So I’ve been doing photography for about 6 years now, in the beginning I was just enjoying it, taking photos of everything. Then as I learned more I got happier and happier with my results and saw a lot of growth in my photography. Over the past few years however, I feel like I’ve plateaued. A lot of images that I make I don’t really seem to get a kick out of, my likes on Instagram (while never huge) seem to be going down and recently I’ve made a few prints of a photo I was really happy with which I’ve tried selling on Etsy, all of which remain to be unsold.
I think a factor in my head is that I just live in a boring place, I’m in a small town in the south of the UK, so going to lake district etc is usually out of the question. I have taken a few ventures down to the New Forest recently but I’ve yet to get my film scans back so hopefully they turn out good. I just feel like most places around me are so boring that it’s so hard to make images that wow people.
Does anyone from the UK have any advice on making good images when you’re far from any amazing scenery? Also any advice on growing my audience would be amazing, because as much as I love doing it for my own pleasure, I still want my work to be seen by more people.
Supply and demand. Photography is an art form that has very little demand for “artistic” works. Most people who want to buy things like prints, do so out of self interest… i.e. they commissioned a photographer to take pictures of themselves or something they care about. People, generally, arent just getting online and searching for high res prints of trees or lakes or parks or anything for the matter.
Reality is, photographs are a dime a million. People scroll by literally hundreds or even thousands of photographs daily on their IG or Facebook and dont even notice or give them a second thought. So who cares what other people think or how many likes you get? Truth is, nobody really cares.
Pictures of my kids I took in the yard get twice as much social media response as pictures of a grizzly bear I tracked for 2 days and waited hours to photograph. Or a herd of bison I drove a dozen hours just on the hope that id catch them during their migration. Nobody cares… out of the thousands upon thousands of people that had laid eyes on those shots, of which are some of my favorite… one person said “these are some of the best photos ive ever seen”. Again, not to be cynical, but nobody cares lol. A like doesnt constitute a good photograph anymore than the excessive cost a food at a 5 star resturant constitutes increased nutritional values. The two are unrelated.
The reality is, if pictures arent directly related to the viewer… then nobody cares about your pictures for more than a few seconds. Very rarely history have pictures surfaced that render a massive amout of people awestruck. Ansel Adams, arguably the most renowned photographers ever, and I cant accurately recall a single one of his puctures in my head right now. Very vaguely, yes. But the truth ive seen so many photographs of landscapes that they all just kind of blend together.
Ultimately, nobody truly cares about your photography even remotely close to how much you do. Nobody thinks about it, looks at it, wants it on their wall, etc… as much as you. People are motivated by their own self interests. So if you want people to hold your photography to a higher regard, youll have to start taking clients and doing paid photoshoots for people. If you just want to gain popularity for your hobby… then start s youtube channel and focus more on the lifestyle aspect of it.
Ive been a photographer for like 15 years, and now moreso than ever photographs are a dime a million. Most people (in developed countries) are walking around with an excellent camera in their pocket in their smart phone. Of which they can also use to share any photograph they take with all of their friends/family/followers in literally a few seconds after capturing it. Theyll snap a shot, having it uploaded in 30 seconds, hundreds or thousands of people will scroll by it within the next few hours, some liking it some not but all completely forgetting about it within a matter of mintues or less, and the cycle repeats. Thats is the reality of modern day photography. People generally dont care, and they almost always forget about it.
Take photographs and upload them because you love it. Screw what everyone else things about it or how many likes it gets.