How Instagram has reinvigorated my photography

The main reason why most blogs die off is the lack of an audience. By that count, it's a wonder I've kept this blog going for so long... (albeit with rather infrequent updates)

Fortunately, I love photography enough to keep going!

Of course, even the deepest well will run dry some day, so I recently sought to find better ways of sharing my photography. I first tried porting this entire blog over to Tumblr because it has social network functionality built-in, and then discovered to my disappointment its lack of SEO. This blog completely trumps it, and I suspect Google's ownership of Blogger has to do with it too.

I considered making better use of Flickr, where I already have an account, but even with the recent upgraded interface and 1TB of storage, I feel reluctant to put too much energy into a platform that doesn't seem to be drawing in new users. It didn't help that their app isn't available in my region for my iPod Touch 5, my main media sharing and consumption device. (I use a Blackberry Z10 as my main communications device)

Then came Instagram. I was actually asked by my wife to set up an account so I can follow and "like" her photos on the service. I dutifully did so and ignored the platform for a while, until the start of July.

I can't remember why I started taking an interest in the first place, but since then I've been a very active member of the community. Initially, I didn't have any specific goal for the platform. I thought of it as an extension of my current photo sharing on Facebook, Blogger and Tumblr.

Actually, this isn't my first posting on Instagram. The real original has been cleared out because it was a random shot that doesn't quite merit the real estate!

But after I started exploring the platform further, I started to see its potential as my main platform for sharing photos. Firstly, it doesn't require me to write much. While I do enjoy writing, it is time-consuming and takes time away from the main purpose of my blog -- photography. Secondly, there is an active community on the platform who are engaged and always exploring new content. Thirdly, you do get a lot of feedback in the form of 'likes' and comments, though people are unlikely to give any criticism.

After a couple of weeks, I realised that I needed to decide on a theme for my gallery, as some of the very popular ones do. With my background in journalism and my own interest in street photography, black and white seemed to be the obvious choice. I chose to use sepia toning because I feel it adds another layer of emotion to the pictures.

Here are some of my most popular shots as of now:  

I have to admit there are several pitfalls to this platform: 

1. A glut of poor photos, in terms of subject matter -- selfies and animal shots, anyone? -- and  in terms of processing -- from the flat and underprocessed to the over-compression of tones and over-enthusiastic use of HDR; 
2. The misuse of hashtags, which makes it harder to discover content you are looking for. For example, why do colour photos often show up when you search #blackandwhite?
3. A glut of narcissistic, self-promoting users who have no real interest in photography. 

Often, there is a combination of the three. And it is somewhat demoralising to me that some of these users appear to be quite popular. There also appear to be many spam follower accounts that are created by hackers for profit. I have chanced upon forums that discuss this openly.

Nonetheless, I still see great value in using Instagram. In many ways it has reinvigorated my photo processing. I'm scouring over my old photos to seek out the gems -- especially those that are good for B&W conversion (I use Silver Efex Pro 2). I'm posting very frequently -- twice a day on most days. And in the process, I have revived plans for the ultimate amateur photographer's vanity project -- a proper portfolio website. I've barely started on it, but it's already a huge step forward!

It's been a tiring few weeks but it certain feels worthwhile.

With every additional 'like' or 'follower', I feel more motivated to continue uploading my pictures. I have hit 100 followers about 5 weeks into using the platform, and I have set a target of attracting at least a thousand 'real' followers, i.e. actual lovers of photography and not spam bot accounts. It will probably take me many months to get there, if at all. But it is a challenge I'm looking forward to!

I'm thinking of featuring some of my favourite Instagram streams on this blog, so stay tuned!