5 things that suck the fun out of photography ^
001 Humans vs. Machines
Recently, on Colin and Samir’s podcast, they talked about how Youtube in 2017 was better than now. Youtube has matured, it’s a major business now. It’s a search engine. When things get big, they lose their edge. That’s just the natural state of things.
Posts that do really well across social media are posts that talk about how to succeed on that social media platform itself. If I started making content about how to make successful content, I’m sure it could potentially do pretty well if I build it within the framework of what the algorithm is looking for. Here’s what the algorithm (we say the algorithm despite there being a lot of different algorithms) is looking for: consistency, for one. Many of these platforms make all their money on ads, so the more people come back to look at content, they continue to hold valuable ad real estate. We, the people keep their business afloat. They have data from their users behaviors, so they want those who make content to adhere to the data of their users. That’s why the algorithm changes. We look at these platforms as some sort of capricious god, but really they are beholden to their own audience.
It’s the same reason you watch Fox News and you see commercials for buying gold or catheters. Fox News’ audience is a certain age, so they do everything they can to cater to that particular demographic.
But at the same time, creators are a great source of evangelism for these platforms, so they want to make sure to keep them at least minimally happy as well. Apparently, Kim Kardashian came after Instagram when they downgraded photos in the algorithm in service of TikTok-like reels. Those complaints seemed to work, as photo-carousel posts are supposedly more effective now. But that’ll probably change eventually too, because by nature, all of this is alive and moving based on the circumstances of the moment.
But in 2016 and 2017, there was some content on how to “optimize” our content making, but really, even Youtube and other platforms seemed to still be flying by the seat of their pants too. These mediums all seemed somewhat new and magical, like there was still all this untapped potential. Now, we look at “content creators” as brands and industries unto themselves.
And back in 2016, many of us were idealists about the future of content creation and how it would replace the establishment, but now, in 2023, it is the establishment. But some of us remember and long for the days where it was still the wild west.
We have so much information now. How to eat, how to be productive, how to stay active, how to protect our mental health, how to succeed in business, how to effectively sell things, how to dress, and so on and so forth. We have all the tools we could possibly ever want, and yet, are we happier? Are we more creative? Have we self-actualized? Or, does having a treasure trove of information on how to perform and do everything perfectly just attempted to turn us flawed human beings, as emotional and unpredictable as we are, into machines?
I fall into this trap all the time, and I seem to never learn my lesson. 365 projects, podcast episodes twice a week, and posting every day. Nothing is wrong with all that, and sometimes I’ve even managed to do it well, but consistency can have costs. Maybe I avoid creative risks because that might take too long to make, maybe I don’t want to miss a day out of fear of some kind. My goal has always kind of been to optimize creativity so that I can be producing ALL THE TIME.
There are benefits to that, and I’m not opposed to consistency. But, I started questioning myself: Is my goal to just put something out so I can check the box? Or is my goal to make something good above all else?
Sometimes, consistency and something good can work hand in hand, but that takes a toll over the long haul. Casey Niestat made a vlog a day for like, 800 days. He’s been on record about how that almost destroyed his life and family. Dang, I did 300 vlogs for 300 days and I totally went insane. And mine were terrible!
The algorithm rewards working under those extreme conditions. But maybe, I’m not looking to live under extreme conditions like that anymore- if we don’t want to be machines, what is left?
Patrick Tomasso’s philosophy is make what you want to make, when you want to make it. I’m increasingly of the mind that this is right. We need to balance overthinking something so much that we don’t just put it out with not just putting stuff out just for the sake of filling the internet pipes.
What is the end game?
A lot of my favorite creators do things the way they do things, meaning, they have a style. They’ve been imprinted on from various life experiences, successes, and failures, and what they make is a reflection of that. I can’t make a Mr Beast video. I don’t have the guts to run up to people in the street and ask to tour their apartment. But, my life is it’s own soup that informs what I do. And it can take time to find it. That’s the only thing I’m interested in this social media game.
