“Are you a photographer?”
“Yes.” “And I do motion, content creation, and social media for the brand I work for.”
“Who does the editing and producing?”
“I do that too.”
“What about the sound?”
“Me.”
“What about the asset management?”
“What’s that?”
This, my friends, is how we got here. And this isn’t going to end well. The model you read above is now standard procedure for many brands and many photographers, and this is how we landed on “content” as the substitute for “photography.” It is impossible for one person to do five jobs and do each to the best of their ability. Why does so much of the work we see look the same from brand to brand? This is why.
What needs to happen is two fold.
One, a massive pushback from photographers. Two, brands accepting the reality they may or may not have someone on the team who actually knows what good photography is. Someone who can tell the difference between “content” and “photography.” Someone who knows the difference between “photographer” and “influencer.” And for those with inquiring minds, my explanation is as follows. “Content” is work that crosses your eyes but never connects with your brain, think Instagram, and “photography” is those rare moments that sear themselves into the deepest recesses of your grey matter, forever. “Content” is cheap, disposable, custom built for the sheep, shallow and short attention span, while “photography” is costly, rare and time intensive, everything the modern world, and modern brands, loathe.
Modern photographer types often have to live a life that provides no chance for them to determine who they might actually be, or what unique “something” they could create which just might add to the collective good of the world. Everything seems rushed, last minute, and the demands for multi-channel content make sure they can never focus on ONE thing for any length of time. I see them on planes, in airports, looking exhausted, shoveling bad food in their mouths as they attempt to edit a film, send files and maintain social media accounts. They pounce on their phones seconds after touchdown, jumping from app to app to app with glazed looks on their faces, as if they aren’t even sure they are doing what they are doing.
What this ultimately does is snatch them from the world around. Did you ever notice the inherent detachment and narcissism that comes from this life? A life with mobile device as interface. Standing in the aisle on Instagram while others are trying to make their next flight. OBLIVIOUS to the most basic of things. Lives reduced to daily deadlines and the need to fill an insatiable pipeline. Creative cannon fodder. Waiting to be sent from the trench into the cold hard gaze of brands who know there are endless others waiting to take their place, waiting for the whistle to blow.
My advice at this point. Don’t be a photographer. Use photography for your end game, but encapsulate the exercise in something else, something different, something bigger, something with far more connection points. Otherwise you might find yourself at the mercy of those who only know in theory, those who grew up with phone as pacifier, those who don’t know any other way. Those who have come to think of this behavior as normal or acceptable. Those who admit to being burned out. Those who shrug while saying “Nothing we can do about it.”
Good work is not necessarily performance art. Good work takes time and mental isolation. Good work is difficult to package because it doesn’t fit a template. Good work takes time, and it’s not found at a designated Instagram photo spot. I recently attended an event that contained a photography track, but I realized there weren’t any “straight” photographers included. There were digital artists, content creators, producers and art directors who also did photography, as if photography was already a semi-trivial conversation that could be had by anyone with a camera.
To counterbalance this experience, I searched for films regarding a certain famous photographer who once keynoted this same event. Much to my surprise, someone did an interview with him less than a month ago. A full-on, sit down, long-form interview. The channel has 608 total subscribers, the comments turned off, and no real engagement. Within the first two minutes you learn of his history in art before photography, his four years of full-time education, two years of which he was forced to focus entirely on one thing. It’s painfully obvious why he is as good as he is, and why he has had the career he has had.
There is no one coming to replace people like this because we are now fully committed to the mediocrity of modernity. When I tell photographers about people like this they often quickly reply, “Well, he must be rich,” or “Well, he must have gotten a bunch of lucky breaks.” Quick excuses without knowing any of the facts. Emotional responses based on frustration.
I keep thinking I can do more than one thing at a time. I have big, mental plans for certain things. Then I get in the field and realize, “Oh, if I need to make stills, that’s the ONLY thing I can do.” Otherwise….content. This is why I keep saying YouTube photographers should forget about stills and make motion content. Motion is what brands want more than anything else, and still photography is too difficult, time consuming and can’t be made in the editing bay. You can filter up an average image, slap a gradient on it, over Lightroom the thing and you still have an average photograph, but with motion you have sound and script, the two most important pieces of the puzzle.
Do I see any of this changing anytime soon? No. In fact, I see this only getting worse. I think most good photography won’t be seen because it will be personal work of non-professional photographers. Content will only get worse with AI. Already I see photographers complaining about AI but using it to generate their voiceovers and their marketing materials. Sorry, can’t have it both ways. You are complaining about it consuming your work while you are using it to consume someone else. (I’ve never been to any AI site.)
If this isn’t your full-time gig, just do one thing for an extended period of time. Just one. If photography is your love, just do photography. Don’t post it, don’t shoot motion or create shorts, or marketing or fly your drone or anything else. Just do ONE thing and see how it goes. See how long it takes to progress, to get better, to learn how to edit your own images. I’m not the sharpest knife, but even working full-time as a photographer it still took me ten years. Had I been trying to make films, keep up with social, pretend to be someone I’m not, I would have never figured it out.
