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I put on several layers as it was only about 10 degrees out side. After driving forty minutes due north, I got out of the car I had piled two dogs into the hour before and leashed them up. I parked at the base of some snow-covered sand dunes that I thought would be a great workout to climb for both me and the pups. Upon reaching the top, unzipping my jacket and taking a seat in the sun, I took a steamy exhale and pulled out my phone. The springer spaniel in front of me panted, but in the way that dogs do where it looks like they’re smiling at you with the most honest intentions.
I really had no choice. I had to capture the moment. Between the lake, the lighting, and the overall picturesque scene, it would’ve been a travesty for this photo to go untaken.
The next day when I got back to work, I got a Gchat from a friend expressing that my Sunday had looked phenomenal. I concurred that, yes, it was indeed phenomenal before she shot back, “Did you just do that for the Instagram?”
I was fucking appalled. How dare she come at my neck like that? Who has the balls to come into my house, take my remote control, question what I’m watching, and just change the fucking station? Did I do it for the Instagram? Did I do it for the fucking Instagram? Of course, I didn’t. I did it because I wanted to get a fresh perspective on shit by way of soaking in the sounds of nature’s silence with a couple of man’s best friends.
I officially had a chip on my shoulder. I didn’t want people that I was just living my life through the lenses of Instagram. I didn’t want people to think my life was just a bunch of smoke and mirrors behind my intrinsic need for affirmation by way of likes.
But then, something happened. I had an epiphany of sorts. Did I, deep down, know that I would put myself in the middle of a picturesque scene in Northern Michigan that would automatically garner the attention of my Instagram followers? Was I inspired by the myriad of outdoorsman accounts that I followed in return? Was I… was I doing this for the Instagram?
Honestly? Maybe I was. Maybe I did know. Maybe I turned my lazy Sunday on the couch into a five-hour excursion with zero human contact that I’d die to return to when I’m getting cabin fever in the city. Maybe I would’ve otherwise fallen in and out of naps all day until the dread kicked in that I had to work that following Monday. Maybe I was becoming okay with people doing it for the Instagram.
We live in an Instagram-shaming society where girls and guys alike can’t even snap a quick selfie at a baseball game without two 65-year-old announcers making them into a viral sensation for being a part of a lost generation. But sure, we can all take a step back and criticize the actions of others. But what if it was acceptable to purely do things for the Instagram? What if we make it okay for these girls to hike Maroon Bells without being afraid of feeling basic for it? What if I do ask someone at a wedding to take my picture in front of the fireplace so my mom can smile at her phone knowing I’m crushing it?
What if we didn’t shame the girl in front of an exposed brick wall having her boyfriend take photos of her for her fashion blog? What if we were accepting of her being like every other girl who spends her Saturday morning laying in bed with her phone sitting in her outstretched arms texting, “Oh my god, I got so drunk last night”?
What if that group of guys never went on a one-night camping trip with their golden retrievers, and instead went to a bar where they downed a total of fifteen shots of Fireball only to get in a fight with an Uber driver?
What if the girl with a perfectly juxtaposed brunch photo of eggs benedict, coffee, and a newspaper that she didn’t read was actually a girl arguing with her boyfriend in her studio apartment because they, “never do anything fun anymore?”
Do you want to live in that world? Do you want to live in a world where someone can’t take group photos to document their vacations because they’re living in fear of people thinking they’re just doing it for the Instagram? Do you want to question yourself about posting a photo because you’re afraid people will think you’re trying too hard? Do you want to be forced into taking just one photo at the beach only to run the risk of it not turning out and having that moment fall away forever into your fleeting memory?
I didn’t think so. We need to end Instagram-shaming much in the same way we need to end childhood obesity. If both continue, complacency will take over and we’ll live in front of screens even more than we already do. And that’s not a world I want to live in.
And yeah, to answer your question, I did kind of take that hike for the Instagram. .
Image via Shutterstock
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Will
Will (Twitter / Instagram) is the host of The Sunday Scaries Podcast.
@willdefries
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I’ve lived a much more active and outdoors life because of Instagram. So if anything, it’s more benefited my mental health by spending more time outside being social.
I don’t care why or what motivates you to do things as long as you aren’t an asshole about it.