As machines, we have no interests. We aren’t able to love. We only serve the users.
As humans though, we have our own interests. Our love of those things is a more powerful and exciting force than getting promoted in the algorithm.
The pressure to produce degrades often degrades what we make, very few can achieve the level of quality AND quantity, if any. The Marvel movies have really taken a dive due to this very same thing, they’ve had to work on so many movies at a time that Ant Man and the Wasp compromised on VFX because Wakanda Forever needed more VFX artists to get finished on time.
We want to be like machines, and yet, we just aren’t able to maintain a machine like output of creativity. Think about the burnout often amongst Youtubers: they are big for a while and upload multiple times a week, and then they just kind of disappear after a while. The ones who stick around end up having an inconsistent upload schedule.
I’ve always been a big producer, I’ve fully completed 8 or so 365 Projects, and can do something with regularity for a long time. But there always comes that moment when I start asking “Why am I putting myself through this again?” Once I start asking that too much is when I end up taking an overlong break afterwards. But since I’m in this for the long haul, I don’t want to get so burned out that I need a year off.
Photography is Dead, the previous version of this podcast, came out twice a week. I had a great system for making sure that happened: I’d write an episode every Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday morning, so then I’d build up a bunch of episodes. Some made it to recording and some didn’t, but then after a couple weeks I’d record 6 to 9 episodes. I’d always stay ahead so that I never had to scramble to put an episode together. That worked for 48 episodes. In fact, it worked too well.
Producing a show like that made it feel like brushing my teeth, and it was starting to get a little too scientific. I was also starting to want to spend more time on each one to really polish it up. But, I didn’t want to just suddenly change the format of the show, so I’ve turned it into a new show with different expectations. Also, the ethos around Photography is Dead where I look at the photography world in the present day, was getting stale to me as I was starting to think about what’s coming next.
My philosophy around creating things is changing for me. I’ve spent so many years posting and creating daily that now, I’m hungry to spend some real time on something.
I do some social media management and creative consulting for clients that need content or content ideas, and what I’ve found is that many business owners I work with don’t post anything to social media, because they want it to be perfect. And social media, really benefits from being more relaxed and not perfect. We gravitate toward more human content as consumers. We don’t want it to feel too polished like an advertisement. I’ve always had the opposite problem: I’ve never been afraid to post no matter how half-baked. Its social media, not an art gallery. Everything we post ends up being kind of disposable. And in a few days, it’ll be buried.
But now that I’m able to consistently produce, because I’ve built my life on creativity, I want to turn the tables a bit on my self and spend more time on a project.
When I decided to make a run at Youtube and video-making again I went to a few friends who are more experienced with it. A lot of the recommendations were the same: you need to post a couple times a week and it has to fit in this or that box. In the past, I would try to adhere to the rules of the algorithm, but quality will always end up falling by the wayside. So, since making Youtube videos has never been a successful endeavor for me, I’m going to do things the opposite of how I normally do them.
First, I want to make all the content I make fit together better. The podcast has to be a good companion to the videos and the videos and podcasts can trickle down to all the other social media platforms. Photography is Dead was built as an audio-only project, so it wasn’t really possible to translate that format and frequency into video. Basically, I’m re-orienting everything around what I do around adding a video component.
Second, I want to take more time on each upload. I’m only doing one podcast a week now as opposed to two. In the main videos that I’m making for Youtube, however, I want to work really hard on doing one at a time. My normal problem is that I start thinking about multiple episodes or projects at once and work on them simultaneously, never giving enough time to one. So, this time, I’m going to fight this ADD impulse or whatever it is and only work on video at a time for as long as it takes to be good.
Third, I only want to make what I’m excited about. If you’re a Photography is Dead listener, you’re familiar with my Kurt Russell Theory. It’s essentially we love watching Kurt Russell in everything he’s in because he always looks like he’s having a blast. If we aren’t having fun, whatever we make isn’t going to be good.
