#ScribesAndMakers 2025.06.10 — What role do you think social media plays in shaping photography trends today and impacting emerging photographers?
Opinion here, not fact.
I do not think "Social Media" shapes photography trends, just shows what's trendy today and not necessarily tomorrow, and it's not necessarily what people are buying.
Social media is both good and bad.
In the pre-Internet days it was clubs, school galleries, photography contests, hustling for assistant jobs with established photographers, and maybe getting a photo featured in a local newspaper. The costs of printing were expensive, especially compared to the costs of posting online today, not to mention the skill necessary to master a darkroom, or worse, the willingness to forgo and print directly without a darkroom. Thus social media and Internet posting sites (really variations of the same) are very good for encouraging photographers to capture, post-process, and post their results. Practice is always good. People get exposure that would never have gotten it before.
It feels like democratization.
What's bad is the sheer multitude of images online. You are about as likely to be noticed by your photography alone as you are to be hit by lightning. That doesn't mean you won't get likes; it means there's so much fabulous work out there that you will likely be missed, or your name when noticed will be forgotten in the cloud burst. This can be construed as bad.
Being one of a crowd that is occasionally noticed can also be taken as a chance when previously chances were slim.
Building a business via social media will take time, maybe a lot, so patience is key. Jumping on opportunities that present themselves is key. Discovering unique content only you (mostly) can provide is key. Mixing posted photos with other content is important, as is an actual web presence (at minimum a personalized store) so that you can sell images or your services.
In any case, if you like capturing images, social media at minimum provides exposure [pun intended]. Be aware that you may very well lose copyright to images you post simply by posting online (even on Mastodon), especially on the big photo sites run by the tech companies.
Read the terms of service!
Don't post full size or even usable size to social media. Watermarking is also important, but less so.
Mind your metadata! If you don't add it, or even know what that means, the first step toward being professional is to (1) find what metadata is, and (2) to learn the best practices for using it.
[Author retains copyright (c)2025 R.S.]
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