Hey Raf, I can relate well to most of what you are saying in your rants. Insta is without a doubt the definition of evil, however, given that we all say so, why is it still there? I have no other social media than this - substack - and I have now given up on Notes entirely, because I no longer wish to feel like I am always behind. It is like death-scrolling on those other platforms. It cannot continue to eat up my time. I subscribe to those I care about. I now have time to read them all. I may be slow, but make a point of doing so. I like the interaction, comments and questions people raise. I will keep writing my Posts, I will keep up keeping up with my subscriptions. That is what I will do. And as I so often say these days... the rest is just noise!
I can relate to all the points you bring up. I am currently working on an article on where photography is heading towards and some of these topics I will touch upon.
I think, it all started good (Instagram) whilst it was like many other things at the beginning, created by people for people. Now I often feel like various platforms are simply sales-place, a market. It’s not life, it’s all the time a CoNteNt. I all the time am “invited” to buy, there’s a new trend, new strategy how to post, tips & tricks how to push content etc. Weird algorithms, where all the time smth is being suggested, but it disappears from the feed once I start to follow it. How do we create a connection with anyone if we constantly follow accounts that disappear just to be replaced with new suggestions..? It just blows my mind if I think about it too much.
The gear rant seemed funny, cuz I’ve been for a fairly long time in the beauty community, and it started to feel overwhelming as it also felt like I have no time to appreciate the new palette I’ve recently bought cuz 4 more were released before the new one even arrived to me, and people hopped on the news like a wildfire. I feel like getting a new “gear” and overconsumption is a problem, likely, in every form of… living. But it’s also probably a by-product of social media. 30 years ago one could see only that much of what others owned.
From the trendy stuff I really hate that everything that is “viral” and “hyped” tends to have a sky-high price by resellers. Smth that I tend to see in the photo community (Olympus Mju II, or Canon G7X as a couple of examples), which is smth I saw in the makeup community as well. Okay, the camera will last a longer, but, boy, a hyped eyeshadow palette got discontinued, people could resell it for 4-5 times the original price plainly because it wasn’t on official market anymore. Canon G7X is smth I was eyeing back in 2021 as I saw it in one of my favourite youtuber’s vlogs—it felt compact, and she also said at the time that it’s not some kinda major top tier quality high-price camera. I remember that I contacted her personally to specify the camera model, and when looked up for it online, I think, it was around €700; yesterday it popped on my path again, and I see that it’s being sold for €1k at least. As well resold. Which, imo, is manic. Things over the time gets cheaper cuz newer, better stuff comes in, but the overall internet hype somehow makes some milk it to the oblivion. I’m lucky to live in a low-key poor country with nearly the lowest salary in the EU, cuz I need to rethink nearly every purchase that is not directly related to my daily things. It sounds odd, but in this era of selling & buying it’s almost a wealth to not have enough money cuz I’m not buying so many things that I don’t actually need. 🤡
Lastly, the thing that I could rant about forever, is people (in any field) labeling themselves as this or that “artist” (photographers, cinematographers, poets, writers etc.). It’s smth that cuts me to the bone because when you understand anything in a certain field, you quickly find who IS an artist (of wte realm), who has a hobby (and maybe they’re artist as well), and who just runs around trying to convince everyone around using terms rather than sharing their works that could allow others to observe and decide whether one IS that or not. I don’t understand how these con-artists can add any label to themselves before dropping nearly any work. They’re a poet, but they drop three lines, like, twice a year. They’re a photographer, but the “cinema” happens only in an obviously cinematic place where with the technology we have these days one must be a complete r*tard in order to fluff up a shot. Create a stunning photo out of a rubbish bin, and I actually will be impressed cuz there might smth about that rubbish I wouldn’t think about before myself, and that is noticing. These days the discussion shouldn’t be so much about digital vs. film. Rather that digital devices allows anyone add a label “photographer” without even knowing what the device automatically adjusts. And film allows to create an illusion of doing smth, when sometimes for some people it’s still just pressing the button: “NoT eDiTinG tHe PhoTo” (even tho the lab already did it for you if we want to be exact) and, basically, having a nice filter over the picture; however, flexing the heck out of it, because now it’s trendy, and it doesn’t matter if there’s a result and you also learned smth from it. It’s trendy, it’s mechanical, and every mistake there is very romantic and artistic, so, actual growth is not required. I think, at this point, this is my Roman Empire.