Sitting around talking about what “I’m gonna do” is kinda lame, but really I just wanted to say that I have a plan. Making a YouTube channel that I’m happy with has always been an aspiration of mine, and I’ve never quite gotten there because I’ve never put enough focus on it. I’m working on a series on videos, and I’ve almost fully written the first one. I’m super excited about this upcoming series. It’s daunting, and not going to be easy, but I’m very excited about it. I think you’ll at least find the topic of the first one pretty interesting. And with each video, there will be a companion podcast episode.
At the core of all this though, there’s really a love for one thing: Photography. That’s it man. That’s really what I do this all for. That’s my first love. Everything I talk about and create touches photography in some way. It’s something, that no matter how much I do it, I never get burned out. I’ve had seasons where I slowed down, but in 15 years, I haven’t stopped taking photos.
As I spent 48 episodes talking about, photography is in a weird place right now, so I want to explore the future of what that looks like. What’s its value going to be in the future? Obviously, images are more important than ever, but as a result, they’ve become cheaper, whether one can create an image themselves or just download a free stock image on Pexels or Unsplash. Then of course, photography is getting easier to produce via AI. You can still kind of mostly tell the difference between an AI photo and a real one, but in months or weeks, it may be impossible at the rate that AI advancement is moving.
My theory though, is that those truly dedicated to the craft of photography will continue to survive as long as we focus on context. AI art may be cool and technically impressive, but it is art without context. As humans, we need context and story in the art we consume. In fact, one could argue that art is simply a vehicle by which we can experience another human’s context or life experience. Those who mostly focus on just making technically perfect images without a ton of context might be on the chopping block, but I believe if we really focus on expressing everything that has made us we still have a chance in this uncertain future.
Or
Skynet goes live and we’re all doomed. But if that happens, we don’t have to really worry about the future of creativity much anyway.
iPhone Only
The proliferation of mobile photographers has supposedly turned everyone into a photographer. But I think we’ve already had stages of this throughout the short history of photography. In Susan Sontag’s On Photography which I believe was written in the 70s, she discusses how the camera is becoming more consumer friendly even back then, and our human nature has gotten us addicted to the act of photo taking. She observes that “Travel is a strategy of accumulating photographs.” Because, “the very act of photo-taking is soothing.” How many times have you gone on vacation, seen an amazing view and didn’t really absorb it because you were too focused on making sure to get a good shot? I’d like to say I’m rare in this case, but I know I’m not. You do it too.
There’s an absolutely ridiculous scene in the remake of The Secret Life of Walter Mitty with Ben Stiller (maybe even the most ridiculous scene believe it or not). It’s the scene where Sean Penn who plays the stereotype movie photographer with leather straps on his wrist and a film camera (despite it being modern day. Well…I guess that’s realistic now. Anyway), and he journeys to the Himalayas to get a photo of an extremely rare snow leopard.
Spoiler Alert if you haven’t seen the movie.
He gets the snow leopard in view and has the chance to take the shot.
Walter Mitty : When are you going to take it?
Sean O'Connell : Sometimes I don't. If I like a moment, for me, personally, I don't like to have the distraction of the camera. I just want to stay in it.
Walter Mitty : Stay in it?
Sean O'Connell : Yeah. Right there. Right here.
He doesn’t take the shot. Like what? You can talk philosophy at a TED Talk, but you don’t take the rare shot because you’re just feeling a little extra that day? There’s no situation where he doesn’t regret that later.
Anyway, sorry. I could go on all day about ridiculous photography stereotypes in movies. I’m waiting for a film about a photographer who is basically a Nikon Dad.
Basically, the point is, in real life Sean Penn would take the snow leopard picture, and probably repost it over and over again on all his social media channels. And we’ll scroll right past it because we have seen so many images that some cat in the snow is like, whatever.
