Photographers that take their craft very seriously most likely have a website to show off their portfolio. If you’re a professional or a semi-professional, this is a guarantee; but if you’re a hobbyist or enthusiast, it would make sense to have a website of some sort. But then in that case, does it make sense for a photographer to have a blog? I mean, why should you have a blog that updates and shows off your photos if your Instagram is already doing this? It doesn’t make sense, right?
Well, yes and no.
On Instagram, you’re typically sharing images and you’d be hard pressed to actually make someone read the text you’ve written below the image or video. When most people look at Instagram, they stare at the images or video and probably may not care to read the text that you’ve written. Instead, what lots of people have opted for instead is taking a picture of a block of text. This makes people read it if it isn’t too long.
But with a blog, you’ve got a lot more control. Blogs are primarily text and image based, and this is where you can present a bit more about your personality as a photographer in a single blog post that is mobile friendly and beautiful. On Instagram, you’ve got a bunch of work that you can share sort of all in one place as someone continues to scroll past image after image. But the two work much different from one another.
Even further, one of the cool things about having your own blog (if it isn’t Tumblr) is that you have more control over legalities like copyrights, commercial usage, etc. It’s yours, it isn’t owned by Facebook. However, Instagram can be seen as a distribution network for your blog. It’s much more bite sized content instead of being more full content overall. Your Instagram should be a teaser for this content and you should find a way to make it simple for someone to head over to your blog to be able to check out more of your photography.
When you post new portfolio work, you should update and talk a bit about it on Instagram. But when you want to discuss the work even further or talk about updates with your business, you do those on your blog and you promote it via Instagram.
See where I’m getting at here? Instagram should be treated as a way to bring people back to who you are as a photographer.
Is it much easier to just update Instagram? Oh totally! But blogging and creating/curating your portfolio aren’t supposed to be simple. If it’s simple, it means that you’re not putting your best work forward. You should essentially then try to find ways to make the absolute best of your work shine.