Alex Cooke

Writer & editor

A selection of my work, grouped by type. I am the editor-in-chief of Fstoppers, a 1.5-million-reader publication, with bylines and research beyond it.

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Everyone Assumes the First Weather Satellites Used Film. The Real Story Is Far Stranger
The surprising true story of how the first weather satellites actually worked, reported from the ground up.
Fstoppers · 2026
What Is Truth in a Post-Photography World?
What does "truth" even mean for a photograph in the age of AI-generated images?
Fstoppers · 2026
Capturing the Future: How 5G Could Enhance and Upgrade Our Photos
Written for Verizon: how 5G reshapes the way we capture, move, and manage images.
Verizon · 2021
From Start-Up Curiosity to Cultural Colossus: A 20-Year History of YouTube
How a scrappy startup became a cultural institution, told across two decades.
Fstoppers · 2025

Ideas & arguments

The Critical Necessity of Immediate Regulation and Labeling of AI-Generated Media
The case for labeling AI-generated media before we lose the ability to tell what is real.
Fstoppers · 2024
A Fully AI-Generated Feature Is Premiering at Tribeca. The Industry Is Out of Excuses
A fully AI-generated film reaches a major festival, and why the industry can no longer look away.
Fstoppers · 2026
The Quiet Argument Against Photographing Everything
A reflective essay on the quiet cost of trying to document every moment.
Fstoppers · 2026

Narrative & history

The Rise and Fall of GoPro: How the Company That Defined the Action Camera Ran Out of Road
A clean rise-and-fall business narrative about the company that owned a category, then lost it.
Fstoppers · 2026
How a Pot of Coffee Started an Imaging Revolution
A small, strange origin story behind a major leap in imaging.
Fstoppers · 2025
The Birth of the Digital Camera: From Film to Filmless Revolution
The leap from film to filmless, and the people who made it happen.
Fstoppers · 2025

Reviews & reporting

Adobe Is Buying One of the Last Good Things in Photo Editing
A reported argument on what Adobe's acquisition of Topaz Labs means for photographers, AI tools, and a fast-consolidating industry.
Fstoppers · 2026
We Review the M4 MacBook Pro: Real-World Power, Practical Refinements
A real-world product review that goes past the spec sheet to what actually matters.
Fstoppers · 2024
Doriyan Coleman Sees Poetry on the Streets of Cleveland
A profile of a Cleveland street photographer and the exhibition built from his eye for the city.
Fstoppers · 2026

Selected research

Crystals of Sound: Applying the Physics of Phase Transitions to Musical Intonation
Peer-reviewed research at the intersection of music and physics.
Empirical Musicology Review
Real-Time Enhanced Tornado Warning Product Guidance Based on Tornado Debris Signature Height and Population Density
Graduate research in applied meteorology on improving real-time tornado warnings.
M.S. thesis, Mississippi State University · 2025