Photographer Noah Fallis - The Blog

*Ding* Goes the phone. I look, and there are a bunch of likes. *Ding* a comment praising my skill. *Ding* 3 new followers. Nice. After a few hours, my little cellular friend starts to fade in it's adoration. It resumes it's duties as a cold pragmatic business tool. 67 Likes isn't bad but damnit, I want more praise. There are some of you who are reading this who mentally just scoffed at "Psh! Only 67?" This blog is for you. Social media and a following does add value to all of us who brand ourselves as visual makers, specifically Instagram. It may lure in sponsors who simply need you to snap a photo of yourself in a bikini they provide. Many of the models I've worked with in California are routinely offered such contracts, some have followings in the hundreds of thousands. Some even charge substantial amounts of money to do a selfie. Not a bad way to make a living. For those of us who aren't as genetically blessed, this isn't exactly an option. Despite looking pretty damn sweet in a bikini (speaking for myself of course). There are those of us who can take a decent photo. Occasionally we can post them and folks in the intertubes like them. That feels good, and there’s nothing wrong with that. The danger lies in the worth you assign to those likes. Your worth, as a photographer is firstly your happiness with your progress in your craft. An audience of aspiring photographers heaping praise on your genius is not a metric of success, unless you are monetizing those likes (and good on you if you are). The majority of the Insta-Famous are simply vacuums of vapid, pixelated hearts. This has become very apparent to me as a lowly (and indifferent, I haven’t had a facebook account in years) pleb in the social photo world. I asked a fellow photographer with a very substantial following "How does it help your business?" Her answer was shocking. "For the most part, it does shit for me. I land the occasional small gig." In my observation, her work hadn't changed that much since gaining a large following. She had found her audience and they loved everything she did, but financially all those tapping thumbs up had not equated to significant growth in her business. Nor had it challenged her to expand on her skills. I’m not sure I would if I had a thousand folks gleefully clapping for everything I shoot in a specific way.

Not evolving the photography business, is very, very dangerous. Having a large following feels good, and I too once wanted a dose of it. As an experiment at the encouragement of a social savvy friend of mine, I put up a series of models who I have shot for model tests. These are pro models, stunning, beautiful women that I tattooed with hashtags. I watched the ticker of followers climb. Damnit, he was right. I too could have a massive following. I devised a plan to commit to shooting tests every time I was in a major city with good modelling agencies. I became fixated on getting 1000 followers (I know, JUST a thousand) first then explode into the "Influencer" range of 10k+ followers. I did so for exactly 1 shoot and reversed my Instafame quest with a simple question, "Is this kind of photography aligned with my success?" The answer was no. Pretty girls (and guys) are easy to shoot, just like a kitten, or a sunset. They are auto wins. Auto wins are accessible, and do not create scarcity. Scarcity drives the market to make your services more desirable and therefore, worth more. Making photo fodder for a stadium of followers who cheer with emoticons, isn't helping you get better, it's simply making you feel better until the next fix. I believe that Instagram is yet another barrier (and there are many) to those who really want to make a living being a pro photographer. There are exceptions (guru's like Chase Jarvis) but if you are shooting anything with the motivation of collecting likes, you are stagnating where you could be. In some respects, Instagram is a Darwinistic trap that baits those who thrive on praise more than they do on creating for themselves. It's killing many talented photographers softly, smothered in adoring fans who didn't pay for the show. The challenge: If this is connecting, however painful, take a week long hiatus from posting to the Insta-Succubus. Shoot something you are really proud of that is a full 180 from your comfort zone. Then go totally old school, and post it to your website, where no-one can pat your back.