People lives in a delusion that a skill and observation can be bought via gear or a film stock, when, in fact, there’s nothing exceptional about it. Ahh, yeah, sure, and if you’re loud enough in words, not works, you can still convince people into being smth that you’re not. 💁🏼♀️
This is such an unnecessary long comment, but this article really elicited out of me… the best! 🤣
Hahahaha, I liked every single word you put on it. So much wisdom in there, actually! Thanks a lot for taking the time and energy to comment that out. I got mesmerized when I saw a video on Instagram saying that adjusting the ISO is a LiFe HaCk, ahahahaha. Like, wtf are we doing as humanity?
Well, it might also be one of those aspects that has been totally forgotten, and whoever rediscovered it, named it a “life hack”. I myself took the word “ISO” again in my vocabulary just recently, because analog camera required it. 😂 Though, I knew about it’s existence before.
However, a bit eerie to think that, if nothing changes, we currently have an entire generation of photographers growing up on phone photography with automatic adjustments and face filters. There’s not only an ISO an upcoming life hack. 👀
Yes. To all. Yes! Little remark about the 8th point: even worse are those ph's (no names?) who say gear doesn't count WHILE they're on a sponsored reel of the brand they're endorsing.
Exactly. When I see YouTube videos doing camera reviews and these camera reviews are sponsored, I skip the video.
To give you an idea of the difference, I got with my own money a Hasselblad 907x/cfv100c digital back. I’m a using it extensively. I’m taking weeks to write the review, because I’m writing it from the perspective of someone who paid for the product, that changes EVERYTHING!!
Thanks for your comment! Have a great weekend ahead!
Hi Raf, this has been a fun reading, thanks. As pointed out by the below comment, the camera switch is faaaar better than the camera itch, so I'll try that, too.
One thing I'm not sure why it makes you so angry is the photowalk thing. People learn by doing. You go to a photowalk (hopefully focusing on a topic or a technique) to learn it. And yes, monkey press shutter button, because they show you something and you want to try it out. And who knows, maybe it's the "slow shutter technique" (wink wink) or the "ICM life hack", but they LEARN IT. That's why you bring a camera with you. I go to photowalks sometimes and I don't expect to win awards with these photos, but I do like to see that there are still people interested in learning certain things and not just leaving it up to AI to finish the job (on IG, for instance). Perhaps we talk about two different things - there are many kinds of apples indeed ;)
Don't get me wrong, I also frown upon many things, but now I'm old enough to know that life gets reinvented every 20-25 years, so....
Thanks once again for the rant, I'm off now to listen to your podcasts.
Yeah. The photowalk rant was, indeed, a little naive from my part. I agree with you and I think you’re right. Better having people meeting in person and learning things and sharing experiences, than doing something else. I’d say that from the 10 rants, it’s the weakest one. You brought a good point, and I thank you! 🙏
When I wrote the monkey and shutter button think I was like “awwww raf, c’mooon maaaan, ruuuuude”, but I couldn’t resist 🤣
It’s the kind of “I lose the friend but I don’t miss the joke” moment 😅
Thanks for reading and commenting out. Have a great day. Happy you’re heading towards the podcasts!
Admittedly, I was perturbed with the title of the article. Reading it through, I couldn’t help but agree with most of it, including the humorous rants. The image grabbing on Instagram really annoyed me. One of the main reasons why I closed all Metaverse accounts.
I agree with you, especially regarding Instagram. For a long time now, I've thought that Instagram is a platform for snake oil salesmen, not for photographers.
Hey Raf, I can relate well to most of what you are saying in your rants. Insta is without a doubt the definition of evil, however, given that we all say so, why is it still there? I have no other social media than this - substack - and I have now given up on Notes entirely, because I no longer wish to feel like I am always behind. It is like death-scrolling on those other platforms. It cannot continue to eat up my time. I subscribe to those I care about. I now have time to read them all. I may be slow, but make a point of doing so. I like the interaction, comments and questions people raise. I will keep writing my Posts, I will keep up keeping up with my subscriptions. That is what I will do. And as I so often say these days... the rest is just noise!
Love your advice to swap equipment when suffering from GAS. A bright spot in a depressing — but all too true! — post. Lots of food for thought.
Yeah, and that only works when your friends aren’t too much attached to their equipment, and you know they will take good care of.
I can relate to all the points you bring up. I am currently working on an article on where photography is heading towards and some of these topics I will touch upon.
