The Phoblographer

It’s good to see that Nikon is keeping the lens pipeline full, even if it is with some rather strange lenses.

We have seen Nikon pop up in news-related posts quite a bit here recently. There have been some good news and bad news articles. Today, we have another good news post for Nikon fans out there. While the company is busy going through a huge organizational restructure, Nikon is still busy designing lenses. New patents suggest that three new lenses are being worked on, and they’re a little weird (to say the least). After the break, we’ll look at these new lenses and talk about what we think Nikon is playing at.

Head on over to Hi-Low, and you’ll see the patents Nikon has recently filed. There are three new lenses designed for Full-Frame cameras. This is good and bad news. Nikon’s Full Frame cameras need some love, but so does the APS-C Nikon Z 50. (That camera seems to have been forgotten about.) Unfortunately, no new APS-C lenses appear to be in the works. The three new lenses are a 16-34mm f2.8 (34mm is not a typo), an 18-50mm f2.8-4, and a 16-50mm f4. One of these lenses is very odd for a few reasons. Let’s break things down a little further.

The Biggest Oddball – 16-34mm f2.8

So, what makes the Nikon 16-34mm f2.8 so odd. Well, the weird focal length on the long end of things. Sure, it’s just 1mm shy of what lenses like this normally offer, but still. It’s weird. I’d love to know why Nikon opted for 34mm instead of the more traditional 35mm. The other thing that makes this lens odd is that the Z mount is already loaded with lenses with similar focal ranges. The Z platform has already been graced with one of the best wide zooms around in the Z 14-24mm f2.8 S. There’s also the fantastic Z 14-30mm f4. Why Nikon feels that another lens in this category is important is strange. If it ever comes to market, I’m sure it will be great, like all other Z lenses, but I’m just not sure where it will fit in.

Two New Nikon Kit Lenses?

The two other lenses Nikon has filed patents for scream “kit lenses!” to me. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with this at all. In fact, the Z mount needs more affordable lenses. Above is the schematic for the variable aperture 18-50mm f2.8-4. This lens will be a great option to pair with the new Nikon Z 5. The entry-level Full Frame camera could use a kit lens with a slightly wider focal length on the short end. The variable aperture isn’t bad either. This lens reminds me of the Fujifilm 18-55 f2.8-4 R LM OIS that comes packaged with many Fujifilm cameras.

I feel the 16-50mm f4 will be another kit lens, although slightly more expensive than the variable aperture offering. Still, both of these offerings will make great lenses to start out with. Kit lenses are honestly pretty stellar these days. I have to say I am a little excited about these lenses. Sure, they won’t have the best optics ever, they won’t have the best builds ever, but they will be affordable. This will give many more photographers a chance to jump into the Nikon Z mount system without destroying themselves financially. What do you think about the patents Nikon has recently filed? Let us know in the comment section below.

With features designed to make astrophotography easy, these digital cameras should be no-brainers for Astro fans.

There are cameras out there designed to make specific genres of photography easy. There are cameras designed for wildlife, sports, portraiture, and more. Believe it or not, there are even cameras designed just for Astrophotography. Whether you like capturing the Milky Way, deep space objects, or star trails, these cameras will help you do it all with ease. If you’re ready to shoot the stars, check out these three incredible cameras.

All the cameras we’ve listed below are perfect for Astrophotography. You’ll be able to capture the gorgeous colors of a nebula. You’ll see the insane amount of stars in the Milky Way. You can even create star trails with ease. If you want to capture images of the night sky that will make jaws drop, check out these impressive cameras.

Canon EOS Ra

Brett Day – Gear Editor

“The Canon EOS Ra is a mighty fine camera. The build quality is fantastic, overall image quality is excellent, the camera is weather-sealed and has a wonderful LCD and EVF, and the images from the camera during daytime use are great too.”

Buy now: $2,499

Pentax K1 Mk II

Brett Day – Gear Editor.

