Tag: depression

Instagram’s Double-Edged Legacy: A Photographer’s Perspective

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In October 2010, Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger unleashed Instagram upon the world. With its intuitive interface and playful filters, the app revolutionised how we share photos, ushering in a new era of mobile photography. However, over time, Instagram’s trajectory has shifted dramatically, raising questions about its impact on photography, the rise of influencers, and its changing priorities. This article delves into Instagram’s complex legacy, exploring its transformative yet increasingly problematic role in modern photography.

The Rise and Fall of Photography on Instagram

In its early days, Instagram democratised photography, empowering everyday users to become amateur photographers. The app’s filters and nostalgic aesthetic resonated with users, transforming personal snapshots into artistic expressions shared with a global audience. This initial period fostered a vibrant community of photographers who connected, shared their work, and even launched careers. However, Instagram’s algorithm, initially chronological, evolved into a complex beast driven by engagement metrics. This shift, combined with the rise of influencers and the platform’s increasing emphasis on video content, has had a detrimental impact on photography.

The Instagram Algorithm: A Photographer’s Nemesis

The algorithm, shrouded in secrecy, prioritises content that generates the most likes, comments, and shares. This has led to a homogenisation of aesthetics, favouring trends and viral content over unique artistic expression. Photographers feel pressured to conform to popular styles and create content that caters to the algorithm’s whims rather than their own creative vision. Moreover, the algorithm’s preference for short-form videos, like Reels, has further marginalised photography. Photos are often buried in favour of videos, making it increasingly difficult for photographers to gain visibility and reach a wider audience. This shift has raised concerns about the devaluation of photography as an art form and the platform’s changing priorities.

The Influencer Paradox: Celebrity Without Substance

Instagram’s influencer culture, where individuals gain fame and fortune through their follower count rather than their talent or skill, has further exacerbated the problem. Many influencers prioritise self-promotion and brand endorsements over genuine artistic expression, perpetuating a cycle of superficiality and instant gratification. This culture has also created unrealistic expectations and fuelled unhealthy comparisons among users, including photographers. The pressure to maintain a perfect online persona and constantly chase likes and followers can lead to anxiety, depression, and a loss of creative autonomy.

The Future of Instagram: A Photographer’s Dilemma

As Instagram continues to prioritise short-form video content and cater to influencer culture, photographers face a difficult choice. They can either adapt to the platform’s changing landscape by creating more videos and conforming to popular trends, or they can seek out alternative platforms that prioritise photography and genuine artistic expression. The latter option, while challenging, may be more fulfilling for photographers who value their craft and refuse to compromise their artistic integrity. By exploring alternative platforms and building communities outside of Instagram, photographers can regain control of their work and connect with audiences who appreciate their unique vision.

An Alternative?

While Instagram’s focus shifts away from photography, several alternative platforms offer havens for photographers to showcase their work, connect with like-minded individuals, and foster a supportive community. VERO, for example, boasts a chronological feed, an ad-free environment, and features tailored to visual artists. 500px provides a dedicated space for professional and amateur photographers to share high-quality images, participate in contests, and even sell their work. Glass is another emerging platform designed specifically for photographers, offering a clean interface, curated collections, and a focus on long-form visual storytelling. Ello, known for its artist-centric approach, provides a space for creative expression without the pressure of algorithms or ads. These are just a few examples of the many platforms available that prioritise photography and offer a refreshing alternative to Instagram’s increasingly commercialised environment.

Conclusion: Reclaiming Photography

Instagram’s legacy in the realm of photography is undeniably complex. While it initially empowered photographers and fostered a vibrant community, its current trajectory raises serious concerns about the future of photography on the platform. Photographers must recognise that Instagram is no longer primarily a platform for photography. It has become a commercialised space dominated by short-form videos and influencer culture. To protect their artistic integrity and find meaningful engagement, photographers need to explore alternative platforms, diversify their content, and most importantly, create work that speaks to their own unique vision rather than chasing the elusive validation of the Instagram algorithm.

Finding Balance: Photography and Personal Wellness

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In the sanctuary of my thoughts, where the gentle glow of lamplight dances upon well-worn bookshelves, I find solace from the chaos of the world. With my dog, Molly, by my side, I embark on a journey of introspection.

As someone who values quiet reflection and nuanced understanding, I’ve learned to appreciate the delicate equilibrium that enriches a fulfilling life. Amidst the pursuit of knowledge and creative expression, it’s easy to become ensnared in the whirlwind of activity, neglecting personal well-being in the relentless chase for success.

