my home router.
🔧 Automation
Every day, a pipeline of scripts:
- cleans and prepares the files,
- adds metadata, descriptions, and GPS,
- uploads photos to Flickr, dynamically managing albums, collections, and groups,
- optimizes images for the web,
- automatically publishes them to my site; pages are dynamic and generate themselves as soon as new photos arrive.
All orchestrated without manual intervention, with the ability to test new features in a dedicated virtual environment.
✨ Why Highlux
Highlux is a personal project, born from a passion for photography and automation. It demonstrates that with a bit of ingenuity, you can have a complete, efficient, and independent website, with minimal costs and the satisfaction of managing everything at home.
Now it’s time to focus on the contents of the photos
Paolo