Jeez. Wait what was I talking about?
Oh yeah. iPhone Photography.
Human nature likes to take photos. It’s an addicting practice. It calms our anxieties because we are recording that we were actually there or saw that thing. It’s proof of life.
You also get a dopamine hit more than ever now, because when you take a photo in an iPhone, it’s computational photography, so it edits it for you and makes you feel like an incredible photographer.
I actually think, in theory, every camera will have to take on the features of an iPhone. Aka the OS that allows you to edit and share images via the device itself. It’s wild that I can’t easily have Lightroom Mobile on my Fujifilm or Sony and then post on Instagram or Twitter, all in-camera. Right now, expensive cameras take fantastic images, but getting them to the finish line is still kind of a headache. We can wifi transfer them to our phones but all those apps are pretty much terrible and only work about 50% of the time.
Talk about AI, the iPhone does so much for you that editing isn’t necessary. It just knows (most of the time) how to make a photo look good. If you want to make tweaks, there’s an “edit” button right there with simple and easy to understand tools.
And despite that, the professional photography world has been growing. Maybe even with the iPhone as a gateway, but also, because the need for images has only skyrocketed in the past few years.
Photographers, I think feel a twinge of fear with each new generation of iPhones. Because we feel like soon, we will be replaced. And, well, I don’t think that’s unfounded.
But I think creating a unique voice for ourselves is an antidote to this fear. A unique voice helps us stand out from the crowd, and maybe even will get us paid more. If you’re looking to do photography for money, then I’d say, find a way to survive and break even for a while as you get the unique voice sorted out. That’s the competitive edge you really need in society today, and those who don’t have a unique voice are the ones complaining about everyone being a photographer.
Not only that, but if we have a unique voice, it can transmit across different photography tools. An iPhone camera becomes a lot more valuable in the hands of someone with a unique voice.
A unique voice has so many downstream benefits. It’s getting to the point that I’d argue, we can’t really survive the future without one.
But really, the iPhone is the best camera. From a technical standpoint it’s incredible: I have to shoot and combine like, at least 7 images with my expensive camera to get a good HDR image when the iPhone can do it instantly. My iPhone 13 Pro is a camera that has 3 built in lenses and a gimbal for stable video footage as well. Not only that, but it’s always with me, no heavy camera bag required. (I don’t even use a case, because I’m a psycho)
But the fact is that it’s an “overthink deterrent”. I think the weakness of most photographers or videographers or anyone that has deep pools of technical knowledge is that we think if one nail will work, 12 will work just fine. We have all this expensive stuff we’ve invested in so that we can accomplish any task, and yet, it can be a hinderance, more than a help. Here’s an example: I’ve been helping some small businesses in my town with some social media content lately. Basically, I’ve been helping them by batching some video and photos for them to post over a months time. At first, I was filming their short-form vertical video stuff with my Sony A7IV. Well, that just created more work for me in order to accomplish something I could have just done with my phone in half the time. I overthought it, and the gear ended up literally costing me. Not only that, but in testing recently, the less overthought, iPhone Reels and TikToks seem to be getting more views anyway.
Everyone is a photographer/videographer. Everyone has an iPhone. Therefore, iPhone photography/videography is more authentic. It doesn’t feel like an ad. Everything feels like it can be made by the common man.
In my session with my food truck client, I was more focused on making sure I got everything technically right on my A7IV that I lost sight of the narrative and the story purpose of what we were doing. This is a struggle I wouldn’t have by filming with my iPhone, because it just works.
We have reached a weird place in the photographer/creative world today. Basically, the camera has become a huge stumbling block to creativity. That is, unless our vision needs certain requirements. But we need to have a vision, and then choose what we need as far as a tool to capture it.
Small business owners ask me all the time about what entry-level camera they should get to start creating content. The simple fact is, they already have one in their pocket. The question of what camera to buy is a distraction, truly.