Comments 18
I’ve long battled the idea of “Do One Thing Well” as per Hiut Denim (https://hiutdenim.co.uk/pages/our-story), always falling on the wrong side of the concept. Having realised that making money with my camera was making me a worse photographer (for all the reasons you list and more) I took a step back from paid work. I’m hoping that picking up a day-job will help make photography all about the photos once more.
Author
Go figure. Make one thing. Isn’t it semi-incredible that working as a photographer can make you worse? I’ve seen this happen to so many, and I’ve had it happen to me. I worked as a photographer from 1993-1997. At the end of 1997, I looked at my work from that year and thought “This sucks, and it’s not even mine.” I was just fulfilling assignments which were often created by people who had ZERO idea what good photography was. So, I quit.
Content : photography = fiction : literature.
I guess I try to do two things, create images and try to write jackleg poetry to go with the image or images. Long term, I hope for a book length thing, meanwhile I put out a zine every so often for friends and family. Mostly it’s just entertainment for an old guy.
Chuck, your photography and writing and poetry are fantastic! I think they all inform one another. Hmm, that makes me think you’re not trying to do 3 things at once. It works in concert.
Author
That’s a good mix. And you’ve been doing it for some time, so you have learned what works and what makes you happy.
I do lots of things. But I only do one thing at a time. I am aghast at the lack of attention span my son has. He used to read books. What was once a pleasure is now a herculean task. But he sees me, doing my one thing at a time. Usually in complete silence. (I’ve never understood why somebody would watch TV while doing something creative. I mean, WTF?!) Sometimes I’ll catch him watching me weave and when I look up and lock eyes, I can see a tiny part of himself waving ‘help me!, help me!’. Someday he’ll catch on.
Otherwise, when I am on the socials (which I enjoy because I can connect with friends and fellow artists all over the world and I do mean connect, not drive by likes and/or comments and I’ve made real friends, some of whom I’ve met IRL) I can see a trend happening. An awakening. All is not lost. We’ve got a lot of work to do to reclaim our own damn minds but more and more people are waking up. That’s a good thing.
Author
Wow, quite a story about your son. I encounter quite a few adults who give me that same look. “I need help,” or “I want out,” but don’t think they can do it. And then they hear that I read and they reply, “Oh, I don’t have time to read.” If I had a dollar….
I read a book in 2022 called “Stolen Focus” by Johann Hari. I heard him on a podcast talking about it, so I immediately ordered the real, paper, hardbound version of his book. In it, he talks about 12 things that have affected our attention span over the last 100 years or so – social media being just one of them. Diet, fitness, sleep among many others.
While reading I realized to my dismay that I was so distracted I could hardly read two pages, before reaching for my phone or ipad. I did finish it, in about 4 months – and I used to easily read a book a week, sometimes many more, So I took a hiatus from social for a few months. Got back on it, immediately found myself in the same doom scroll, mindlessly wasting a couple hours. So I dumped it all for good, and haven’t missed a damn thing. Back to reading 35-50 books a year of all types, some of which Dan recommends here. And I’m calmer.
Oh, and I’m 60 years old, not some teen zombie.
I recommend this book, even gave a “book report” on it for a staff meeting in my work. To borrow a phrase, get it, read it.
Author
I know that book, and remember, the folks who built these apps built them to do what they did to you. They were built for physical addiction, which they have admitted many times over. And, they build them to make you think you are the ONLY one who isn’t being manipulated. It works. Half the people I know in the world no longer have their own thoughts.
I think the problem is money. Everyone wants to make money online, so they mimic what everyone else is doing. Better to have a reliable job and then in your free time hone your craft. Develop your passion, and with consistency, time, and learned refinement, maybe you’ll start creating something rare and valuable. Although what I’ve found is that the creative work I’m most impressed with rarely attracts online attention like the shock content and related piffle on social media. The cream used to rise to the top, but now I’m not so sure. It seems to be more a race to the bottom.
Author
I find the same thing to be true. The best work often isn’t made by a squeaky wheel type. The online world is about views. Niestat said it’s what he hates about YT. Copycats for views.
https://shifter.media/just-listen-new-york-bus-stop/
A polaroid and a soundbite. 2014.
I still admire this hybrid things which can’t be called content or photography either way.
It highly triggers my imagination.
Motion and sound doesn’t allow this for me.
Maybe that’s called content then?
Author
I can’t believe you posted that. I was JUST talking to the Blurb marketing folks about this very thing.
Yuval Noah Harari’s new book posits that societies struggle in part because good information (“truth”) struggles to compete with bad information (fiction, propaganda). He argues that truth is expensive, while fiction is cheap. Truth is complicated, nuanced, while fiction can be exceedingly simple. Truth is painful, while fiction comforts, anesthetizes.
The photographer doing great work will have to stare down each of the above disadvantages, while watching the relative ease of the path of “content” creation.
Author
I think that’s true. Truth takes time and money, and I’m not sure how many people want it any longer. Half the US clearly doesn’t want it.
I read your writings like dispatches from the Promised Land. I look forward to meeting you on that beautiful shore, one day. Thank you for offering glimmers of hope in the meantime.
Author
Glad you are finding something of value.