Instagram for photographers is dead. Here are some alternatives

I was scrolling through instagram the other day — as one does — when I realised, after scrolling for several minutes, that I hadn’t seen a single photograph from an actual photographer. Sure, there were a few still images, but they were either from celebrities, or part of news stories. The majority of what I was seeing was reels and ads. It seems Meta really, really wants to turn Instagram into TikTok. Unfortunately, it’s becoming the worst of both worlds.

So you’re probably thinking — well, it’s just an algorithm thing? You can still see your followers by using the “following” feed, right? Well, switching over to the “Following” feed wasn’t much better. It’s still mostly celebrities and videos. It seems that most photographers aren’t even bothering to post actual photography on instagram anymore. It’s certainly far fewer than I have seen in a long time. I’m guilty of this too. I still post there occasionally, but less and less so now. I mean, I was never a great Instagrammer to begin with — I don’t have the discipline for it — but now it just seems pointless.

To be honest, Instagram hasn’t been “for photographers” for a long time. It has always been more about lifestyle than photography. Even so, there have been quite a few photographers who found fame and success on the platform. There’s always been issues…