“Another great feature that Astrophotographers will love is the Astrotracer technology. This technology works in conjunction with the built-in GPS to make sure you get beautiful star and Milky Way shots. The Astrotracer takes into account the earth’s rotation as you perform long exposures on the night sky. You can get 5-minute exposures using this feature.”

Buy now: $1,796.95

Pro Tip: Astrophotography is an incredibly rewarding genre. It’s quite staggering when you see the beauty in the night sky. There is a learning curve when it comes to astrophotography, but no fear. This guide will teach you everything you need to know so that you can capture the Milky Way and more. If you need to learn about camera settings, the 500 rule, how to manually focus, and more, grab a copy. Best of all, it’s very affordable.

Olympus OMD EM1 III

In our review, we said:

Chris Gampat – Editor In Chief

“The starry sky AF feature on the Olympus OMD EM1 III works in two different ways. There is an accuracy priority that makes focusing a bit slower. Additionally, there’s a faster option too. You should ideally just be using accuracy combined with Live Composite. Then, just hang out wherever you are with friends and have fun.”

Buy now: $1,599

These Mirrorless cameras are packed with tech that will help you create stunning images in no time at all.

Mirrorless cameras on the market today are capable of so many things thanks to the technology they pack. Many coming into Mirrorless cameras think that these handheld computers are more difficult to use than older DLSRs. However, that couldn’t be further from the truth. Advanced IBIS systems, cutting Edge autofocus, incredible ergonomics, and AI makes these cameras pain-free. After the break, we have rounded up three of our favorite user friendly Mirrorless cameras that will make your life a whole lot easier.

Canon EOS R6 – Incredible IBIS

Brett Day – Gear Editor

“The in-body image stabilization in the Canon EOS R6 is very impressive, and it makes using this camera incredibly easy, especially in low light situations. Canon’s IBIS systems work differently depending on the lens you use. Each lens gives varying degrees of stops, which can be as high as eight stops.”

A handheld 6-second exposure made with the Canon EOS R6 and the RF 15-35mm F2.8L IS USM.

Buy now: $2,499

Pro Tip: These user friendly Mirrorless cameras are easy to use. You want to make sure they stay that way. Look, the gear we use gets dirty. Fingerprints, dirt, dust, and other debris can stop your camera from working properly. Make sure you keep a camera cleaning kit with you at all times. This affordable option has everything you need. Grab one and keep it in your camera bag so you can clean it no matter where you are.

Panasonic S5 – Great Ergonomics

“Their camera is very simple to use. The Panasonic S5 has everything a photographer would want, like a joystick, all the necessary buttons, etc. The only problem I had was sending a bunch of files to my phone through the Panasonic app. Again though, there isn’t much to complain about otherwise. That’s important for anyone considering the system. If you’re stepping up from Micro Four Thirds, then you’re really getting a treat with an even better camera and the same interface you’ve worked with for a long time.”

Buy now: $1,997.99

Sony a7r IV – Advanced Autofocus

In our review, we said:

“When it comes to autofocus, Sony has been leading the industry in terms of both speed and accuracy for some time. Sony baked its latest and greatest AF technologies into the A7R IV. The autofocus performance on the A7R IV feels on par with what we’ve experienced on the Sony A9 running version 5.0 firmware. The Sony A7R IV sports 567 autofocus points, a 42% increase over the A7R III, covering 99.7% of the sensor vertically and 74% horizontally.”

Buy now: $2,998

What are the implications for our future when art becomes utterly transient and immaterial?

Recently, my wife shared a link with me; it was photography-related, so she thought it might interest me. Sure enough, I clicked—and was gobsmacked. This site certainly had everything to do with photography, but not at all in the way I had expected. The link produced a page that showed nothing but a portrait: a fairly tight headshot with an oddly blurred background, in fact. There was no caption, no text to give a name, or any kind of context. If I refreshed the page, another portrait would be served up almost instantly. Intrigued, I reloaded the page a few times and stared at perfect strangers. It did strike me that there was something odd about these images, but I couldn’t quite put my finger on it. Little did I know it was basically an AI photographer being used to produce the images.