Well that escalated quickly…
Will I completely agree. I’m not going to lie, Instagram has created so many opportunities I thought were never possible with photogrpahy purely just by sharing the things I like to photograph. Creative comapnies and brands now take Instagram more seriously than college experience. I know a number of ppl who have left their corporate office jobs because an agency or a brand liked their work on IG and now pay them to travel and take photos and they pay well to say the least. One of the dudes who’s huge in IG named Jason Peterson isn’t even a photographer, he’s the CCO of Havas worldwide in Chicago and he hires directly from IG, he won’t even look at resumes (for the record, he helped create The Most Interesting Man In The World campaign). Shits so different now and kids now have options that might even allow them to skip going to college. So when people say “do it for the gram”, I say fuck yeah why not if you’re trying to get somewhere with it. Great photo btw.
You know, maybe we should take a step back and reassess things.
I’m only speaking off what I know/experienced so far.
Judging from the overall optimistic view of this post, I’m going to assume you’re new here. But don’t worry corporate America will slowly bleed you of that and you’ll end up just like the rest of us who read this and go “Yeah I don’t believe that for a minute”.
You must be new here as well since you probably haven’t read my cynical and dark sarcastic columns that are lucky enough to get published on here. I only know about the photogrpahy thing since that is what I do and creative agencies and brands would now rather hire direct from some social platforms than hire a guy who’s gonna charge hundreds of thousands for a campaign shoot. There are kids now who work for these ad agencies and digital creative agencies who do campaign gigs on a freelance basis who make good money and don’t have to go to college. Am I saying that it’s stable and always gonna be lucrative? No, but i know that people Nike hires these ppl to do look books and coverage gigs that pay upwards of $10-20K that last a week to 10 days. It’s hard to line that shit up all the time but I’m keeping positive about it because it is another option.
Why the fuck would I want to skip going to college?
To not be in a fuck ton of debt?
Do you really think companies are looking for people with talent or connections for the purpose of social media? Think about that for a bit. They don’t give a shit if you can snap a Pulitzer Prize Photo. My one great example of this is Kim Kardashian. She made a sex tape with a very mediocre rapper and within five years she is extremely wealthy and far reaching. And if you think she has real talent, please enlighten me
She doesn’t have real talent at all but in order to see what im talking about follow people like Trashhand, 13thwitness, Swopes, LastSuspect on IG or take at least check out their pages on there. They are full time photographers now because if IG and they do work for brands like Nike, Adidas, High Snobiety, musical artists, Hypebeast, and collaborate with the ad agencies who have these brands as clients. All I’m saying is it’s a good avenue if you like photogrpahy and possibly want to get another job with it.
Each one of those people you mentioned has >250k followers. I think I know what you are trying to say though – It takes talent to garner that big of a following on IG to which I say no, look at my Kim K example. Companies pay these people cause these people have a huge following. If you like photography and you can get a shit ton of followers its a great avenue and I applaud people that can pull it off. But dont act like companies are putting the quality of the pictures you take above the amount of followers you have.
Oh for sure I agree totally, it’s def all about the following and now it’s way over saturated but these dudes started out with iPhones and then got one chance and they made it which is cool. A lot of these agencies now scan IG for quality work to then hire the ppl in house as staff photographers instead of paying them the freelance rates. It’s like everything else, it’s all about who you know but without IG, a lot of these opportunities didn’t come about to people who liked photogrpahy as a hobby.
The odds of someone making it big through social media are slim to none. That’s like saying if you follow LeBron James, Derek Jeter and Peyton Manning on Instagram and do the same workouts they do you too can make it professionally in sports. Plus these people who have made it big pay a shit ton for their camera equipment. $20,000 on a camera and some lenses < paying $20,000 for a solid education and unforgettable experiences.
For sure, I just use these guys as examples because they all started out with iPhones and then made shit happen for themselves because of IG. It’s def rare. Some of the kids I speak of know that college isn’t for them so photogrpahy has become their lives and that’s def expensive but if you can make the rates of some pros like they can, it might be worth it for a little while. But yeah, def agree with the college thing, I wouldn’t trade my experiences there for anything.
Fucking typos