Last Updated on 07/06/2020 by Mark Beckenbach
Too many photographers just shoot for Instagram and not enough for themselves.
Fact: Instagram isn’t the end all be all in photography. But lots of photographers just shoot to feed the algorithm. It breeds a lack of originality, and instead, everyone is just doing the same thing. It gets bland, and it’s overall not good for the art world. Gear Editor Brett Day went through a recent bout of this happening, and he wanted to talk about it with the rest of the Reviews Team in a recent episode of Pro Camera Reviews. For background: both Reviews Editor Paul Ip and Editor in Chief Chris Gampat are on a many months-long break from Instagram.
The original idea for the Instagram break was from Paul, who was inspired by Jens Krauer. Not needing to be on Instagram helps stabilize one’s mind. It’s incredible because the platform is addicting and designed to be pretty awful overall. But people keep going to it. Brett spent some time trying to gain as many followers as he can. He was committed. But what happened is he finally realized that he wasn’t shooting for himself anymore. He wasn’t happy with it. When he gave up, he felt relief. And so we’d like to remind everyone that you shouldn’t shoot exclusively for Instagram. If you do, then you’re not really going to grow.
Alternatively, if you give yourself a 365 project and share it every day on Instagram, you’re not shooting for the platform. You’re instead shooting for yourself. All that Instagram wants you to do is feed it stories and posts. That way, they can sell advertising to you and keep you there. Think about how much the app really tries to keep you in the app. When you browse a website, you need to do it with their own browser. While some may say it’s convenient, it’s also very toxic.
I have my own blog post on this coming in the future. It’s been scheduled up. But I’ve found solace on other platforms. Behance is enjoyable for creatives. Occasionally I’d check out Tumblr. Though admittedly, I tend to live on Flipboard and Facebook. I just think that there has to be a much healthier way of approaching social media.
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