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Opinion: I Think Instagram Is One of the Worst Things That’s Ever Happened to Photography

Chris Gampat
6 Comments
10/16/2018
3 Mins read
anthonythurston_instagram

Last Updated on 10/18/2018 by Mark Beckenbach

Instagram’s role in democratizing photography has also devalued it despite increasing its demand.

If I were to think about all the apps and communities that have added value to photography, I’d say that Instagram isn’t one of them despite it changing the way that we communicate more in pictures. I’d give credit to Tumblr, Behance, EyeEm (also questionable due to their AI rankings of your images and despite how awful they’ve become over the years), 500px, and Flickr. These were places and communities for actual creatives. Tumblr was all the rage for a while when it changed, and arguably it’s a place for creatives all over again with just how much emphasis there is on giving credit to creators. Instagram allowed anyone to be a “photographer” and also allowed more people to become professional photographers. But what is the bigger issue is that it has also arguably devalued the price of an image.

What do I mean by that? Well, let’s be honest and say that it has devastated some industries and given everyone the ability to legally share images posted there. Photojournalism has been devalued because there are lots of folks who may post images of the same incident for free just to get a bit of press. But at the same time, the need for the truth has never been stronger. Lots of photographers need to share their portfolio images, but they don’t want to relinquish their rights. Everyone these days shoots images and there are folks out there who don’t mind giving away their images for free because their job isn’t to be a photographer.

Has the job of a photographer become irrelevant? No, I don’t think so. But instead, I think that it has evolved to push photographers to create more than capture. Creating is a genuine, original idea. Capturing is something everyone can do. When it comes to shooting images I often tell our audience to aim for the former. This, in my opinion, is imperative for photography to survive. Photography is also evolving as a medium to include more mixed media, etc. Romanticizing over the days of Ansel Adams and Bresson is one thing, but we don’t live in their time.

In this way, photography has become more and more imperative to how we communicate and get ideas across. We’re a world of visual people. At the same time, more and more of the world doesn’t want to pay for images.

I think Facebook has a very big responsibility here in the same way that YouTube has a responsibility to video content creators. Protecting the rights of creators is going to need to be a very big issue that the world will need to take on within the next year. Every week, I look back on the news with our staff and share stories that are clearly stolen from us. It affects journalists, photographers, videographers, musicians, etc. In fact, it started with musicians with Napster, etc. Then videographers with YouTube and more. But still, photography doesn’t have its own protection.

And for better or worse, until Facebook or Google take some sort of stand protecting creators, I think it’s going to continue in a negligent fashion. Simply saying, “Don’t put your images online,” isn’t an answer anymore.

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Written by

Chris Gampat

Chris Gampat is the Editor in Chief, Founder, and Publisher of the Phoblographer. He provides oversight to all of the daily tasks, including editorial, administrative, and advertising work. Chris's editorial work includes not only editing and scheduling articles but also writing them himself. He's the author of various product guides, educational pieces, product reviews, and interviews with photographers. He's fascinated by how photographers create, considering the fact that he's legally blind./ HIGHLIGHTS: Chris used to work in Men's lifestyle and tech. He's a veteran technology writer, editor, and reviewer with more than 15 years experience. He's also a Photographer that has had his share of bylines and viral projects like "Secret Order of the Slice." PAST BYLINES: Gear Patrol, PC Mag, Geek.com, Digital Photo Pro, Resource Magazine, Yahoo! News, Yahoo! Finance, IGN, PDN, and others. EXPERIENCE: Chris Gampat began working in tech and art journalism both in 2008. He started at PCMag, Magnum Photos, and Geek.com. He founded the Phoblographer in 2009 after working at places like PDN and Photography Bay. He left his day job as the Social Media Content Developer at B&H Photo in the early 2010s. Since then, he's evolved as a publisher using AI ethically, coming up with ethical ways to bring in affiliate income, and preaching the word of diversity in the photo industry. His background and work has spread to non-profits like American Photographic Arts where he's done work to get photographers various benefits. His skills are in SEO, app development, content planning, ethics management, photography, Wordpress, and other things. EDUCATION: Chris graduated Magna Cum Laude from Adelphi University with a degree in Communications in Journalism in 2009. Since then, he's learned and adapted to various things in the fields of social media, SEO, app development, e-commerce development, HTML, etc. FAVORITE SUBJECT TO PHOTOGRAPH: Chris enjoys creating conceptual work that makes people stare at his photos. But he doesn't get to do much of this because of the high demand of photography content. / BEST PHOTOGRAPHY TIP: Don't do it in post-production when you can do it in-camera.
6 Comments
  1. Guest

    06/10/2019 4:17 pm
    Unknown Unknown Unknown Unknown
    Spot.IM/1.0 (Export)

    So true I put copyright on every post for fear of stealing it and I cannot stand how people think photography should be free at this point because there’s so many amateurs flooding the market people don’t want to pay for a good photographer. real photographers that create great content that spent their life and their childhood creating a craft seem to be getting less and less respect

  2. Guest

    06/10/2019 4:17 pm
    Unknown Unknown Unknown Unknown
    Spot.IM/1.0 (Export)

    I think that Instagram has become a repository for T&A. These days the photos that get the most recognition and attention are those types of photos. Of all the photos on my feed, the ones I’ve taken of model in swimsuits get the most likes and views by a very LARGE margin. Obviously there are exceptions, but I’d be willing to bet that the majority of high ranking account that are owned by individuals and not businesses, belong to feeds that only post photos of women showing their assets. I’m not actually complaining about that. I believe in using whatever advantage you have to get ahead in life. I’m just making an observation of what Instagram is to photography. They don’t even have to be good photos. They just have to be a little less than tame to get hundreds of thousands of likes, thereby creating more demand and as a result more opportunity for women who want to take advantage of it. Instagram is not about photography. It’s about opportunity.

  3. Guest

    06/10/2019 4:17 pm
    Unknown Unknown Unknown Unknown
    Spot.IM/1.0 (Export)

    social media and digital Revolution have destroyed the Common Man I need so many people that don’t have any social skills as far as photography where is compelling content it’s just a bunch of hipsters in Brooklyn and they’re offensive to someone like me that’s honed my craft since childhood

  4. Guest

    06/10/2019 4:17 pm
    Unknown Unknown Unknown Unknown
    Spot.IM/1.0 (Export)

    Well, you are right if you say it has hurt making $ with photography. But it is part of the digital revolution which is the best thing that has ever happened for the expansion of photography to the masses.

  5. Guest

    06/10/2019 4:17 pm
    Unknown Unknown Unknown Unknown
    Spot.IM/1.0 (Export)

    I actually agree with this. And my job is a Social Media Coordinator.

    Instagram is awesome, but I think people will shape the way they do photography so that they can get more likes on Insta. Not everyone, but a lot.

    It also has a lot of great things too.

  6. Guest

    06/10/2019 4:17 pm
    Unknown Unknown Unknown Unknown
    Spot.IM/1.0 (Export)

    Likewise personal computer is the worst thing that happened to typists but who cares?

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