Just A Man With A Camera

I've got an Instagram problem. Frankly, I've become less and less of a fan of social media in general over the last couple years. But in particular I really, really dislike Meta as a company. Facebook, Threads, Instagram. Over the years I've had a few different Instagram accounts, both personal and for creative projects. At the moment I only have my personal account and the only posting I do is resharing things I find funny or interesting to my stories. The last page I had that was for a creative endevour that was dedicated to toy photography and other related interests. I got to a point where I was getting down on myself a little too much for comparing my work to others, and questioning why other arguably less impressive work was getting more likes, follows, shares, etc. I think about it now and I recognize that it was silly to allow myself to get into that headspace, but honestly one of the best things I could have done was get rid of that page. It reset my way of thinking about what it is that I enjoy about photography. I enjoy taking photos for how I feel about them, not how an algorithm feels about them. So I wasn't really enjoying my time on the platform, and then the last straw was seeing all the techbros suck up to the Trump administration which made me say screw it and I nuked the account.  However, I did hold onto my personal account because I still use it regularly for both sharing other content, connecting with friends and family, and honestly all the cute animal videos (part of how my wife and I unwind every night is by scrolling new photos and videos from the animal rescues and other pet pages we follow). I've thought often about deactivating it but just can't seem to pull the trigger on it. As much as I dislike Meta I just can't completely disconnect from that damn platform and I have kind of just accepted that for the time being.  

BUT here's a problem I seem to continually run into. Ever since I made the decision to both start attempting to sell my work and chasing down the occasional gig,  I have been told that I need to create an Instagram page specifically for my work. Is it a good idea? Probably. Obvously it's a platform that has a massive reach. But I'll be damned if the idea of creating another page for my work and another form of social media to monitor doesn't turn my stomach.  What is it about Instagram that feels like it is so essenstial and does it even work as well as anyone claims it does, especially for photographers these day. When the platform is dominated by reels, what does photography even mean for it? Does it actually drum up business and generate sales? Do followers and likes really even mean anything? It's no secret that photography has become less and less relevant on that platform over the years, as it strives to become Tik Tok(the platform, I have never and will never join).

The real advantage that I have experienced is networking aspect of it. I have found and gotten into multiple art markets because of Instagram and the ability to connect with vendors there. I have a event photography gig coming up(that I am very excited about) which is a direct result of being able to connect with a client on Instagram.  So the logical part of my brain says "yes, it is a good thing to have an active presence there", but in my gut and my heart, I just can't stand it. Especially in the state that it is in currently. So much of it is ads, AI generated reels, and influencer content.

So what is the alternative? Another social media platform that doesn't have the reach that Instagram does? I do use Bluesky regularly, and while I don't see all that influencer and AI content, what I usually get when I say Bluesky is "what's that?".  I have also been trying to currate somewhat of a portfolio on Flickr, but it feels like the problem there is that no one is going to just happen across that the way they will with Instagram. I have recently read about Vero and Foto which sound promising.  Foto is specifically aimed at photography and photographers which sounds very appealing. Something that I really need to do is create a website. A place that is mine where I can show off my work and advertise myself. However,  more and more I'm feeling the pull  to just bite the bullet and set up a new Instagram page, if only for the networking and marketting side of things. But again, the idea of setting up more social media, especially on that platform slightly makes my stomach turn. The way it does not cater to photography any longer really makes it feel like it would nothing but alot of work and attention, for my work to feed an algorithm, train their AI on my work, and for Meta to gain ad revenue from my work.  Now, I understand that this may just be the cost of being able to build a small following and business for free on their platform, but it all still just does not feel right to me. It was not long ago that these things didn't exist. Why do are these platforms such a necessity?

To whoever has made it this far, what are your thoughts? How do you feel about Instagram, and what if any benefits do you see from it? Is there a better solution that I am not aware of and should investigate? Drop a comment down below and thanks for reading!