Nice. Can’t wait to see! I wanted to illustrate this post with a photo of myself doing eye roll, haha, but I didn’t have the patience to photograph it
I think, it all started good (Instagram) whilst it was like many other things at the beginning, created by people for people. Now I often feel like various platforms are simply sales-place, a market. It’s not life, it’s all the time a CoNteNt. I all the time am “invited” to buy, there’s a new trend, new strategy how to post, tips & tricks how to push content etc. Weird algorithms, where all the time smth is being suggested, but it disappears from the feed once I start to follow it. How do we create a connection with anyone if we constantly follow accounts that disappear just to be replaced with new suggestions..? It just blows my mind if I think about it too much.
The gear rant seemed funny, cuz I’ve been for a fairly long time in the beauty community, and it started to feel overwhelming as it also felt like I have no time to appreciate the new palette I’ve recently bought cuz 4 more were released before the new one even arrived to me, and people hopped on the news like a wildfire. I feel like getting a new “gear” and overconsumption is a problem, likely, in every form of… living. But it’s also probably a by-product of social media. 30 years ago one could see only that much of what others owned.
From the trendy stuff I really hate that everything that is “viral” and “hyped” tends to have a sky-high price by resellers. Smth that I tend to see in the photo community (Olympus Mju II, or Canon G7X as a couple of examples), which is smth I saw in the makeup community as well. Okay, the camera will last a longer, but, boy, a hyped eyeshadow palette got discontinued, people could resell it for 4-5 times the original price plainly because it wasn’t on official market anymore. Canon G7X is smth I was eyeing back in 2021 as I saw it in one of my favourite youtuber’s vlogs—it felt compact, and she also said at the time that it’s not some kinda major top tier quality high-price camera. I remember that I contacted her personally to specify the camera model, and when looked up for it online, I think, it was around €700; yesterday it popped on my path again, and I see that it’s being sold for €1k at least. As well resold. Which, imo, is manic. Things over the time gets cheaper cuz newer, better stuff comes in, but the overall internet hype somehow makes some milk it to the oblivion. I’m lucky to live in a low-key poor country with nearly the lowest salary in the EU, cuz I need to rethink nearly every purchase that is not directly related to my daily things. It sounds odd, but in this era of selling & buying it’s almost a wealth to not have enough money cuz I’m not buying so many things that I don’t actually need. 🤡
Lastly, the thing that I could rant about forever, is people (in any field) labeling themselves as this or that “artist” (photographers, cinematographers, poets, writers etc.). It’s smth that cuts me to the bone because when you understand anything in a certain field, you quickly find who IS an artist (of wte realm), who has a hobby (and maybe they’re artist as well), and who just runs around trying to convince everyone around using terms rather than sharing their works that could allow others to observe and decide whether one IS that or not. I don’t understand how these con-artists can add any label to themselves before dropping nearly any work. They’re a poet, but they drop three lines, like, twice a year. They’re a photographer, but the “cinema” happens only in an obviously cinematic place where with the technology we have these days one must be a complete r*tard in order to fluff up a shot. Create a stunning photo out of a rubbish bin, and I actually will be impressed cuz there might smth about that rubbish I wouldn’t think about before myself, and that is noticing. These days the discussion shouldn’t be so much about digital vs. film. Rather that digital devices allows anyone add a label “photographer” without even knowing what the device automatically adjusts. And film allows to create an illusion of doing smth, when sometimes for some people it’s still just pressing the button: “NoT eDiTinG tHe PhoTo” (even tho the lab already did it for you if we want to be exact) and, basically, having a nice filter over the picture; however, flexing the heck out of it, because now it’s trendy, and it doesn’t matter if there’s a result and you also learned smth from it. It’s trendy, it’s mechanical, and every mistake there is very romantic and artistic, so, actual growth is not required. I think, at this point, this is my Roman Empire.
People lives in a delusion that a skill and observation can be bought via gear or a film stock, when, in fact, there’s nothing exceptional about it. Ahh, yeah, sure, and if you’re loud enough in words, not works, you can still convince people into being smth that you’re not. 💁🏼♀️
This is such an unnecessary long comment, but this article really elicited out of me… the best! 🤣
Hahahaha, I liked every single word you put on it. So much wisdom in there, actually! Thanks a lot for taking the time and energy to comment that out. I got mesmerized when I saw a video on Instagram saying that adjusting the ISO is a LiFe HaCk, ahahahaha. Like, wtf are we doing as humanity?
