In an attempt to find a wider audience, I’ve been experimenting with Instagram this past year (more on this further down).
So tonight I posted this ‘oldie’ on Instagram:
With the following text:
My first 'memorable' image for me, of the Salar de Uyuni, Bolivia. 2009.
Taken more than a decade ago (phew, am I really saying that?), on my first venture to Bolivia, I got a private tour with a Bolivian friend in a Landcruiser. We camped for a night on Pescado Island in the middle of the salt flat (amazing experience), and on a rare cloudy day I shot this.
Originally a 6x7 transparency, I now prefer it as a square. It was an epiphany of sorts for me. A moment where I thought I was onto something, and now, looking back, I see it was showing me the next 10 years of my photography.
Fuji Velvia RVP50 film on a Mamiya 7II camera. I still use Velvia exclusively for all my landscape work (because I know it so well), but the Mamiya 7II's have been replaced in the last 8 years by Hasselblad because I find the square aspect ratio more contemporary.
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How do I feel about Instagram?
I am grateful for all the lovely comments people leave me. Thank you. For sure. It’s nice.
I also have to thank a lot of friends, and workshop participants that are there to encourage and support me. I know they’re doing it and I appreciate the kindness. It’s very touching. Thank you.
But on the negative side, I am finding that anyone who ‘finds’ me on Instagram, doesn’t investigate further. They don’t come to the website, and they don’t know much more about me. I just become a fleeting memory for most, as they scan past my images. Like Facebook (who own Instagram), they do not encourage visitors to go and explore other sites. For instance, I only have one tiny line at the top of my page to link back to my website and from what I have noticed - few click on this.
I have also been dismayed to find comments that more or less say this:
“I’m so glad you are on instagram, as it saves me from having to go to your website”.
So it’s been a bit of a mixed bag.
But I have not been a fan of social media for a long time. There is something wrong with a mechanism whereby they profit of you giving your data or imagery for free. If you’re not sure what I am talking about then I would recommend you look up Jaron Lanier and his book: Ten Arguments for deleting your social media account right now”.
More on this later.
But suffice to say: thank you to those who have supported me, and who have left encouraging and beautiful comments on my instagram account. I am very grateful. I just think this is the worst place ever to help an artist promote themselves.
Your data is a valuable commodity. Your data is valuable. Without your data, Facebook and Instagram could not function, could not profit. And as social networking platforms, they restrict you from reaching the people that matter to you. They are a brokerage firm, a middle-man who gets in the way of you and your audience. And I think many people are misguided in thinking that they have to be on these platforms to survive. You don’t.