Fun while it lasted.
I haven’t been using Tumblr lately. It doesn’t mean I stopped making photographs. In fact, I’ve shot more in the last year than the three years when I was actively using Tumblr. I’ll explain why.
When I was in Hong Kong several months ago, I saw this photo I took on a T-shirt. I was on a train that was about to leave so I couldn’t get to the person wearing it. I will probably never find out the company who stole that photograph. There may be others I don’t even know of. Tumblr makes it so easy for people to steal photos because attribution can tampered with. People will think, “I’m not sure who owns this so I’ll use it anyway.”
I used to think Tumblr was democratic or algorithmic. Personal experience says it’s not. I’m not being a sourpuss but after having garnered close to half-a-million notes for my work, my blog or my photos have never been featured by the site. When I started, I took Tumblr seriously but the results were just abysmal.
I have seen radar features which start out at sub-800 notes. I’ve had a couple of my photos do a 2,000-3,000 note jump in a day or two but nothing happened. You may have to be a certain demographic and probably have to be in a certain geographic location for the internal editors to notice your work. We all know how powerful it is to get the radar shining on your blog.
Tumblr is extremely convoluted. It’s hard to make sense of except of course through Tumblr’s own editors. My Instagram has been featured externally at least 3 times already, even once on BuzzFeed. I started using IG about 2 years ago, at least 3 years after starting Tumblr. On my IG, I’d say about 1% of the people following me are influential in their fields. I can’t say the same for Tumblr, it might even be just a handful and they don’t use it as much anymore.
I am still thankful to outfits such as the Lensblr Network and LuxLit because they are trying to promote photographers worldwide. They’ve featured my photos several times and that was just encouraging. Still, Tumblr as a whole is now too saturated and not entirely focused on photography.
I may not get as many likes on IG as I do get notes on Tumblr (even to this day) but it is much more beneficial for influential people to see one’s work than to get a good public response. For me, virality as springboard is now inefficient and if you’re popular or well-connected to begin with or have huge marketing budgets behind you, you will be viral anyway.
One thing I also notice about IG is that it has trained me to be more true to what I want to express. I have become less sensitive to numbers and now simply focus on moving my personal vision forward.
Have you heard people refer to the Tumblr look? How is it beneficial if a photographer’s work is not unique or has no context?
It saddens me that the internet hasn’t totally broken down the geographical barriers just yet. I still feel really blessed to be a part of this generation because we can make friends worldwide with ease. Tumblr has been instrumental in helping me build and nurture relationships across borders and for that, I still am thankful for its existence.
Creators need platforms that nourish their desire for expression. I value being a creator and will continue being one, just not one that will be prominent here anymore.