Brain rot won 🥇
Well, it might also be one of those aspects that has been totally forgotten, and whoever rediscovered it, named it a “life hack”. I myself took the word “ISO” again in my vocabulary just recently, because analog camera required it. 😂 Though, I knew about it’s existence before.
However, a bit eerie to think that, if nothing changes, we currently have an entire generation of photographers growing up on phone photography with automatic adjustments and face filters. There’s not only an ISO an upcoming life hack. 👀
Yes. To all. Yes! Little remark about the 8th point: even worse are those ph's (no names?) who say gear doesn't count WHILE they're on a sponsored reel of the brand they're endorsing.
Hahahahahaha, 🎯
Exactly. When I see YouTube videos doing camera reviews and these camera reviews are sponsored, I skip the video.
To give you an idea of the difference, I got with my own money a Hasselblad 907x/cfv100c digital back. I’m a using it extensively. I’m taking weeks to write the review, because I’m writing it from the perspective of someone who paid for the product, that changes EVERYTHING!!
Thanks for your comment! Have a great weekend ahead!
Long live photographers who buy gear with their own money (I'm in ahah)! Budget pain makes better pictures :D Enjoy your weekend as well!
Hi Raf, this has been a fun reading, thanks. As pointed out by the below comment, the camera switch is faaaar better than the camera itch, so I'll try that, too.
One thing I'm not sure why it makes you so angry is the photowalk thing. People learn by doing. You go to a photowalk (hopefully focusing on a topic or a technique) to learn it. And yes, monkey press shutter button, because they show you something and you want to try it out. And who knows, maybe it's the "slow shutter technique" (wink wink) or the "ICM life hack", but they LEARN IT. That's why you bring a camera with you. I go to photowalks sometimes and I don't expect to win awards with these photos, but I do like to see that there are still people interested in learning certain things and not just leaving it up to AI to finish the job (on IG, for instance). Perhaps we talk about two different things - there are many kinds of apples indeed ;)
Don't get me wrong, I also frown upon many things, but now I'm old enough to know that life gets reinvented every 20-25 years, so....
Thanks once again for the rant, I'm off now to listen to your podcasts.
Yeah. The photowalk rant was, indeed, a little naive from my part. I agree with you and I think you’re right. Better having people meeting in person and learning things and sharing experiences, than doing something else. I’d say that from the 10 rants, it’s the weakest one. You brought a good point, and I thank you! 🙏
When I wrote the monkey and shutter button think I was like “awwww raf, c’mooon maaaan, ruuuuude”, but I couldn’t resist 🤣
It’s the kind of “I lose the friend but I don’t miss the joke” moment 😅
Thanks for reading and commenting out. Have a great day. Happy you’re heading towards the podcasts!
I appreciate this post quite a bit, but I have to take issue with this statement:
<Instagram> transformed photography by trying to turn it into a garbage can.
This statement isn't at all accurate!
Instagram turned Facebook into an enormous, reeking, steaming pile of sh*t.
I agree!
I still fin instagram quite nice, of course it's mostly ads and cats and bullshit, but the people I follow do provide some really nice stuff.
And since I'm more active on LinkedIn, you learn to love instagram
I support 100% of every rant! Thank you for articulating my pet peeves in one swoop!
Thanks! There are more items I thought about after I wrote hahaha. The list is now a top 50 (FIFTY) 😅
Been & gone from IG - chased away by AI scrolling slop 😱
Yes!!!!!
but wait! You're much too young to be ranting and grumpy like me,,,but seriously nice work...all 10 hit with me. Thanks.
😅 thanks! I kinda thought a lot to project these 10! They are profound rants 😅
Thanks for reading my friend!
Admittedly, I was perturbed with the title of the article. Reading it through, I couldn’t help but agree with most of it, including the humorous rants. The image grabbing on Instagram really annoyed me. One of the main reasons why I closed all Metaverse accounts.
Cheers!
Means the world to me that you entered a post of mine with a vision, and left with another one! Touches my heart even harmer that you liked it 😊
Thanks a lot for reading! I’m grumpy but lovely 🥹
Yes to all of these.
🙌🏼
Great article 👌 I agree on so many points!
Thanks for reading 🙏
I agree with you, especially regarding Instagram. For a long time now, I've thought that Instagram is a platform for snake oil salesmen, not for photographers.