Over a decade ago, the Phoblographer syndicated an article from Jenna Martin, who these days has evolved into quite an incredible and conceptual photographer and who makes work that we feel generative AI can’t necessarily make. Her work, and her words are human. In 2014, she wrote an article about how photographers shouldn’t let trolls on social media get you down. In 2025, I’m responding to that article. And today, I’m stating that you shouldn’t even bother putting a ton of work or effort into social media anymore.
Without further delay, here is my response.
Dear New Photographer, I want to tell you so many things that share the same meaning. And I will do so with the blunt honesty of the native New Yorker that I am. This isn’t meant to be an article talking about how you can hack through social media and algorithms to become a better photographer. No, instead, I will start out by telling you that social media content creators and photographers are two different things. One creates images to please an algorithm. The other creates images for clients and receives payment for their services. As a living, I run the Phoblographer. On the side, I make taxable income shooting photographs for clients. Therefore, I am a semi-professional photographer, but a journalist specializing in photography for a living.
Your self-worth as a photographer and your validation as a photographer don’t start with external validation. Take it from a man who. tried for over a decade to please the galleries and the museums into working with me. In the end, I concluded that it probably had something to do with the color of my skin and the fear that my authenticity brings to people.
I never took the road to gaining social media fame. Instead, I simply went out and made good work. It started out for free, and then I negotiated my way to getting paid gigs. And all my clients are happy. It works for everyone.
New photographer, a phoenix must burn before it rises from its ashes.
Pressure makes diamonds.
Your self worth as a photographer should come from getting real portfolio critiques, networking with the right people, and mostly of all, a sense of wanting to be mutually beneficial for all parties involved.
And even if you do this simply as a hobby, you should know that ytou and your work have worth. It’s got so much worth that billionaires peruse the web to try to steal and incorporate what you’re doing into being part of something they make.
Dear photographer, rainy days aren’t forever. But how we adapt during the rainy days shapes us into who we are when the clouds finally clear.
Reddit doesn’t have collections of real photographers or often clients and people who truly matter in the way of you getting things done.
Get off of your phone and stop trying to please an algorithm that doesn’t care about you or your art.