My Two Cents on Being an Instagram Photographer

I started photography back when I got my first phone. There weren’t many apps for entertainment then, and it was either the music app with U2 songs or the camera. I chose the latter and now a little more than a decade later I still don’t regret going down this path, although there are some caveats I have noticed.

I would say I became ‘known’ as a photographer officially in 2016 when I created my first Instagram account. I have not done any professional shoots yet, hence that will be my unit of measurement. Back in the day, I was shooting everyday scenes with my iPhone, applying default Instagram filters to my photos, and then posting them. That went on for a while until I decided to create a separate account dedicated to photography. A close friend suggested ‘shotsbyseah’ and I’ve stuck with the username ever since.

Slowly, I changed my style of editing and toned down on the filters. At the same time, I got access to better cameras (DSLRs) and had the chance to experience the products from Sony, Canon and Nikon, be it for school events, or at friends’ gatherings.

Slowly my feed shifted to portraits of my friends and school events, and the quality of the photos improved as well. A feeling gnawed at me though, as it felt weird posting faces of people I knew, onto the internet for the public to see. If you scroll far enough down my feed today, you will still find remnants of those photos.

Hence I once again pivoted and began to focus more on landscapes and architecture. I bought my very own DSLR in 2018 and it was the most expensive investment I have made since. It is still my most prized possession although I’ve been thinking of expanding my setup to include other gear.

I shot over 5 thousand photos with my DSLR since I got it, and don’t intend to stop any time soon. In my archives, you would see all the NG shots, underexposed, blurry, etc. They take up much space, but I’m reluctant (lazy as well) to go over and delete them. It feels like I’m just not making good use of my storage space, but at this point in my life, I value my time much more than the price paid for extra storage.

Over the years I also picked up the (bad) habit of using the Continuous Mode (aka burst mode on iPhone) even when there’s no need for it. As a result, I often end up with large numbers of photos after the event that I have to sieve through and edit. Continuous Mode is primarily used for action shots, but it is also beneficial during events, as you want to capture the expression on people’s faces. Where the iris shifts will reveal the line of sight of the subject, which is crucial when using these photos to tell a story. These kinds of shots are usually a make-or-break. Therefore a good DSLR that can capture many FPS is necessary.

However, I have become over-reliant on this feature over the years and often rely on it to capture the best shots, at the expense of the composition in my images. I developed the mentality that more is better, and quantity will eventually make up for quality. A photography lingo for this would be to ‘spray and pray’. Often out of 10 photos, only one would be perfect, but many times I had to discard all 10 photos and lose a perfect angle shot. This mindset resulted in me having tons of unedited photos from shoots in my archives. Not only did this decrease the efficiency of my workflow, but it also stunned my creative thinking during shoots.

As for preference over the type of photos I like to shoot, I would say portraits, or in general, shots with people inside, as they tend to do better on the Instagram algorithm. Most of my photos now lack a subject, because they aren’t planned, or I just can’t find a person to be in the frame. Photos of people tend to evoke more emotions in the viewer, and therefore garner stronger engagements with the post. These photos can also be used as a conversation starter, and in the process make or strengthen relationships with others.

I used to preach that these types of photos will serve as memories for me and my friends to look back on, in the future, and reminisce about the times, therefore I enjoyed event photography. But right now, with so many things going on in our lives, I question the purpose of these photos… are they just random bytes sitting in my archive, never going to see daylight? With so much content out on the Internet nowadays, I doubt that my fellow peers will even crave out time to scroll through old photos in their phone gallery. Maybe the occasional reminder about the past, curated by Google Photos or iCloud Photos, is the closest we will get to revisiting our photos.

But if Instagram wasn’t a thing, which would be disastrous to my growth as a photographer, I would still stick with the status quo of shooting architecture and landscape, at least until I have explored every nook and cranny of SG.

Photos are supposed to tell a story. It is one of few mediums that can frame a moment in time, making an event timeless. However, because of Instagram, many photographers post ‘hype’ locations instead of quality content, including myself. This trend of jumping on the bandwagon to boost engagement has been the core idea of Instagram since day one.

To be honest, I think I’ve seen it all, from the 1:1 to 5:4 crop ratio for portrait photos, from posting with white borders to making sliding carousel posts, from adding hashtags in the caption to hiding it in a comment under the post, from uploading plain photos to making short videos with the latest trending sound. These are some changes that I’ve observed on the app since I joined. Some of them are to prettify the feed, and some of them are used to boost engagement, but all of them are done to ‘follow the trend’.

In my opinion, few photographers have resisted (in some way) the changes to Instagram and stuck to their paradigm of showcasing their niche on the platform. Their posts have a flow and tell compelling stories, be it a neighborhood, a monumental building, or an event. More often than not, they utilize the ability to post more than one photo in a post.

