I’ve been spending a lot of time recently evaluating how I want to proceed with my photography going forward. For years now it seems like social media (Instagram, Twitter, etc. etc.) are just a given if you want to share your work with the maximum number of people possible. But all the same, for years now I’ve been wondering if they really are the best platforms to focus on. Heck, I’m wondering if there are any platforms that are good for sharing work. When did I buy into the notion that social media platforms are where it all has to be and any other efforts are a bad use of time?
Photographed with a Holga Toy Camera and Ilford HP5 pushed to ISO 1600.
I was listening to a podcast recently were the host described social media as the equivalent of being a musician and walking into concert hall that is filled with other musicians but no audience. Everyone starts playing their own instruments and doing their own thing. The ultimate result is just a giant mess of sound that nobody want to listen to but yet everyone keeps playing in anyway. Expanding on that analogy a little bit the thought occurred to me, why not leave the concert hall and go play your music on the street corner alone instead? Sure, the choice of venue is not as prestigious and is outside the norm a little bit, but at least someone will listen to you. At least you would be giving your music a chance to stand on its own free of distraction and outside noise.
I’m not saying I want to give up on social media entirely. I’m not going to delete my various social media accounts in a huff or make some grand exit. However, I think in 2023 I’m going to rely on them a whole lot less and instead focus on doing actual work. Not necessarily sharing work, but doing work. What that work is going to look like I don’t know yet, but free from the pressure of posting something new each and every day I feel like I now have the permission to explore a little more and tackle some ideas I’ve never tackled. We will see what happens.
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In the meantime, the photograph I’m posting here was made in downtown Portland Oregon on a very foggy morning around 6am. I was walking to work and had a Holga with me loaded up with Ilford HP5 film. It was still practically dark and the Steel Bridge doesn’t have a lot of artificial lighting so I pushed the film to ISO 1600 to even get an exposure. Even pushing that far the resulting negative was still thin, but good enough to get a nice moody scan from it.