HELLO PEOPLE. IVE BEEN THINKING ABOUT, RESEARHING INTO AND HAVING CONVERSATIONS aBOUT THE ROLE SOCIAL PLAYS IN BRINGING IN WORK..
I don’t want to live my life through social media.
I cant do it. I won’t do it . or rather I won’t be able to do it.
My wellbeing and mental health does not bloom online and over my phone and in social media. It blooms when I am sharing experiences with friends, when I cook, exercise and listen to music. When I play drums. Oh my. When I read about beautiful things that are happening in the world. When I volunteer. When I spend time with my partner talking about her plan to open an animal sanctuary.
And especially when I photograph people.
I know that social media plays an integral part in our lives and is now the main source we turn to for sharing and receiving information as well as a place to find entertainment and engagement, ideas and inspiration. It’s where businesses sell to its market and where entrepreneurs and small startups alike promote their services and skill sets. I know that.
But it is a capitalist technological development and social advancement that does not run congruent with our real true authentic intrinsic needs. As humans. We know this. We feel it. But we have been compelled.
I recently took part in a two-day online seminar focused on providing freelance photographers such as myself with advice and structure on how to grow our businesses focused and measured on increased profits. It became quite clear that the entrepreneur leading the seminar had shifted from the pursuit of the art of photography more towards the business of selling training to creatives who want to “level up” their game and increase revenue. (There is a ton of available training online designed and distributed this way to all manner of new start-ups and struggling enterprises of course).
No doubt. The slideshows, stories of success and advice all made sense and had value. But the underlying message was to get your online presence in check and really work at your socials through planned effective media marketing and "BTS" campaigns that should predominately take the form of behind-the-scenes content - selling the person not just the product. Be part of the algorithm or get left behind. Lean in or step out.
I know this approach works. (The entrepreneur running the seminar projected 300k a year earnings and 100k retainers not as relatable. Or reliable).
This is the playground we are all expected to run around in. This is where magic happens and dreams are cultivated and ideas sold and impressions made and likes attributed and notoriety acknowledged and money made and validation found.
Go Viral. Become the next social media big noise. Hope that people will dance to your music in the next Tik Tok trend.
How exhausting.
How underwhelming.
How unfulfilling.
I photograph people because I want to tell their story. Their real story. Not an edited version of. Like many photographers, we want to combine our love of this medium with storytelling. We want to create a piece of literature with no words. Art that speaks loudly with no sound.
I love walking into a room and seeing the play of light and getting excited about my subject standing in it. I love to seek out an expression or interaction between two people that is subtlety nuanced. Or a look or exchange that I feel in my chest. I want to sculpt in texture and contrast, paint in colour and vibrance, compose with space and depth.
I love visualising how I want the finished photograph to look and knowing the steps to get there. I get excited watching images pour into lightroom from my SD card and seeking out ones that I know are going to look spectacular in black and white. I love taking those pictures to begin carefully crafting, moving towards the finished piece that is invoking a strong emotion in me and I know will do the same with the recipient of the image and hopefully others who might see the photograph. If the music playing whilst I work is of the right timbre, I’m in flow and I am in grateful and I am fulfilled.
That’s why I photograph.
There are campaigns in place to help us move us away from doom scrolling and apps that take the form of a digital nicotine patch – giving us our fix but ultimately far better for our health (as they are built around microlearning useful information that expand our minds not numb them out).
But
Succes can be acquired in contributing to and selling in platforms that we have now acknowledged are inherently bad for us.
But
If I am to create more opportunities to do the work I love, I have to do more social media posts that appease the algorithm so I stand an increased chance of being seen by an audience that might be interested in hiring me, my style, my approach my personality.
But
I want to do continually invest in myself because that journey is vital and has been integral in developing myself as an artist and photographer. ( you might live to read more about this in my first two posts here
And here
I’m being honest. I don’t have the answer. I just want to be clear about the challenge. And offer you the conversation. I am in conflict with what I must do and what I want to do. Those two pieces of rhetoric are interchangeable in this circumstance. I think patience is vital in finding a solution. I am considering paying a third party to do this work for me – but I feel hypocritical. Uncomfortable. How will I be portrayed online? . The system gives us work but at the same time stops us working.
