via PetaPixel Talented Photographer That ‘Nobody Knows’ is Ready to Quit | PetaPixel:
Despite capturing breathtaking landscape photos, Andrew Waddington tells PetaPixel that nobody is aware of him “primarily because I refuse to use Instagram” and his best work “barely receives a handful of views on Flickr.”
+
“However, if you’re using social media for dopamine hits then you’re probably using it for the wrong reasons.”
+
“Waddington tells PetaPixel that he is ready to “call it a day” and take up printing instead.”
+
“I don’t have the pressure to keep performing to my audience in the way someone with an Instagram following might,” he says.”
First, give me a break. If you are a photographer, you never stop being a photographer. It’s not possible. I’m never going to stop being a photographer since I cut lawns all summer to save $400 to buy a camera in 2001 until I die.
Second, this photographer eluded a few times that they get validation and their own dopamine hit from comments and feedback on social media but they couldn’t set proper boundaries to keep from constantly scrolling those social networks. That’s on them. I have an Instagram account specifically for photos of motorcycles. It’s very niche and you now what? I don’t have Instagram installed and use an online publishing service where I schedule images to be posted there and I follow no one. I have DMs turned off. Flickr is still my online gallery. Instagram is to satisfy hundreds of requests that I share my photos there. I checked that box for my fans. Same on YouTube. I don’t watch anything on YouTube motorcycle related despite the fact I have 1,550 videos uploaded about motorcycling. People assume I know all of the motorcycle YouTubers…I don’t.
You can participate in social media without being sucked into it.
Third, if you’re in photography for the money, then you play the game. If you can’t do that because you can’t separate work and personal, you can keep being a photographer and take up a new profession. Keep posting your stuff like I do and contributing to the medium without filling in thousands of hashtags and trying to get re-posted by some account with 1 million followers. I like Andrew’s images. They’re pretty one-dimensional and are all landscapes with a LOT of editing. Not my style but good for him. It’s a shame when someone who is shooting gives it up but like most of the content on PetaPixel (a blog I subscribed to when DP Review was announced to be closing), it’s just trash content. PetaPixel is full of articles about trends so they can get google traffic. Now that DPReview is not going away, I’m happy to remove PetaPixel from my RSS reader.