Yet, amidst the simplicity of my surroundings, among the familiar scents of brewed tea and the soft hum of a jazz record playing in the background, I am reminded of a timeless truth: genuine fulfillment springs not from ceaseless striving, but from nurturing inner peace and harmony.

For photographers and thinkers alike, the quest for excellence can exact a toll on the spirit, leaving behind exhaustion and doubt. Each moment of creation demands both physical exertion and emotional resilience.

But amid life’s ebbs and flows, it’s crucial to honor the sanctity of body and mind, to heed the whispers of intuition and the call of the soul. What value is there in a well-crafted image or a finely wrought idea if born from weariness?

In my own journey as a seeker of beauty and understanding, I’ve come to embrace moments of stillness and contemplation, carving out time for rest and reflection amidst the bustle of daily life. Whether reveling in solitude or feeling the gentle caress of a cool breeze, I’ve discovered that inspiration often arises from quiet depths.

Photography serves as a therapeutic outlet for many, offering respite from the pressures of modern life. Through the lens, we enter a realm of infinite possibilities where time seems to slow and worries fade into the background. Immersed in the act of creation, we create a space where anxiety and overthinking lose their grip, replaced by a sense of calm and clarity.

For those grappling with depression or loneliness, photography can serve as a lifeline, gently coaxing us out of isolation and into the embrace of the world. As we wander with camera in hand, we become mere observers, detached from the chaos that threatens to overwhelm. In framing a shot, we find solace in the simple beauty of the moment, forging a connection with the world that soothes the soul and restores the spirit.

When I’m not at my desk, crafting articles or editing photos to share with you, I’m exploring this balance between creativity and self-care, constantly striving to find harmony in my own life.

In the tranquil sanctuary of creativity and self-discovery, photography emerges not only as a means of capturing fleeting moments but also as a powerful tool for nurturing personal wellness. Through our cameras, we embark on a journey of exploration and introspection, finding solace in the beauty of the world and sanctuary in the act of creation.

As we navigate the complexities of modern life, let us honor the delicate balance between ambition and well-being. Photography offers us a pathway to reconnect with ourselves and the world, inviting us to embrace stillness amidst the chaos and find beauty in the ordinary.

Whether framing the perfect shot or crafting prose to accompany our images, let us remember the profound interconnectedness between creativity and personal wellness. By prioritizing self-care and mindfulness in our photographic practices, we not only enhance our capacity for artistic expression but also cultivate a deeper sense of harmony and fulfillment in our lives. Even if our endeavors don’t always yield the desired result, it’s essential to recognize that the journey itself is as, if not more, important than the destination.

So, dear reader, as you embark on your own photographic journey, may you find solace in the act of creation, clarity in moments of quiet contemplation, and inspiration in the beauty that surrounds you. May your photographs serve not only as snapshots of the world but also as windows into the depths of your soul, guiding you towards a life of greater balance and well-being.

Ode to January

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January, with its terrible reputation as being the shittiest month of the year, is 11 days from being over.  Some will say good riddance to bad rubbish, others won’t care, and others will be happy it’s just over and done with. Does Blue Monday ring any bells, even alarm bells?  The concept of Blue Monday (the third Monday in January) appeared in 2005 during a press release from British travel firm, Sky Travel during a publicity stunt.  A formula described this specific Monday as being the gloomiest of the year.

How could this reputation come about?  Could it be that so many seem to start this month with a hangover?  Or at best, with a dry mouth, feeling slightly tired, and having a slightly delicate tummy?  Is the fact of going back to work after the celebrations of Christmas, and suffering the anti-climax that is January a cause?  A jolt back into a reality that we feel we no longer desire?  Is it because we feel guilty about making so many resolutions to better our lives and start anew as the new year begins, and then feel dreadful when we fail after just a couple of days?  Could the answer just be drinking slightly less and not giving a shit about the new year, and therefore an eventual new me?

Mind you, Dear Reader, the weather is usually not the best that one could wish for, but if it were 20°C outside with warm sunshine, then the climate change people would be up in arms.  Whatever we say, we will, somehow, somewhere, annoy a climate activist.  Am I a follower of Saint Greta?  Not really.  Am I just boorish and refuse to sort my rubbish?  No, but I’m not convinced either.  I have problems believing that if I don’t put an apple core in the compost bin that I will go to ecological hell for all eternity…

However, as you will see from the photos in the traditional end of the article gallery, there is light and shade and therefore sunlight, therefore sun…  In the ones taken after sundown, you won’t be able to see the sun, not because of a climate crisis but because the sun tends not to shine during the night.  Mind-blowing, I know.