The marketable skill a photographer has now isn’t their camera, or even their “eye” (whatever that means), it’s vision. It’s knowledge of how to effectively create and put pieces together in order to make something interesting and good. Anyone can be technically proficient, and it’s obviously useful to be. But the photographer’s biggest problem today is the “overthink” that technical proficiency creates.
I’m a good photographer. But I’ve never been able to just stay as that one thing. To be a photographer that really goes anywhere, we are required to be somewhat multi-hyphenates. Yeah, marketing and sales yada yada, but creatively as well. Truth be told, it’s been hard enough for me to stay away from seriously doing video for as long as I have. It seems that the modern day photographer who is really successful can at least hold their own with video. I’m obsessed with podcasts, and photography has been a gateway drug into podcasting. Then of course, I also find myself writing a fair amount as well.
Don Draper is such an attractive figure because he has a job that doesn’t exist anymore. He’s a guy that goes to the movies at noon, drinks in his office, blurts out ideas to people that will do all the dirty work for him, and then makes tons of money. Don Draper now would need to be fluent in the Adobe suite and be an entire art department all on his own. Photographers, I think, are still stuck in this idea of being somewhat of a photography Don Draper, simply only needing to do that one thing. But those days are gone.
I think it has died down a little bit, but the movement of everyone calling themselves a “storyteller” is on the right track. iPhones are replacing giant camera rigs, AI is replacing copywriters, designers, and editors. The tools and our use of them is no longer our competitive edge. Everyone is on a level playing field. Everyone’s focus now should just be one thing: carry out a story and vision. Whether that’s content for a small business or big brand, or our own work and art, the job is the same. What is your goal? What are the tools that will help you get to the goal? And more often than not, in 2023, the right tool is just sitting there in your pocket.
AI vs. Passion
I wrote an episode about the problem with AI, but I’m not going to release it because my thoughts on it were kind of generic and I had nothing that new to offer. Oh, and because an AI basically wrote the exact same episode that I wrote.
ChatGPT is an AI program I’ve gotten a lot of use out of lately. Basically, it’s a language program that you can ask questions, and it’ll answer them. It’s not hard to get it confused when you ask real deep questions, but it’s great for admin work. What I mean is that, say, you need a custom stock photography contract to send to a client. It can generate one for you in seconds. If you need a caption for an instagram post, or help writing out a thought, it’s great for that too. I actually pay the $20 a month subscription to it now because I find myself using it all the time for minutia.
My take on AI is that it is a tool, and I think we’re worrying a little too much about a “rise of the machines” moment coming our way. It can be used for good and bad, but the key in my mind is not to be afraid of it, but rather embrace it, because it’s actually quite useful.
Well..when I asked ChatGPT this question, it had basically the same take:
It is understandable to have concerns about the potential risks and dangers associated with artificial intelligence. However, it is important to remember that AI is simply a tool, and like any tool, it can be used for good or for bad purposes. It is up to us as a society to make sure that AI is developed and used ethically and responsibly. While there are certainly valid concerns to be aware of, it is important not to let fear drive our decisions about how we use and develop AI. Instead, we should approach the development and use of AI with caution and with a focus on ensuring that it is used in a way that benefits society as a whole.
Shows how original I am. In fact, I could probably get it to write a whole episode of this podcast and you would never know the difference.
There’s a fear amongst creatives that the creative people will get replaced by AI, which is valid. If you’re somewhat mediocre like myself though, however, AI tools have really given me a leg up in that it is helping me with the things that I’m not very good at. Instead of outsourcing, I’m using AI for much cheaper as well. I wanted a cool cover of this podcast, and I drew a really pathetic looking doodle that just wouldn’t cut it. But then, I went into Midjourney, and described to it what I was looking for AND BOOM. It created assets for me and then I put them together and arranged them the way I wanted in Photoshop.
