A new beginning
Over the past few years I have worked fairly diligently on establishing and building my social media presence as a photographer. While no ‘influencer’, my Instagram following has shown good organic growth, and I began to build a profile as a documenter of the human-altered landscape. (Just a couple of weeks ago, as I mentioned one of my photos in class, one of my students exclaimed “Oh, you’re the buildings guy.”)
And then the unthinkable happened - checking my phone one morning I was met with email notifications that both my Meta accounts, Facebook and Instagram, had been accessed from unrecognised devices. Despite immediately notifying Meta that these logins were not from me, I wasn’t quick enough - attempting to access either Facebook or Instagram resulted in the dreaded “Disabled account” response. I tried what I could to get the situation addressed, but to no avail. The following day I was notified that my Instagram account has been deleted, and since the hacking there’s been no change to the disabled status of my Facebook account.
I was stunned. An 800+ image strong Instagram account, and a 13 year old Facebook presence, gone. Disappeared.
The inevitable five stages of grief kicked in. Denial - trying again and again to log in, to contact Meta (pretty much impossible), to read yet another article on how to ‘fix the problem’. Anger - this lasted a while, and to be honest I am still pretty angry at the bottom-dwelling subhuman(s) responsible for my loss. Bargaining, depression, and finally some sort of acceptance. I never paid for the right to play in Zuckerberg’s world, after all, so what right did I have to expect it should always be there for me.
I started thinking critically about what Facebook and Instagram had meant to me, both personally and from a business point of view. Facebook kept me in touch with old friends and colleagues, especially after we moved to a new country, and helped me make new acquaintances in my new home. And during a spell staging running events, the platform was invaluable to get the word out, keep participants up to date and build a vibe. At the same time, however, my photography business page never really took off (but then again, I never worked hard on it, and since the focus of the business is more on the corporate market, Facebook never felt like a good fit).
Instagram. Well, it was fun. It certainly kept me actively shooting as I tried to share new images on a near daily basis. It was exciting seeing my following steadily grow. And it is undoubtably the king of time-wasters, enticing you to swipe through an endless stream of images whenever you have a spare minute (or not).
But did it provide any real value? My following consisted mostly of personal friends and other photographers from across the world. Not clients. It did not drive sales or commissions. It absorbed countless hours - hours that could have been spent honing my skills, expanding and nurturing my real customer base, going for a run, getting on top of my garden. Even just chilling.
I always claimed Instagram was a great source of exposure to other artists’ work, but was it really? When I look for inspiration, I invariably end up on Google or Youtube. Following a small number of Youtube channels and blogs expands my horizons on a regular basis, introducing me to new artists, growing my photographic knowledge, challenging me creatively - all things I, on hindsight, never really got on Instagram or Facebook, where the algorithms only show you more of what you already know and like.
So if not Meta, then what?
Well, in a nutshell, this. My website and this blog.
I am long overdue for a proper website overhaul. And writing is a short second to photography as my favourite form of creative expression, so why I’ve neglected my blogging for the past decade is beyond me.
I am genuinely excited about writing more. Mainly about photography, no doubt, but I am not ruling out detours into other avenues of art and creativity. I have an ever growing list of ideas and topics, but no hard and fast schedule or roadmap, so who knows where this might lead.
I hope to have you along.
