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.
Instagram is dead. Since they replaced ‘recent posts’ with ‘top recent posts’ on hashtags your content will only be seen by your followers if you’re lucky. Unless of course you pay meta to promote your content.
It can be tough to stay inspired when you’re restricted to one location however, like any restriction, you can use it to force yourself to be more creative with what you do have. Try new styles, b&w, portraits, macro, abstract, long exposure, see your small town in a new way.
Find a local photography group. Discuss the craft and share your work with real people in a real room. I guarantee you’ll find that more fulfilling than a month of doom scrolling on insta.