Here’s something that has occurred to me: is what if creatives get knocked down a peg? Like, if a regular person can make a logo without a designer, or create ad copy without a copywriter, or take photos without a photographer. Society would probably rearrange the hierarchy of these jobs, which maybe, might not be such a bad thing. (I’m obviously saying this as someone who is in this group of people) What I mean is that if we focus on just getting really good at what we do, and integrate AI ourselves, I think a percentage of creatives will be able to rise up despite the changes in the marketplace. I think lower level creatives who aren’t super ambitious don’t put a lot of time into their craft just won’t be able to make a dent.
Early this year our basement flooded, the aftermath of which pretty much absorbed my entire January this year. A lot of important electrical things got wet basically, so I called an electrician to come assess some of the damage. First of all, it’s tough to get in touch with an electrician now because they are so slammed busy. When he came over I asked him about his business, and he told me he had a 60-something year old guy working for him and a 70-something year old guy. He had a younger guy, but he wasn’t interested in working in older houses like mine because, you know, it’s old and can be gross to crawl around in an early 1900s crawl space.
It got me thinking: I can’t type an episode of this podcast, edit photos, use a camera, or do anything without electricity. And yet, he can’t find younger people that what to do the job. You can’t throw a rock around here without hitting a photographer, and yet, I don’t know any electricians my age. Why are jobs where people can actually do things with their hands that keep our infrastructure working not seen in higher regard than even the average photographer?
I don’t see AI competing with electricians or plumbers or mechanics anytime soon. So maybe, it’s not a bad thing if the tables turned a bit. If creatives are so easily replaceable, maybe that means that we should be replaced in some regard. Maybe, we’ve all gotten a little too big for our britches.
We so quickly get entitled to our way of life, meaning that we forget to be grateful for being able to do what we do. I’m grateful I’ve been able to survive doing what I love, but it’s not a guarantee that I will be able to do this forever. Nothing lasts forever. But that knowledge that it’s not a guarantee is what drives me to try and be better every day.
The tide is turning, like it or not. But I don’t think creatives will be wiped out totally. In fact, creatives have this really cool skill that helps us problem solve no matter what comes our way: we are creative.
I do know this: if we sit here and try and “boycott” AI or whatever instead of using it as tools for our own purposes, we will be the first to be taken out by the rise of the machines. Right now, I’m taking an inventory of my creative weaknesses and looking at different AI tools and how they can fill some of my skill gaps. Honestly, it gets me kind of excited more than anything.
I go back to my “Photography School” episode of this podcast (which I think is one of my favorite episodes I’ve ever done), and the fact that I went to a liberal arts college. AI is going to do real damage to colleges that are super expensive and built for knowledge workers. ChatGPT has now replaced the average English major who is in thousands of dollars in debt. An unsustainable system has been revealed to be unsustainable. But, no matter what, it’s going to be a painful process for our society to learn. I just read an article about a photographer who grew his instagram account without taking pictures. He made all the photos in Midjourney, and they were totally believable! He had like 26,000 followers last I looked.
The fact is, we can’t get too comfortable. People are wired differently; I think some people may listen to this and be saddened by it, others, will be pumped up and take it as a challenge. (I’m the latter). I think the real competitive edge you’ll have to ultimately have to survive is passion for what you do. Our passion gives us the energy to adjust and keep finding ways to be better, but if we don’t have that energy, then many of us will be swept away. When I was doing wedding photography, I always said that I couldn’t compete with a wedding photographer that loved weddings. I just don’t love weddings. In fact, I’d go as far as to say I’m not a fan of them at all. A wedding photographer who is passionate about weddings is going to outdo and outlast me 100%.
The people that love a thing will win every time. I love photography more than a large percentage of people on this planet. I have, and will outlast many photographers just based on my passion alone. People who are really passionate about what they do can be really annoying to those who don’t speak the language, because passion is a special gift that not everyone gets.