So, after dissing January, I feel the need to defend it. Within 11 days I will have had my 51st birthday and will celebrate not being dead yet, and being the oldest that I have ever been!  Wouldn’t it be ironic if I snuffed it before then?  It would certainly be a shame.  With my children and wife, the plan is to have a pizza, film, and beer night!  Not the done thing to miss that!  During childhood, I would have the first of a long line of birthdays throughout the year.  Sometimes for Christmas, I would have a “big” present and be told that it was also for my birthday.  I don’t blame my parents at all, and this is not part of my childhood trauma.  I have a son who was born just before Christmas and find myself doing the same thing. He’s no more messed up than I am.  Differently messed up, but not because of that.  I have people in my family born on Christmas Day, some on Boxing Day, and someone born on the 27th of December.  Ah well, it could happen to anyone, and they all seem perfectly imperfect, just like me!

The Latter Years

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Good afternoon Dear Reader.  All is quiet on the Western Front, basically I’ve turned down Alexa’s volume from 5 to 3.  My boss said the radio was little loud sometimes.  I told him that it was because of my partial deafness.  He then said something that I could quite catch; I didn’t have my glasses on.

Yesterday I celebrated my 50th  birthday, and therefore, am no longer an old young person, but rather a young old person.  To be perfectly honest with you, and why the heck not be honest with you, I didn’t even think I would get this far.  It has been referred to as one of those milestone birthdays.  Like 18, 21, 25, 30, and 40.  But this one really feels advanced. 

Let me just check.  Weight around the mid section.  Check.  Deafness? Check.  Glasses? Check.  Hair?  What hair is left is now grey.  Beard, check. One of my redeeming features.  Knees?  Arthritis in the right one.  Dog?  Molly is fabulous.  Slippers?  Not really, I traded a pair of security boots for my son’s bright yellow Crocs.  Really comfy.  Children?  Check, one adult officially, might be leaving home soon, and one 12 year old daughter going on 30!  Becoming a snappy dresser with a little more elegance than before because I want to dress for myself, my wife, and don’t really care about what anybody else thinks.  Get those yellow Crocs!!  Maybe I’m finally an adult and have actually got the hang of all this adulting? Are there any more squares on the 50 year old bingo that I might have left out?

I check things that move out of my body from the front or the back.  That started happening late in my forties so I don’t know if it’s I’m the right decade.  Looking to see if I’m properly hydrated by the colour of my pee.  Feeling very out of sorts if I haven’t pooped by 7am.  Drinking a litre of water before I leave for work.  I have a smart watch, which tells me how I sleep and how far I have walked every day.  It also gives me my pulse and stress levels. 

Doctors.  Doctors seem to have become so much younger nowadays.  My old GP retired a couple of years ago, and the replacements aren’t even thirty and it’s like going to see somebody who’s just out of school and not older than my son.  At work I have noticed normal people leaving to go into retirement, and I have become one of the less young members of staff.  Youngsters come and join the team, and I don’t even know their names. 

I’m trying to think of the 50 year old stereotypes, and I can’t think of any.  No longer young, but definitely not old yet.  Professionally “they” seem to say well you’re not going any further.  If you leave now, it’ll be hard to find work elsewhere as you are considered “passed it” whatever “it” may be.  Do I just have wait here and wait for retirement?  Will I be able to retire? Politics and all that…  I really have no idea and it’s slightly frightening.

When you’re 20 you’re young and have energy to move mountains. It is the pssage from childhood into the real adult world and can be a rude awakening.  I just moved to France.  Asking for trouble I suppose.  By the time I was 30, I had one child and by the time I was 40 I had my second child. I was starting to get the hang of this parenting business.  During my forties I went through quite a lot of depression and wondering where the hell my life was going and probably was a little too self-centered and I would like to work on that during this next decade of my life.  Maybe my fifties are there to prepare me to be a grandparent.

As this new part of my life begins, I will keep you up to date regularly and you my even get some photographs from tie to time. Until then, I’ll just have to look forward to getting home and having a nice cup of tea and a couple of biscuits…

 

Facebook went down on me!

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Hello Dear Reader, maybe you don’t know what Facebook is, or Instagram, or WhatsApp, but yesterday they went down on the entire world, but not in a sexy way. Facebook is the Face of Social Media, Instagram is the camera of Social Media, and WhatsApp is where we tell everyone what we are doing by private message.  Twitter was where we were all taking the piss out of the aforementioned Social Media outlets last night.

