Photography

Play Gurushots

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.

flickr

I use a website called GuruShots.com

They have challenges and other stuff but I use it mainly as a place to put up my stuff and hopefully get some exposure.

I have the exact same problem - I have been (casually) taking photos for 10+ years and love to share them, but never really found the "right" place to do so. I uploaded a lot of pictures to Flickr in the past, and recently started an Instagram account, but not a lot of people see them.

That's why I gradually started sharing my pictures on Reddit a couple of days ago and see where that goes. I don't think I have the energy to start a blog/website that noone except close friends ever sees.

I know that you shouldn't take photos for others but for yourself (if it's something you enjoy and it's not your job), but a little feedback and validation here and there is nice.

I use Flickr

First thing to understand and remember, is NO ONE CARES ABOUT YOUR PHOTOGRAPHY !!!, but hangon, that doesn't mean you cannot get people to admire it. However to do that, you need a more unique style and subject matter that is not seen as often. Everyone with a phone is taking photos, so you need to ability to stand out of the crowd, and the crowd these days is EVEYONE. It takes time and more time, to find your unique ability to portray things in a visual manner that gets attention.

Same with the algorithm! When I first started using instagram almost 10 years ago I’d get a decent amount of views and likes and my photos were much worse than now lol. Nowadays I’m lucky to get 20 likes. It is what it is, I really don’t post much anymore because I don’t see the point.

I create photo calendars every year that I gift my extended family, a way to make use of my photos and I also love the idea of us all looking at the same photo every month, while we’re physically so far apart. I’m also going to get some big prints of my favorites and hang them up around my house as decoration.

There are ways to set up a cheap photo blog/website. Post your photos there on a consistent basis and you will eventually develop a following and get people responding to you.. You will also be able to develop and customize it as you develop more in your photography. I did this for several years and will probably start again. Mine was just a daily photo blog on the old blogspot.

I use Imgur for individual pictures and Google Photos for collections. I used to use Flickr but Google Photos is easier to use for my very old relatives and it doesn't have ads.

Build a website it's not hard.

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.

Make a Flickr account and join some communities.

How about hanging a few framed prints in a photo gallery? Could be in a coffee shop or restaurant? Sometimes, I enjoy having my prints shown, even if not for money. It forces me to really think about just a few really good images, instead of hundreds or thousands going to social media. Print up some of your best images and show your portfolio. Small galleries and cafes are a good place for photography.

At the very least you need to print your photos. Printing is neither expensive nor a hassle and the joy of holding your own pictures is all we should need as artists.

Ha, I’m in the same boat. I’ve pretty much decided to just not bother with Instagram anymore it just isn’t worth it. I’m thinking of trying 500px and possibly Flickr. I’m not sure if they’ll be any better but it’s worth a shot

I'm in the same boat and I'm thinking of going for some sort of recognition /accreditation. I'm in the UK and we have the Royal Photographic Society who offer 3 levels of qualification, each requiring a portfolio photos that are tied together by a theme of your choice.

I like the idea of a project to get the creative juices flowing, and would enjoy some CC from a more technical audience than social media

Someone should create an app designed for sharing photos with your friends. That would be cool, unique, and probably make a lot of money.

I post anything I feel was worth professing to my Flickr. I pay their annual membership fee so I see no ads on my stream or when I view other’s work.

I'm in the hobby for me, not other people. The world and I has seen so many pictures it's very hard to be unique enough to show interesting pictures. I see lots of beautiful pictures over the last 30 years but I've seen them before in so many cases.

I used to worry about it but decided photography is so much more than a picture, it's about the experience of the getting and editing them.

So when a picture pops up on my 15" electronic picture frame, it brings back memories for me. I don't care if it's not something unique and different.

Those from trips that my wife and I really like, we print and hang them.

I've watched a lot of You Tube videos on a wide variety of photography genres to learn lots. One of the key takeaways is you're not always going to get the shots you want and to take the time to enjoy the experience. Just don't snap, snap, snap. And to be flexible to take pictures of something else and enjoy those pictures for yourself.

So I have my pictures on my hard drive, I put them on an SD card and load them on my picture frame. Straightforward, easy to do and maintain as I keep a folder on my PC for those I put on the frame.

For my most favorite pictures I'll be getting them together and transferring them to my phone. If people ask me about my hobby, I can show them. Maybe 30 to 50 pictures that I'll keep changing up. Because after that, nobody will look at them anyway as there's just too many and as I said, they likely seen something similar before.

It's allowed me to relax and renew my interest in the hobby again.

I just take photos and enjoy using the camera, then do nothing with them. On a very rare occasion I make a b&w print, and sometimes I post a jpg from a film scan. I scan all my negatives.

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!

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.

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

I post mine on ipernity.

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.

Check out VERO, it’s geared towards photographers

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.

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 :)

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.

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

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.