I’m back on Instagram

My off-again, on-again relationship with Instagram is on again. If you’re on Instagram, I hope you’ll follow me at instagram.com/mobilene.

It’s still all film photography. But this time I’m skipping the filters. Except for perhaps a little cropping to help bring subjects front and center, these images are unedited.

When I share a photo on Instagram it’s usually related to whatever I’m doing on this blog that day. But I try to show images that don’t appear here, so that if you follow me in both places you get something extra.

But I’ve learned through trial and error that an appealing blog photo doesn’t necessarily translate to Instagram. People interact so casually with Instagram, and the photos are so small. I find that big, obvious subjects and images with lots of contrast grab people as they quickly scroll by. At least as evidenced by which of my images get the most Likes.

Not that I get that many likes, really. It’s remarkable when any of my posts gets more than 50. I’ve never had one clear 100. Which brings up the whole tedious “what’s the point of social media” discussion, which I wish to avoid. Getting Likes is fun. It’s a quick dopamine hit.

What makes Instagram even more fun is the other film photographers I follow there, and how we interact with each others’ work. Old School Photo Lab, the lab I use most often, follows me and sometimes shares my work. (See their Instagram here.) Somehow I attracted the attention of a past president of Pentax, who follows me now; perhaps it’s all the work I’ve shared recently from my Spotmatic and my ME. (See his Instagram here.)

I fit Instagram in when I can, meaning that I share images when I have time and don’t worry about it when I don’t. I make time most days to scroll through and see what the people I follow are up to, though.

Will you be one of them? I hope you’ll follow me: instagram.com/mobilene. If you share your interesting work on Instagram, I’ll follow you back!

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Comments

15 responses to “I’m back on Instagram”

  1. Joshua Fast Avatar
    Joshua Fast

    I just gave you a follow. Mine is @nopixelartistry if you are ever interested. Instagram is fun. I am back from a long social media ban. I started using Instagram again a few months back and so far i’m enjoying it.

    1. Jim Grey Avatar

      Instagram is probably the most fun of all the social media I am on. I’m considering a long Facebook sabbatical – that has ceased to be fun.

      1. Joshua Fast Avatar
        Joshua Fast

        Completely agree. I use facebook for family picture sharing and Film Photo Gear classifieds. The rest of it is a worthless time sink.

  2. Susie Avatar

    I love the bite-sized views that Instagram enables. It is fun to see others get creative and I love the challenge of telling a story in just one picture. It is a nice compliment to a blog!

    1. Jim Grey Avatar

      Yes! What makes a compelling Instagram post has been fun to figure out.

  3. tbm3fan Avatar

    Looks like it only works with certain cell phones and definitely not a desktop computer. Oh well…

    1. Jim Grey Avatar

      Yes, while you can view Instagram on desktop, you can upload to it only from Android or iOS phones.

  4. SilverFox Avatar
    SilverFox

    Already following you Jim and noticed the recent increase in activity :) Instagram has it’s place, less so since they added the algorithm but I like to scroll through other photographers work it’s very inspiring to me.
    BTW I think there is a way to post via the web page; I can’t remember how but I’m sure I have read a few times on the web that it’s possible though maybe a little hacky. A quick Google may be useful.

    1. Jim Grey Avatar

      Yeah, posting there when I have a little spare time and something to link to on the blog. I keep hoping to get some more blog readers this way but so far I don’t think it has happened!

      1. SilverFox Avatar
        SilverFox

        That requires effort and clicking through; too much Instagramers :D

        1. Jim Grey Avatar

          So it seems!

  5. Jon Avatar
    Jon

    Hi Jim. Sometimes I regret my decision to abstain from social media. I hope you get lots of follows.

    1. Jim Grey Avatar

      I’m sure sometimes it leaves you feeling a little cut off. But believe me, the junk you have to slog through has become more prevalent than the personal connections that can be made and maintained.

  6. Sam Avatar

    Nice! Sometimes I wonder why I post on Instagram so I disappear for a long time. I have a love/hate affair with it. Instagram is a powerful medium to link to your site though. If I get back on full time, I’ll look you up!

    1. Jim Grey Avatar

      That’s how I am about Twitter! Can’t figure out what it does for me.

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