This is a big thing in an ultra-connected world.  At work I listen to the Jeremy Vine show on BBC Radio 2, and they spent 30 minutes talking about it.  It has featured on all the news bulletins that I have heard today.  This is a big thing!  So many of us have mobile phones, and I’m not talking about the indestructible Nokia phones, whose batteries are still working.   I’m talking about “smartphones” that are so smart that they have degrees in smartness from Smarty-pants University.  They are capable of so much more than the computers that sent men to the moon, and they fit into your pocket! 

Some people with depression and social anxiety called in to say how they depend on Social Media to have a manageable contact with the outside world, others who use it to advertise their small businesses to those of us scrolling through, and others of us who are addicted and can’t put our phones down, because of the dreaded FOMO, or fear of missing out.

Whilst at work, my mind can wander, and something that comes back regularly is the desire to go back to my prep-school and tell them what the world is like in 2021, or forty years from now.  Some of my masters were WW2 veterans, others were baby boomers, and some of them weren’t actually that mad, despite appearances.  I remember one Maths lesson where the teacher told us to find arithmetic patterns in our times tables.  I got three and had to find the pattern.  My first algorithm.  Now these algorithms are omnipresent and artificial intelligence is using them and running the world, especially on these platforms.  Think back to Brexit, or the 2016 American elections. 

Smug people came onto the programme saying how we had lost the power of conversation, or how come people just don’t pick up the phone.  Some talked about the wake-up call.  Others were talking about Gen Z, who have lost the power of communication.  However, there is nuance everywhere, which is something these platforms like us to forget.  I see people like my daughter, who is always on her phone, but she is conversing and communicating non-stop with her friends at school or a version of her tribe.  My son does the same thing.  They communicate differently.  I often wonder what my First Form Master, Fr Gerald, would make of it all.  Now we use emoticons to reply to some of our messages.  Have we gone back to using hieroglyphs?  Is that a problem?  They say a picture can be worth a thousand words. 

How did I manage?  Not too badly.  To begin with, I was worried that my Internet might not be working. But I soon found out what was happening.  It wasn’t much of a hinderance.  I still had my music on Amazon Music, and I was scanning negatives for my son.  They were from 2016, and he shocked to see how he looked just 5 years ago.  I think he used the word cringe.  I missed putting them on Facebook to share them with the rest of my French family.  Maybe Facebook has its uses after all, and shouldn’t the rule be able about moderation?  Use it by all means, but don’t let it become your master.  I’m still glad that they’re online again…

Sorry

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Hello Dear Reader from a rather sunny corner of France! My mood is like the weather. Warm and blue skied, and my disposition as sunny as you could wish.

I have had it said to me that my last few posts have been far too inward looking and intopestcive. So if you’re reading this then it means you have been patient with me and I would like to thank you for it. One person even said that “I had flogged it to death!” Again fair criticism and with hindsight this is probably true. Thank you for being honest enough to tell me. Tough love…

I would however like to try and explain myself. To start off with this blog was going to be about photography and showing photographs from when I went out every week with my camera. It was going to show the photography that doesn’t get shown anywhere else.

Like most creations it seems to evolve and change over time. The Covid19, the crazy bat fuelled light beer disease came along and changed all our lives. The writing, as a creative experience, evolved too. Then I wrote my first article with no photos. Wow, what a rebellion against my original goal.

So, when writing, one can have a tendency to write what one knows the most about. Well,for me, that would be me, my past and present and what I hope my future might look like. Stuff came out of my head and onto the screen. I would write with no censorship. It became a therapeutic exercise.

The article I wrote in November was a liberation for me and a new experience. Ok, a bit dark, darker even than he dark side with their cookies. But over the next articles, with some ever so important therapy, it has allowed me to heal and has given me so much peace of mind. I would even say it has helped me vanquish my inner demons, that have been there for far too long.

It’s like I’m so happy that I want to share this happiness with you too. It’s new for me so just let me get over the novelty value of the whole shebang, and then we can go back to boring photos of cats, Nantes, and other places. I might even share some of my photographic processes with you.

When this person told me all this, I was furious, although calm. But in retrispection she wasn’t all wrong. We all have issues, all of us. The past always creeps up on us and can shout “Boo!” at the most inopportune of moments. And let me assure you, this has happened. But, evacuating and exorcising these troubles has been a revelation to me. I have been told, “we don’t do therapy.” And I get that. Smile and the world smiles with you, cry and you cry alone. I’m lucky. But you don’t have to cry alone, I had help, and this help has changed me, and I like who I am right now. Not perfect, but perfect enough for me.

Thank you for bearing with me up to here. Again I would like to offer my apologies for making anyone uneasy, or even shocking you. It is my story, and I accept each and every detail of it. I possess it and it no longer posesses me. Let’s hope my story can have a happy ending, but get this people, it’s not over yet. And that’s great.