“An unseen painting is pointless.”

The People in These Portraits Do Not Exist

Before I explain what troubled me about all this, please do me a favor and see for yourself.

The reason the good people in these images are perfect strangers, my wife explained, is that they do not exist. They are 100% fictitious—the portraits consist of visual fragments amalgamated by an algorithm from a massive database of images. In other words, the computer has invented these people. Let’s let that sink in for a moment. Still with me?

Great, because there’s more. Right after Valentine’s day 2019, The Verge reported an astonishing breakthrough in artificial intelligence—with a rather chilling caveat. The non-profit research company OpenAI had announced that “We’ve trained an unsupervised language model that can generate coherent paragraphs and perform rudimentary reading comprehension… — all without task-specific training.”

So far, so wonderful—but the key element here is “without task-specific training.”

The statement went on to note that “due to our concerns about malicious applications of the technology, we are not releasing the trained model.” You can find the full text here.

Now, before we go on, it’s worth noting that little more than 10 years ago, Wired magazine reflected in a piece on the tech behind George Orwell’s dystopian masterpiece 1984: “Even now, coherent English cannot easily be generated by even the most powerful computers, except as short pastiches.” It seems to me that things have come along a fair old way since then.

“As an artist, I must ask myself what role a creative person plays in a world where the artistic experience is merely a function of software?”

Can an AI Photographer Replace the Camera?

So, let’s consider what we have here—on the one hand, a piece of software that can create images of non-existent people. On the other, we have code that can write text without being given context or training. What do we get when we combine the two? A device that can invent people, complete with visual identity and backstory. If you think this might be a bit dodgy, you’d be right. The Verge article goes on to point out that “… the ability to manipulate and generate realistic imagery at scale is going to have a huge effect on how modern societies think about evidence and trust.” How’s that for an understatement?

This alarms me on two levels; on the one hand, as a simple, standard-issue human being, I wonder what the implications are if an algorithm’s creators are too afraid to release it because they are worried about what it might do. What happens when the genie is finally let out of the bottle, as it undoubtedly will be, one way or another?

Our Role vs the AI Photographer in the Imaging Making Process

As an artist, I must ask myself what role a creative person plays in a world where the artistic experience is merely a function of software? In other words, what are the implications for our future when art becomes utterly transient and immaterial, like a webpage that gets refreshed endlessly? Today, we can trace the evolution of art over a span of some 40,0...

The future of camera lenses sounds like something from a Sci-Fi movie.

Camera lenses are incredible. The amount of design and engineering that goes into them will blow your mind. All we see is the outer shell and the front and rear elements, but inside is a complex work of art. Tiny tolerances and margins for error ensure your lens delivers razor-sharp images. It’s really no wonder some camera lenses cost as much as they do. Now, though, a new lens that obtains focus via heat transfer generated by lasers is here. No, this isn’t some far-fetched idea from a movie; this lens is real, and it’s here now. After the break, we’ll talk about this and what it could mean for the future of photography.

An article on New Atlas talks about the new futuristic camera lenses that have been developed by MIT. The Materials Research Team at MIT has developed a meta-lens that can focus light quickly and accurately using a transparent phase-shifting material. Amazingly, this material doesn’t need to move at all. So, how does it work? The lens rearranges its atomic structure when it gets hit with a blast of heat. Crazy right? Well, it’s real, and it blows our minds.

How Do These Camera Lenses Work?

Magnified view of the meta-lens. Image Credit: MIT

The material uses a blend of germanium, antimony, and tellurium. According to MIT, the material is not too dissimilar to the stuff used in re-writeable CDs and DVDs. If you’re old enough to remember making your own CD mixes, I know, I feel ya; we’re old now. In CD applications, lasers would turn the material between transparent and opaque states. When researchers added selenium to the mix, they found that heat changed the atomic structure. This changed the materials refracting power without altering its transparency. Voila! A new way to make lenses focus was born. There’s more to the story here, obviously. Basically, the material has surfaces that refract and reflect light, and the heat changes these characteristics until focus is achieved. The team tested the lens on near and far objects. It worked well, and they discovered there was no aberration. It’s all really fascinating.

