I picked up an Instagram account about 6 years ago. @TaylorTakesPics_ . I don’t utilize the platform as often as I once did. You could say I’ve outgrown it. But I sure am grateful for some key things It introduced me to.
Let’s take an inside look at how it affected and ultimately challenged me within those 6 years.
Connections
One of the first things I looked into when I got my Instagram was laying out some ground work on people I wanted to network with. We are talking about a Social Media platform here. As we were moving to Pittsburgh, PA I started looking into some Photographers based in that area.
One of the first accounts I always kept up with was PJ Gentile @PJ_Gentile. I asked him some typical questions about the area, places to shoot and traded critique and compliments with some of his work. In time, He invited me to some Photography meet ups, all of which were really awesome and had great support.
That was just the beginning.
After we had spent a good amount of time in Pittsburgh, I was active in several photography groups. I had met several models, and talented Photographers.
I even had some of my Photos displayed in a couple Galleries, all because of a small Pittsburgh Photography community on Instagram. It was really easy, especially because Pittsburgh has a pretty great Art scene.
Gave Direction
Instagram helped me gain a direction and focus. This didn’t make me a certain type of Photographer. Many people believe you need to specialize in one thing. But our skills are not hashtags. And what interests you should keep you educated.
I ended up sticking to a pattern. I would post 3 images from an event. Or just 3 images from some of my backlog. This helped me cull down the selection, Most importantly VALUE my work. Remember that you don’t own those images when you upload them to social media. (Copyright Laws vary by country, So unless you register your Images with DMCA or WIPO) It becomes a massive grey area with loopholes, and likely You are forfeiting your rights while they are stripping away your EXIF and Metadata.
Our Skills are not Hashtags.
Hashtags
Hashtags do have quite some use on social media. Instagram and Twitter for example. It’s helpful when you’re searching for specific places or types of things. I found a lot of awesome photos of Pittsburgh under #Pittsburgh. I found lots of great images under black and white hashtags as well. And definitely #Beekeeping.
When I networked with the communities here, wed use some to filter our photos as a group. Which often worked really well. I’m sure you’ve seen #GameofTones. If not check it out. Its popular for a reason. If you’re a Pittsburgher, try #PGHCreative, #412Project, and #Captured.PGH.
Free and Easy Portfolio
Some don’t feel the need for a website as long as Instagram stays popular. Plenty of photographers on there are basically using Instagram as their portfolio. And when you curate it that way, it can be pretty effective.
The same goes for a lot of photographers on Facebook who own a business page. Instagram’s layout is easy to use to display your best work. Or theme it in a way that is appealing.
Maybe you use presets, borders, or lots of Studio portraits with white backgrounds. Many portfolios stand out because there is an identifiable look or aesthetic.
Others are popular because of what is trending on Instagram. Both of which can drive traffic. There is lots of bots however, But that is a big nasty web of the Internet nowadays. Either way, you can still drive a lot of traffic to your page. Instagram user count as of 2019, is over 1 BILLION.
The Biggest Challenges on Instagram
One of the biggest challenges was discerning my body of work, and comparing it to “Likes” or “Follows”. It’s so easy to get caught up in this. Relating back to High School, we all wanted to be popular. To be cool. To make an impression on the world. Here’s a platform that’s reaching BILLIONS of users, Yet we’re so excited for every little follow.
Does it even matter?
Some may say yes. I, personally discovered that it doesn’t. I was proud of my Photography long before social media was a thing. And there are a lot of younger creatives who put way too much emphasis on social media. And it has pretty severe side effects.
Stagnant Traffic
After I slowed down my use of looking for likes, checking my followers. I started posting when I felt like it, instead of keeping a make believe schedule. I found I was still averaging follows, slowly, but steadily based on my work that was uploaded previously. So I didn’t need to “Keep up” at all. I always averaged about 30-50 likes, while hovering around 500 followers for quite some time.
This is stagnant traffic. And when I created my website, I’ve passed that just in google searches within the first few months. Which I can directly see how, and what my traffic is due to Google Analytics. It’s severely watered down on Instagram. Even Twitter and Facebook offer analytics. C’mon Instagram.
This is how I knew that I wanted to be in direct control of my content. No more feeding the machine, and keeping up with the ever changing algorithms that Facebook/Instagram set.
Ludicrous Comparisons
It’s really easy to diminish your talents when you’re scrolling more than you’re creating a body of work. I felt like I had to interact and reveal so often that I’d lost sight of the quality of my art. There’s a lot of quality work all condensed into such a tight area, and you rationalize it in your mind because of numbers.
This is all some crazy psychology. I found myself comparing my Street photographs to people who had tons of comments, generating a lot of feedback. Meanwhile one of my favorite shots of these Pigeons, generated 30 likes… But look what you have to do to generate 237 likes and 35 comments.
They say to max the hashtag limit, witch is 25 I think. I used 11… And used them haphazard. #Sorry isn’t relevant at all… To put it into perspective, I took that photo of the Pigeon in 2016 with 21 likes. By 2019 I’d average about 50 likes by maxing the hashtag counts, and somewhat spamming my content into assorted hashtags that accrued decent traffic. The margins don’t make sense for how much you need to invest.
Haters and Critique
On Instagram
Often people will never give you the feedback you need on Instagram. It’s rather soft. “Beautiful” “Wow, Nice photo” insert emoji here. It’s so diluted you can’t even tell whose a bot, or a real person. Somehow there is always a negative person out there who has an issue with something you posted. Often this affects Photographers and initiates a deep rooted fear of approval, stunting their growth and willingness to thrive in the community.
It’s almost an impossible balance on Instagram. Too much fake hype, and a lot of elitist’s looking to stroke their ego, or fluff up their online persona. It’s also very hard to generate genuine feedback because of this cycle. Unfortunately a double tap or a heart doesn’t denote genuine feedback. At the least formulate a comment. But speed is kind of a commodity on Just scroll tap, scroll and keep going.
Instagram, Subpar Viewing Options
We view a ton of content on our phones. Instagram was born with cellphone photos, cheap filters and often just snapshots. Celebrities found a deep use for it, and liked it for a more visual and personal outlook on their lives.
Instagram’s website is pretty bare bone. You’ll find a lot of features missing, and when it comes to uploading your photos, they have to be on your cell phone. So most people upload them to drive/flickr/ or another upload service. Save it to their phone and then upload. Not only does this squash the quality of your photos, but it limits your viewing option to a small cell phone screen and creates extra steps that become a hassle.
When it comes to viewing a picture, I’d much rather see it in a magazine, or a large screen so I can really take it all in. You’ll commonly see the grid format. Many websites have adopted this, but without the 1:1 Square format. Instagram did allow wide format pictures, and slides.
But for Years and Years of this platform existing, it’s almost embarrassing how they’ve embraced Photographers. Almost like how so many videos are shot in portrait mode, so you’re watching a vertical video… WHY??? Because cell phones. In most cases, you could upload everything in portrait mode to Instagram, and chances are. It would fit the crop better.
Mistakes were made on Instagram
Some of these Instagram communities don’t care about your body of work. I had a lot of people message me and ask to use my photos. I’d never reply. Maybe it was an excessive amount of pride, because I don’t own the image anymore anyway. But I always declined their offer. I figured they’d use it if they wanted to anyway.
Looking back I think the whole point of these Social Media platforms is to network. Not to sell. And that mind frame gets convoluted quite often. Because as creatives, we put a pre-determined value on our work. Whether its sentimental, or something you dumped tons of hours into. It’s hard letting go.
I’d figured they’d use it if they wanted to anyway.