I would probably use either CalyxOS, GrapheneOS or /e/OS with a set of open source apps:
Aurora Store
Open Camera
Immich / Ente.io
Obtainium
Magic Earth / Organic Maps
PDF Doc Scan
Binary Eye
K9 Mail
You can also installiert Kali nethunter rootless with tmux.
No need to root in my opinion
I hadn't heard of ente.io, is there a way to selfhost, ideally as a container? I've been looking for a few minutes on their website and github repo and I can't seem to figure it out (maybe I am just short on coffee today)?
also, have you tried fairemail? I like it a lot better than k9 mail, mostly because it appears more paranoid. https://github.com/M66B/FairEmail
I had a Kali Nethunter on a Samsung S7. It is mind boggling what you can do with a fully rooted android phone.
Also with Fennec (rebranded Firefox) from F-Droid and uBlock Origin, ad-blocking isn't really needed at the OS level unless you insist on using apps which feed you ads.
And if you have F-Droid (probably a given if you want more freedom) you can also install OsmAnd~ (note the tilde) from there for the full premium version of OsmAnd.
OpenCamera is really nice on the Pixel when you want to tweak a bunch of settings, but the stock app is fine too for non-demanding snaps on the go. Just put them both under an icon somewhere.