What Does This Mean for the Future of Photography

Fujifilm X-T4 with the 70-300mm f4-5.6

In the short term, nothing will change. So, don’t be expecting camera lenses that focus via internal laser beams any time soon. The researchers believe these lenses will first be used in thermal cameras, night vision goggles, and heat scopes. Still, long-term outlooks are promising. As the tech progresses and scales up, there’s no reason why we won’t see camera lenses that utilize this technology

Imagine how much smaller camera lenses could be. Gone will be the need for lenses with 12, 15, 20, or more elements. We won’t need to rely on focusing motors to push around large amounts of glass. Chromatic aberrations will be a thing of the past, and focusing would just be that much quicker. MIT said they can change the atomic state with micro pulses in the millisecond range. That’s incredible. The future is bright, my photography friends. What do you think about this new technology? Let us know in the comment section below.

This is totally different from most rangefinder lenses.

Rangefinder camera users have long lived with one big problem. Unfortunately, most lenses don’t focus closer than a meter away. But Leica’s latest lens is slapping that notion in the face. With the Leica 35mm f2 APO Summicron ASPH, you can focus under a meter. In fact, you can focus to 0.3 meters. The world’s longest name aside, this lens is truly something special. Granted, you won’t be able to do that effectively while looking through the rangefinder. But you’ll get a lens that makes your M system so much more useful.

Leica 35mm f2 APO Summicron ASPH Tech Specs

35mm focal length

Leica M mount

At the 0.7m focusing range, there’s the equivalent of a speed bump. It tells you if you’re going into the close focusing range or not.

10 elements in 5 groups

Close focusing range of 0.3 meters

4 aspherical elements

11 aperture blades

E39 filter thread

Screw-on Lens hood

40.9mm long, which is like 1.6 inches long without the lens hood.

320 grams in weight

Retails for $8,195

The Only 35mm Lens You Need?

We’re close to believing that the Leica 35mm f2 APO Summicron ASPH is really the only 35mm Leica M mount lens you need. Sure, the Leica 35mm f1.4 Summilux is gorgeous. But the Leica 35mm f2 APO Summicron ASPH is a ton more useful. First off, you’re going to get the sharpness that APO lenses deliver. Leica’s 35mm f2 Summicron’s have always been a favorite of many for their bokeh. Then consider the close focusing aspect. As a working journalist, there’s so much that’s possible. It can shoot better product images, and you can get closer to important details in a scene. You’ll go from shooting an environmental portrait to focusing closely in one specialized tool. And you can do that with a single lens.

Best yet, the Leica 35mm f2 APO Summicron ASPH is still a manual focus optic. This means that you’ll slow down and shoot fewer photos. Fewer photos mean less work later on. It also translates to you creating more in-camera and being a lot more specific about your framing.

Does the price seem a little high? Yes, but then we took a look at some of the special features.

11 aperture blades: that’s what Sony G Master lenses do.

Approximately 11.3-inch close focusing: that’s closer than Sigma’s 35mm f1.2 Art lens. (Sony’s G Master focuses a bit closer than Leica’s new lens.)

Around 1.6 inches long without the lens hood. Do you realize how small that is?

320 grams in weight without the lens hood. Sony’s G Master 35mm is 524 grams.

It’s still pricey at over eight grand, but you’re getting a fair amount of innovation here. Leica M lenses are designed to be weather resistant, but they don’t put actual weather-sealing gaskets into the lenses. There are horror stories of photographers and their Leicas surviving hell. I’m pretty confident this will too! I’ve personally taken my M6 and new Leica lenses into some crazy rains, and they survived.

Of course, the other thing is that you’ll need to use either the LCD screen or the Visioflex EVF. I’m personally okay with that. In fact, I’d be all for the future of Leica M cameras having hybrid viewfinders. It’s probably about time for that to happen.