How I wish that things could revert to 2016, but alas, the profit maximizing model that Instagram currently has does not allow for that. It seems like the users are the ones that benefit most from these changes, and there isn’t much consideration given to the majority of the content creators, including myself.

I have seen a huge drop in likes and comments, and of course, my engagement levels are substandard as well. Do these superficial digits affect me? The short answer is yes. After all, I’m only human. Long answer, not really because I’ve gotten used to them.

My friend told me when I first started Instagram that clout chasers, people who ‘do it for the gram’, are superficial. One should not be affected by the number of likes on their posts. But is it healthy to ignore these telltale signs that your content is not satisfactory enough?

These ‘superficial’ numbers are literally the only feedback content creators get from their fans. They use it to benchmark the quality of their content. Of course, it shouldn’t be the only deciding factor, things like individual comments and the number of shares, matter too. But still, comparing these indicators with other creators and with past posts will definitely affect their emotions.

It’s like saying ‘in the end grades don’t matter’, but at that point in time, they do. In the future, they may not, but right now to get to the next stepping stone, to become to next best thing, these numbers are the key to making their dreams a reality. It could land them their next sponsorship, enable them to become an ambassador for a product, or help kick-start a collaboration with another company, etc.

Many businesses and companies use statics like the average number of likes and comments per post to rank creators, who may be chosen for a brand collaboration. These numbers are vital for data crunching done by software/people who analyze the results to reach a conclusion. Hiding the like count will definitely impede their chances of being picked.

On the flip side, there is some truth in ‘not letting the numbers get to your head’. Sometimes they do mess up your emotions and ruin your day. I’ve learned to tune out the numbers I see on my timeline although Instagram offers me a way to mask the numbers. They are still beneficial for keeping track of the current trends, so I still keep them at the back of my mind if I ever run out of content ideas.

Hiding the like count of posts on one’s timeline is beneficial for the mental health of users, but the ability to hide likes on one’s posts may just exacerbate the issue of dopamine release via the number of likes received.

Often, I see people (mostly acquaintances), hiding the like count on posts doing poorly, and showing the like count for posts with high engagement, perhaps wanting to create an illusion of popularity among friends, and their followers. I’m not saying that these actions are wrong, but I feel they’re unorthodox and I wouldn’t preach such a way of doing things.

For me, it’s either I show all my like count, because I have nothing to hide, or I will hide all of them, to prevent speculation on the engagement statics. Since I’m too lazy to individually hide the like count on my older posts, I’ve decided to show them to my followers. No matter how low or high the number is, my followers should be allowed to know the number of likes, comments, hashtags, tags, etc.

Being allowed to hide the like count on posts with poorer engagement not only helps to create a false representation of actual engagement levels, and also serves as a fail-safe for future posts which do not perform as well. The user creates an unhealthy dependence on this feature to boost his/her ego and continue to fixate on the number of likes on his/her posts, with little to no chance for them to break out of this vicious cycle of using likes to release dopamine.

It’s like having one of your tweets go viral, with thousands of retweets and likes, but not every subsequent tweet you put out will get as much attention and engagement. This ‘one-time fame’ is what fuels people to keep posting on social media, in hopes of having one of their posts go viral. I bet if Twitter introduces a method to hide likes on tweets, such a phenomenon would be widespread over there as well.

However, I must add, not every user that posts, is doing so for clout, or engagement. Many users post audio, visual and text, with the main purpose of sharing their experiences with their friends who follow them. That was the intended use of social media, and should still be.

I started posting on Instagram to share my photos with others. I never intended to hop onto bandwagons and follow what others post. Nevertheless, I was influenced and with changes happening on the app, I had to change to keep up with the rest. I started creating Instagram filters and Instagram guides to diversify my account. It did work, but only for some time. Now reels are the next big thing, but I’m still contemplating whether I should be as invested in the platform as I was 3 years ago.

It’s a constant battle to stay recognized, be relevant, and continue engaging current and prospective audiences. Innovation is definitely needed when it comes to social media. There will be days where you feel like quitting, and days where you get that dopamine and creative rush, which you have to utilize to produce more content.

Maybe it was a mistake to start using Instagram as a photographer. Maybe I shouldn’t have ventured into becoming a content creator. Maybe I could have spent my time more effectively in other areas of my life.

Currently, it feels like I’m taking photos for the sake of my Instagram feed, not myself. The lines between social media and photography became so blurred that I am programmed to shoot and edit photos that will fit aesthetically into my feed. I feel that I need a break, a clean break. But where would I go? Which other platform boasts such a huge user base with the main objective being sharing photos and videos only?

I am stuck. And I am acknowledging that. I am not progressing because I stopped myself from embracing the recent changes that Instagram has made. It has made me reconsider everything.

I will continue to post, but mainly photos. At least until I feel more comfortable with video content on Instagram. Hopefully, you stay around to see that.