Instagram ruined photography.

Have you been frustrated by Instagram, lately? The most popular photo app in the world seems to be turning its back on photographers, prioritizing video over photos, and charging users for views on their posts.

[fidodido]

Social medias actually ruined everything in society. Photography is one big thing as well.

[gmaxstudios]

I really think it is time for Flickr to step up its game and for all of us to migrate there.

[seercreates]

As a professional Photographer I think its absolutely insane that the community has not come together to fund and launch a new app

[Metal_Vistas]

I deleted my social media accounts (aside from YouTube, which I use just for viewing videos) nearly 3 years ago, when Facebook became so toxic I could bear it no longer. I never got any traction on Instagram so leaving that platform was even easier.

To answer your question about where to go, I went back to the real world. I now set up weekly at a local farmers market, where I am able to interact with my customers and actually see the appreciation on their faces, rather than hoping for a thumbs up emoji to validate my efforts. THIS community feels a lot more real (because it is), I'm having more fun and I'm actually making some money from my photography now.

[DrewMoody]

Instagram very nearly broke my love of photography. Seriously. It's become so frustrating and depressing not being able to reach an audience that I spent a decade amassing. I have friends who have in the hundreds of thousands of followers and are only getting 40 likes on really stunning photography because IG won't show that content to their audience. And for a content creator like me - who isn't doing this for money, or trying to "grow a brand" - I can't justify paying for paid promotion.

[MadsPeterIversen]

I worked for more than 6 years to grow a following above 1mio... I can now hardly get above 10000 likes and 30 comments. Even though I regularly post new photos. The Instagram algorithm has completely crushed photo-sharing.

[BreannaMae]

I've owned a photography and design company for 11 years and stayed away from Instagram for the majority of those years because I knew this would happen. I did start one up because people kept begging me to join. For a while there I built a nice audience and people seemed to enjoy my content. Then everything changed. I went from hundreds of likes and comments, to like 15 likes per photo (not an exaggeration). Doesn't matter how nice the photo is, 15 likes is the max. So I stopped posting there. It's a waste of time.

[vision-gchy]

Our collective desperate need for attention and validation makes us all ripe for exploitation. These social spaces are privately owned factories, so you really can't complain about them. The only thing you can do to battle the Facebooks, Instagrams, Tik Toks etc., is to not need them. To not expect anything from them. People building careers on these platforms is perilous because you control nothing.

[this-is-gamedev]

This video is on point! 
It looks like Instagram is in panic mode since many years. They run after others and never correctly took care of their creators. I started on IG as well and the reach of still pictures is really sad.

[onlysublime]

Ig is fine for social but it was never great for photography. I use Flickr. Yes Flickr isn't great for social but it's perfect for photography. They don't compress your images like fb, ig, Google. You can upload whatever you want. I upload high quality 45 mp pics from my canon eos r5. People can download whatever resolution they want whether they want the 45 mp original which is like 40MB or a 400kb thumbnail or anything in-between. The website is so fast too. I can share whole albums rather than a few pics here and there. If what you care about is photography Flickr is great. If being an influencer or a social media addict, then ig is still fine. So it's what you want to do.

[thesourcerer]

I love photography. I do it because I enjoy it and it's a medium of personal expression. I was on IG but left the site soon after they decided to exploit the photographers for their personal gain. At the end of the day I take photographs for my own pleasure and don't need anyone to say they 'like' or don't like my work. My work has to stand up to my own scrutiny and criticism.

[vancepackard]

I completely agree. IG has gone from bad to worse. Thanks for making these videos, I believe that they are needed by our community.

[mikesch]

I never liked instagram. Flickr is much more serious in artwork and good pictures.

[JerryMungo]

Flickr is the one I like the most for photography. I can post large files of any dimension. I can discover a lot of new photographers from all over the world.

[garrhetsampson]

Instagram made photography more relevant and needed than ever. That's what makes their recent changes so devastating to small businesses and creators.

[delix]

I find it aggravating that Instagram changes the quality when you upload a perfectly well picture.

[Muchtoobizy]

Thanks for making this video. I completely agree with your sentiments re Instagram. They seem to have not even the slightest understanding of the photography community and they care even less. Every single aspect of IG is designed to do nothing else but increase their profit. I use it but hate it. The problem is it has mass following. When I am taking pictures on the streets or chatting to someone about my photography, the first thing they ask is "Are you on Instagram?" Once they follow me, I can easily send them images I've taken of them on the streets, as a way of saying thank-you. That simplicity is hard to give up if I switch to another platform. But the desperate desire is there for an IG replacement; from hundreds of thousands of photographers, if not more.

[markonemusic]

I guess I fall into the "I like taking photos, I'll share them on Insta" group, and although my 'followers' number less than 100, I can hardly be bothered now, because at least 23-30 people used to see and like my photos, (OK, not a huge number but I did feel like I was part of a community of sorts) now it seems like the algorithm just ignores all my stuff.

[mateus--]

For sure they ruined photography... Image quality was never their concern and now they don't deliver our content. If you don't do reels and videos they put you in a limbo. I'm having better results on twitter with a fraction of followers.

[gaaraxx]

Most of these so called photographers on Instagram are just posting for likes, comments, etc. They always have to validate themselves when 99 percent of their work is copied from other photographers including the preset/LUT, style, etc etc. heck even the hashtags. A true photographer and a good one is original and won't be bothered how many likes or not like their post get.