Leica 35mm f2 APO Summicron ASPH Sample Images

The following images are from photographer Huw John and provided by Leica.

MANDATORY BYLINE – (C) HUW JOHN, Cardiff 17/10/2020NOT FOR USE OR PUBLICATIONNO PERMISSION IS GRANTED FOR USE OF IMAGE OR [email protected]: huwjohn_uk

MANDATORY BYLINE – (C) HUW JOHN, Cardiff 20/10/2020NOT FOR USE OR PUBLICATIONNO PERMISSION IS GRANTED FOR USE OF IMAGE OR [email protected]: huwjohn_uk

MANDATORY BYLINE – (C) HUW JOHN, Cardiff 15/10/2020NOT FOR USE OR PUBLICATIONNO PERMISSION IS GRANTED FOR USE OF IMAGE OR [email protected]: huwjohn_uk

MANDATORY BYLINE – (C) HUW JOHN, Cardiff 19/10/2020NOT FOR USE OR PUBLICATIONNO PERMISSION IS GRANTED FOR USE OF IMAGE...

Bad cameras haven’t existed for many years, but poor technique and a lack of knowledge prevails.

We hear statements like, “That camera from (insert company here) is terrible. I tried it, and I couldn’t get a good photo from it, and I’ve been using cameras for decades,” and “Those cameras are terrible in low light; they’re worthless,” all the time, but the fact is that there is no such thing as a bad camera. For over a decade, digital cameras have been capable of producing glorious images. Now, with improved sensor technology, advancements in autofocus systems, and even AI, cameras are more powerful than ever, yet they still get blamed for poor images. Let’s talk about this and why you need to take responsibility for your pictures.

At The Phoblographer, we have been reviewing cameras for close to eleven years–we can honestly say that no manufacturer out there is producing bad cameras. Sure, we may like some cameras better than others, but bad cameras simply don’t exist. We still hear people yelling from the rooftops that small sensor cameras are worthless. And we see people commenting on reviews of expensive gear who proclaim that they have used said camera, and they cannot make good images with it. Here’s the thing; in 2020, if you can’t create beautiful photos with any digital camera that has been released in the last ten years, the camera isn’t the problem. You are.

“If you keep putting technology ahead of technique you will continue to find ‘bad cameras.”

Time and time again, we hear cameras being blamed for poor images. The number of comments we receive that say high ISO performance of X cameras is terrible are too numerous to count. You know what? If you know how to read light, how to position yourself to use whatever light is available, how to use flash, or you understand how to leverage features in your camera like IBIS, you can make great images with any camera. Stop leaning on your camera as a crutch and learn how to play to its strengths. If you can’t do that, the camera isn’t bad, you are.

We also see comments about dynamic range, and how cameras are bad if they don’t offer at least X amount of stops of DR. If you don’t know how to bracket images, or if you don’t have a working knowledge of filters, like polarizers and ND filters, that’s not the fault of the camera. That’s your fault for not addressing your shortcomings as a photographer.

Brett Day – Gear Editor

“The camera you use is just a tool: nothing more, nothing less. And we can guarantee that going out and buying the most expensive camera on the market will not improve your images…”

Again, there are no bad cameras out there. Even the most affordable bodies with the smallest sensors can create beautiful images if you know how to get the most out of them. If you don’t, stepping up to a $4,000 camera will not help you. Even the ‘best’ cameras can struggle in many situations without input from the person using it. Am I saying that more feature-packed options aren’t worth it? No, of course not, but if you don’t understand the basics, and if you don’t know the fundamentals of photography, you will continue to struggle. If you keep putting technology ahead of technique, you will continue to find ‘bad cameras.’

