My Photo People List
What's happening with social media?
What a week!
I’m doing my best to stay calm despite the headlines, and I hope you are, too. Apologies for the second mention of Bluesky this week. If you’re not exploring Bluesky, please stick with me — I promise I’ll resume my regular program next week. Over the past few days, hundreds of photographers have created accounts there. How artists use digital media is a hobby horse of mine, and I’m thinking about it again today.
Something is happening with social media, and I don’t think we know where it will land. Too many photographers depend on Instagram as their portfolio, and many are becoming disillusioned with their experiences on Facebook, Instagram, and Threads. I often wonder if we’re entering a new phase of online life that could signal a return to blogging, newsletters, and investing in website portfolios over social media news feeds. I would love to hear your thoughts.
I do think apps and socials will continue. Still, I can't help but feel that folks are tired of the algorithms and the ads. Bluesky is reportedly getting a photo-sharing app, and Foto will launch publicly soon. The decentralized Web will continue to grow, and we may see new apps that leverage that framework. It feels like one era is ending, and another is beginning. Time will tell, and I suspect many of us may have acquired some new digital habits by this time next year. What do you think?
If you are testing the waters on Bluesky, connecting with fellow photo and art folks will be crucial for creating a meaningful experience. I'm organizing a list of Photo People to help you get started. Please share this link with your photo friends, and DM me on Bluesky if you want me to add you to the list. You can find me there @flakphoto.news.
One more thing…
This arrived the other day, and I can't wait to read it. Do you know about this book? Dona Ann McAdams' Black Box: A Photographic Memoir sounds right up my alley. Here's how Saint Lucy Books describes it:
A black box is a darkroom, a theatre, a camera obscura, and the device that records accidents after they happen. For fifty years photographer Dona Ann McAdams has walked around with her own black box — an analog Leica M2 — making unforgettable images of the happy, tragic, historic accidents of her times.
Black Box marries McAdams’ iconic images with her own short lyric texts. Together they form a tender, poetic portrait of a young female working-class artist, as well as an unapologetic history of the Queer Liberation Movement, the Culture Wars, and the Performance Art scene of the 1980s and 1990s. From her encounters with artist intellectuals such as Angela Davis, David Wojnarowicz, Maurice Sendak, and Meredith Monk to her humorous self portraits, Black Box is a book about photography itself as the keeper and framer of memory.
Doesn't that sound great?
I'll write some reactions when I've had time to absorb the book. In the meantime, follow Dona's feed. She's a wonderful imagemaker. Congrats, Dona!
That’s all for now. Have a great weekend, friends. Take care!
It’s just all so exhausting right now. Substack is a welcome reprieve. I can’t seem to motivate myself to try a new social media platform. My FB and Insta accounts still exist, but I’m not currently active on them.
A return to websites, blogs, forums would be really cool. Especially as artists it would be nice to share and view each other’s works in higher quality and dedicated spaces. It is fucking wild that for the past couple of years most work I’ve seen was on a screen thats smaller than my hand.