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! 🤣
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! 🤣