Creating great images starts with you, not the camera you own. Your knowledge and your know-how are what matter. The camera you use is just a tool: nothing more, nothing less. And we can guarantee that going out and buying the most expensive camera on the market will not improve your images if you don’t know about the exposure triangle, composition, how to hold a camera correctly, lens choices, and so much more. Canon, Fujifilm, Nikon, Olympus, Panasonic, Pentax, and company don’t make bad cameras. The only thing that makes them look bad is you.

All images by Jayna Ho. Used with permission.

My name is Jayna Ho. I’m a self-educated photographer who creates abstract and impressionist images. For the last year or so, I’ve focused on using ICM (intentional camera movement) techniques as a means to explore creatively. I love that each image is a unique amalgamation of movement, light, and color.

I’m drawn to using my plants as subjects. Partly, it’s because I’ve been locked down in my apartment for the past year, and these are readily available to me. But they also are naturally full of colors, patterns, and textures. I also love a good excuse to buy flowers at the grocery store.

When I’m shooting, I am always trying to visualize how the movement and subject will interact. But it’s also an experiment in curiosity. To some degree, there’s always an element of surprise to this style of photography, which is part of the fun. I find it fascinating how motion interpolates light on the camera sensor as textures and gradients of color.

I shoot with a Panasonic GH4, and I currently have just one lens – a 25mm f1.7 prime. I use Lightroom for post-processing, although the majority of an image happens in camera. In edit, I’ll focus on highlighting the interplay of light and color using creative color balance, tone curve edits, and split toning. I have two spaces in my home where I work – one using natural light, and the other is a small area with two lights and a backdrop. Although I prefer using natural light, where I work is largely dependent on what time of day it is.

Why did you get into photography?

Photography is my creative outlet. As a medium, it challenges me both technically and artistically. It engages my curiosity, my mind, and my inner child. It’s something I could spend the rest of my life learning, and still not exhaust.

Which photographers are your biggest influences?

Julieanne Kost is someone whose photos have a great presence to them. I’ve certainly referenced her Lightroom tips more than once. I also interact with a great group of Instagram photographers who happen to take ICM photos, and I’m always amazed and inspired by the diversity of images they present.

How long have you been shooting?

I have been shooting for a couple of years now. I struggled at the beginning to identify my voice and style. My early shots had no sense of coherence as a body of work. Over time, I’ve come to understand my own stylistic preferences, and how to translate that into the images I’ve made.

Photographic identity

Photography has given me a sense of being able to question what is possible, and it engages my imagination. At the heart of me is a person who just loves learning, and I want my work to embrace that sentiment.

Gear

I shoot with a Panasonic GH4, my 25mm F1.7 prime lens, and a hand strap from Peak Design. I like the mirrorless, MFT form factor because of it’s lighter weight and smaller lenses. The hand strap is a great addition, as the camera is locked to my hand and reduces the likelihood that I’ll drop my camera while shooting with motion.

Natural/Artificial light

I have such a preference for natural light. It can be so fleeting, it really demands your immediate attention. However, as I am also a night owl, I also have a studio-style setup so I can work when I feel like it.

Why is photography important?

Photography gives me a place to embrace curiosity and a sense of play.

How does the gear help?

I wouldn’t necessarily argue that any of my gear is specifically needed for ICM photography. Any camera with manual settings would work.

What is going through your mind when you create images?

Creation is a two-step process to me. When I’m behind the camera, I tend to work in a stream of consciousness process – I easily lose track of time. I’ll try different angles to the subject, different camera motions, moving physically around the subject. I’ve found 1/10 sec to be my preferred shutter speed for the effects I want to create, and will adapt the other settings around the light ...

The Minuta Stereo is bringing 3D back to analog film photography!

Oh, man! Does anyone remember that Nishika 3D film camera? Well, there’s something new and exciting coming to Kickstarter. It’s called the Minuta Stereo camera. It’s a pinhole camera designed to do the kooky 3D photos that we’ve come to know and love. It would mean that you’re going to slow down, and that’s something majorly lacking from photography today.