I think withstanding the tide of constant changes is more a mindset than anything, and the only way to get that mindset is to want that mindset. We also need energy for that mindset, because it can feel exhausting sometimes. Eventually, when I’m older, I may be tired of the whole thing, and when I get tired of the constant changes and having to adjust is maybe a sign that I’m done.
One of the most powerful quotes in the movie Top Gun: Maverick is a quote in the beginning of the movie when Tom Cruise’s Pete Maverick Mitchell is being yelled at by Ed Harris who plays an admiral. Ed Harris says “Rear Admiral : The end is inevitable, Maverick. Your kind is headed for extinction.
Maverick responds: “Maybe so, sir. But not today.”
The Problem with TikTok
I feel like I mention TikTok a lot on this podcast, and that’s probably because TikTok has revolutionized not just social media, but maybe even media consumption in general. In one of my favorite shows ever made, Halt and Catch Fire, a show about the tech revolution in the 80s and early 90s, Joe MacMillan, one of the ambitious idealists of the show, theorizes that if computers process information fast enough, there’s a certain threshold where users will never stop using it. Totally spot on. Instagram and Facebook gave us this years and years ago, but somehow TikTok found an entirely different threshold.
The user interface of TikTok is a work of genius. It’s so good and so addicting that you can scroll and be fed interesting content ad infinitum.
Throughout this podcast and other things I do, I often try and take the positive route on things that people often talk about as blanketly bad. TikTok is one of those things that many people have problems with and are concerned about, and while I often say that I like TikTok, I do, like many people have concerns.
I don’t talk about politics across my social media outlets or podcasts or anything. Ever. I won’t do it. People screaming their opinions into the void of Twitter and Facebook and wherever else is part of the problem with our discourse today. In 2016, I posted about politics a lot, and after a few heated arguments in comments sections, I realized I was totally wasting my short time on this earth with that nonsense. So I made a blood oath with myself to not get political online. Let me tell you, my life is better for it.
So that’s all to say, let’s put aside the political or national security angle of the TikTok debate for this episode.
TikTok and Reels and Instagram and Facebook and Twitter to me, are all valuable tools I can use to get my images and ideas out into the world. I believe I have some perspectives about things, and I can express that through writing or audio or photos or video, and to me that’s exciting. I see them no different than I see a camera.
Maybe early on in my photography career I was a real trend follower. I remember seeing photos on Flickr of people dropping fruit in water and freezing the motion so they could get some cool “splash photos”. I saw that, thought it was cool, and did my own. That’s just how I, and I think a lot of people learn: they see what’s cool, try it, and then that hopefully spurs some creativity of their own eventually. You have to just try a lot of things to find out what kind of photography you like, and that means, yes, maybe in the beginning you follow some trends.
But one cannot live on trends alone, however. Well, we used to not be able to. The problem with TikTok is that, well….you’re rewarded for following trends, which creates an incentive to never really break out into your own vision. Now you’ve got these creators on TikTok who just chase trends day in and day out to stay relevant. Much on TikTok is fleeting noise that has no substance- it’s mostly momentary chuckles. Creators don’t really need to make something new, they just repeat what works for everyone else.
There are exceptions of course, I’ve seen a lot of original and cool stuff on TikTok. The problem is that once something original and cool is done, hoards of creators come in and copy it wholesale. Photography TikTok for instance, is probably the best example of this: I got into TikTok because I saw a ton of cool photography tricks like pouring water on the ground to simulate a puddle and shooting low to get a reflection in the puddle of your subject. Now, I see that video over and over again by different creators, and they all get tons of views and follows every time.
The other trend on photography TikTok that I see a ton is dudes that approach random women (and sometimes they seem pretty underage) and ask them if they could do a portrait session with them on the spot. It was started by photographer Alex Stemplewski originally, but it ended up catching fire and now you see a lot of kind of irresponsible versions of it by people who think it’s cool and want to do the same thing. Personally, the photographing strangers thing isn’t my thing, and this angle of it definitely leans into beautiful women to get views. In some cases, I’ll be honest, it seems kinda creepy.
