Photography

I don't understand Instagram algorithm and I have given up on understanding it. I would honestly just like to meet some new artists through it but I rarely get any suggestions unless I actively try to do that. I still share my photographs and I don't have a lot of followers either. But I'm happy with what I have. Even if a few people genuinely love my work, it's everything. I might create a website for myself soon and I would print some of my work. There are galleries and I might see how those work next year. For now, Instagram is all I have. I thought threads would be great for photography but my feed was full of everything else but photography.

The internet, the vast majority of the time, is a solution in search of a problem. It’s best not to forget that fact.

Nobody random on the Internet cares about your photos. They don’t care about mine either. They don’t even care about your photos if you have the new Sony Super-camera with the tack sharp 5mm-800mm f.1 zoom that only weighs 2oz. In fact, they especially don’t care about THAT.

My point here is that there is nothing wrong with doing something because you enjoy doing it. You don’t need affirmation from any random person. The enjoyment of your work by your friends and family is the most you should hope for. It’s all that matters anyway. I know the phrase “gig economy” and the existence of “influencers” has convinced everyone with a half decent camera that they are one algorithm away from being crowned the next Ansel, but it’s not true and never will be. Value comes from scarcity, and the Internet has made everything on it abundant. Nobody cares about what you do. Except you. Just appreciate that.

Play Gurushots

I put my photos on flickr. I also relax the license so that anyone can use with attribution. As a result, my photographs are used all over the world, on websites, brochures, news stories YouTubes, etc. I get a kick out of searching my name and seeing so many of the photos turn up. Most of what I shoot are botanicals, birds and food so generic content. I work for a land grant, cooperative extension university so sharing is engrained in my thinking. Meta has ruined Instagram by the way! IG is mostly a shopping network now with a little photography thrown in. You have to hashtag the heck out of any photo for it to get any exposure!

Decide what the purpose of each photo is: art, documentation, family memories, portraits, etc. Then you know how to treat it.

Documentation needs to be carefully cataloged because you're keeping it for reference and if you need it, finding it quickly will be the most important thing.

Family memories should be shared with whomever is interested. You can put together an annual album, a collection of photos to document an event, or a collection of photos of a specific person and give them to whomever is interested.

In any case, choosing the useful/best photos is critical. Trying to do something with every shot you take will drive you mad.

I also am not liking instagram for their algorithm and especially the inability to share multiple aspect ratios in the same post. I was starting to assemble a website but then realized the cost and likelihood that people would actually go to it might be prohibitive to me right at this moment. The website I was making reminded me too much of tumblr so I just went there instead to make an account. I haven't been using it for that long so I'm unsure of how well this will realistically work for me but my account had interactions right away, I'm thinking if I get better at tagging popular tags I will have greater success in sharing more broadly. I also like that with tumblr I can create obscure tags that only I use to classify photos from the same shoot together just for my personal reference.

Once Google+ died, I was lost for a place to upload photos, if for no other reason than to share with friends and family. I started using Flickr, and while the engagement is different, I'm not looking for validation so much as an easy way to keep another backup of my photos and arrange them in albums for the few folks who do look at them. I like Flickr because you can choose to be "social" or not, to your own taste. I feel that the price for unlimited uploads is fair.

I post mine on ipernity.

I self host. NAS for storage and immich for showing friends and family. I have zero reliance or locked in to a single service.

Check out VERO, it’s geared towards photographers

I passed on social media a while back. Currently, I print out a few 4x6s from each outing and add them to a photo album. Its cheap if I order in bulk once i have a larger amount ready to print. I often show my friends and family when they visit or leave it on the coffee table and let them take a look if they are interested.

Unfortunately Instagram's algorithm has changed a lot in the past few months and it's very difficult to get exposure in there, unless you use certain tricks (certain keywords that act as hooks, certain techniques like "read more in caption" and other crap)

This is one big reason why I don't really post too often myself.

As to "what do I do with my photography", I just ... keep what I like. The ones that I edit and export, I keep on my phone (in case I ever want to post something, or in case I want to show anything to someone), and the ones I don't edit are in an album in Lightroom.

But then again, i`m not a professional photographer so I don't make any money out of it. I just do it as a hobby and for myself :)

My world is littered with my photos. I love when people use them as their profile photos on social. Usually I add photos of my friends to their contact in my phone so when they call I see them in one of my photos. I use my photos for my fantasy football covers, LinkedIn banners. Like literally anything that can look better with a little bit of imagery, I try to use my images. Maybe try that and you might get more joy than posting to the Instagram ether.

That sounds like a fun abstract job, I would use A.I promoting to help you compose the subjects

I've been using PBASE since 2000. I have thousands of images there. You can create galleries and then send the links out to who you want to view them or make them public. Images also get ranked, you can see what other photographers are doing to get inspiration. They also have a camera section with images taken with that specific camera if you are looking to purchase a new camera. Hope this helps.

Most of them I put up on Flickr, and a few on Instagram.

Hi Sorry you feel this way. Once when i felt like that I had to ask myself why i wanted to take pictures.

Once you know why then the idea of what to do with your photos should come naturally.

Myself - I love outdoor sports, family portraits and action shots of Dogs playing. But I like Outdoor soccer more so i take action shots for my community and post weekly on social media.

I make photo books of mine. Some just for our vacations, but I will make a portfolio style book every once in awhile that I can pull out and look at or share when people visit. Just my favorite photos all glossy and pretty in a book gives me much serotonin.

If you have assembled the pictures into an audio-visual file, or have a structured talk to present, many seniors' homes love to have someone come in and give photography shows, especially travel.

Glass is very cool. You can use it like a website. My account is https://glass.photo/shootnewyorkcity

No ads, no reels, no logarithms. no bs. good community too.

Each year I print out all my favourite pictures as a photobook. It creates a sort of diary of what was happening in my life that year.

Also makes me feel like if one day I'm gone, someone MAYBE will have a look there and think about it. I bet nobody will do it with my lightroom library lmao.

flickr

Make a Flickr account and join some communities.