Then there’s also this whole lane of wedding photographers ranting about clients or the industry. Since there’s a lot of really tired and overwhelmed wedding photographers out there, those do really well, but they are all the exact same.
The coolest type of photography I often see on TikTok is from product photographers like Evan Tanaka, who show you their wild set ups for a photo and then you’re on the edge of your seat to see a super satisfying result.
I’ve actually struggled with writing this episode because normally I like to make sure I know the names of people that make cool stuff, so I can reference them, but that’s part of the problem with TikTok. Every social media platform suffers under trend following, but it’s usually pretty easy to trace the originator. With TikTok, the originators are often buried under all the copycats. It’s like if the guy dressed up as Batman in hockey pads at the beginning of The Dark Knight was mistaken for Batman and then just took the real Batman’s place like nothing happened. You can follow people on TikTok, but the “people” on TikTok are kind of irrelevant based on how the app is set up. It’s all about feeding the machine. It’s kind of irrelevant if it’s a copy or the original, it just needs to be interesting for 2 seconds so we can chuckle to ourselves or gasp at the result.
There’s a weird shamelessness to TikTok that I think a lot of people, especially people 30 and above are really turned off by. I’m all for a vibrant creator economy, where someone can make cool videos or photos and then make a living on it, but it seems like it’s moving closer and closer to prostitution rather than a utopia of self-funded artists. Don’t get me wrong, I think there’s amazing and interesting work being made and creators that are doing really innovative things, but the aspirations and incentives for the next generation of creators are really getting kinda grubby as time goes on.
It’s hard for me not see my own daughter and wonder what all this will be like when she’s older. She’ll watch her dad be a photographer and creator, and maybe she has no interest in doing anything resembling what I do. But if she does, what will the creator economy look like for her? Will people be rewarded for their creativity or will the incentives continue to race to the bottom? Unfortunately, probably the latter if I’m being honest.
So, what are we supposed to do about all this? Well, that’s been a lot of what I talk about on this podcast- if you want to chase millions of views then trends and shock-factor are for you. But that’s a pretty scary road to start your way down. I believe in patience, and slow incremental growth over time. Figure out who you are, and just steadily push forward no matter what. You may never get to millions, but you may find a nice, quality audience of tens of thousands.
But I’m addicted to TikTok too, and still see a lot of potential for creative people- I’ve said it on this podcast a bunch, but I really think that creating valuable work wins at the end of the day. I sell prints as a business, so that’s great outlet to get my work out into the world. TikTok and Reels can be tools to help me share my experiences and what I’ve learned the farther I get down this road. This episode is focused on what I think a big problem with TikTok is, but don’t get me confused: I still think it’s valuable. It’s all about trying to use it in a measured and careful way. Take Ryan Holiday, he’s using his TikToks and Reels and all that to talk about the ancient stoic Marcus Aurelius. Thomas Sowell, a conservative philosopher doesn’t make videos, but he condenses his ideas for multiple platforms like Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram as well.
So. The problem with TikTok as I see it, is quite honestly the problem with instagram and every other site like it: we focus too much on the medium. We are focused too heavily on exploiting how it works in order to get seen. We base our usage around that “desperation” that I talked about in episode one- if we do a little bit of this and little bit of that, the algorithm will like it. But, say what you’re doing to game the system works. What then? You have to start all over and game the algorithm with something else. On and on and on.
The solution, for a fruitful social media experience on both sides (creator and consumer alike) is to focus on using the medium to express your ideas and work. We need to stop putting so much weight on the machines themselves. TikTok could be banned by the US government any day now (hopefully not before I release this episode though), and if you’re focused on the machine, you’re gonna have to totally start over. If you’re focused on ideas, however, you can take your perspective and just start expressing it somewhere else.