Minuta Tech Specs

Load in 35mm or medium format film

0.025mm pinholes

You can use it as a normal 2D pinhole camera if you wish

Laser-cut

Water repellant

f140 aperture

20mm in panoramic

50mm in square format

Up to 24 shots in a square mode in 35mm film

8 shots in 35mm panoramic mode

6 shots on 120 film

333 grams

Interchangeable viewfinders

There’s a way to avoid keystoning

View your creations using the Emulsia Stereo system.

Making Analog Photography Fun Again

A few things are blowing my mind about the Minuta Stereo camera. For one, they made it water repellent. Some of the best times to shoot pinholes are when you’ve got crappy weather. On top of that, there are ways to correct for keystoning. Plus, in a single body, you can shoot 120 and 35mm film. And the aperture is only f140. It’s a very workable aperture where you could go out every day to shoot. How fantastic is that?

There’s always been something incredibly charming about the way European companies approach photography. Everything out there already is fun; don’t get me wrong. But, we need to continue down the path of excitement. And bringing stereoscopic photography back is a great way to do that. Mixing it with pinhole photography is also going to prove to be fun. But, there are loads of other cool things that can be done. Imagine this with CineStill 800T! Or what about souping your film beforehand? The possibilities are almost endless. If anything, I’d love to see how this works with double-exposed film.

3D photography hasn’t really caught on in digital photography. But in film photography, it’s sort of accepted more as being a cheap thrill. 3D Pinhole photography opens itself up to a lot of really cool things, though. Imagine all the things folks have done around Solarography. Now take that aspect of pinhole photography and make it 3D! You’d see the star trails popping out at you! You’d also see the sun’s path along the sky so differently.

But, let’s not even get that complicated. What about a simple pinhole of something like the Golden Gate Bridge? Load your camera up with the Acros 100 or T-Max 400, and you’ve got something you can stare at for a long time. As your eyes move through the entire scene, you’ll probably discover new things. Of course, this is totally a toy for photographers, but the results from the Emulsia 3D viewer can be inspiring.

I understand that lots of folks haven’t had the funds to experiment during the pandemic. But, the pandemic has also opened us up to try new things. Personally speaking, lots of those new things were digital. Lots of folks started turning their bathrooms into darkrooms for developing film. Others finally had time to try a brand new genre.

If you want to support this project, head on over to their Kickstarter.

All images by Charlie Naebeck. Used with permission.

I topped out at 187k followers on Instagram – I spent day and night constantly checking numbers, likes, comments, and often lost time that would have been better spent on things that actually matter. I once had dreams of becoming a popular photographer in New York City – A photographer called upon to photograph the who’s who of the fashion and commercial worlds. Enter a “real” photography career – people don’t really call you. You have to call them and often times hope to get through to someone that cares, let alone someone that actually hires you for what you are worth.

For the Exposure

They say that it is a good idea to put your work out there in as many places as possible – to post, share, or insta-book-chat-whatever. So I did just that. I even went as far as to hire a social media manager to run my accounts at one point to optimize posting to get maximum engagement. And for a while, it worked.

Did 187k followers actually help me in any way to obtain work? No! Did I get one single thing out of Instagram outside of becoming a digital rat hitting the feeder bar for self-gratification? No! Did the people who are in positions to hire see my work to get me hired? No!

On a positive note, from my experience with Instagram, I will say that it was very easy to find willing subjects willing to partake in my book projects – projects that I often lost money at instead of gaining in my career. Everyone always “likes” your work, but I found that most are not willing to financially invest into photography enough to make a proper living wage.

I also often struggled, wishing that I could see my friends in person instead of through a phone screen. There is a lack of personal connection that is taken away when you can only talk through chat, posts, or stories.

The Pandemic

In December 2019, I had planned on charting a course to teach a 20-city workshop tour. I was going to spend time with family for a couple months before hitting the road, and it was going to be my personal escape from hiding behind my phone to see a lot of my friends and followers in person. In March of 2020, just one month before my scheduled launch date, word of the pandemic hit.

At first, I changed how I interacted with Instagram. I thought I could post something fully authentic to inspire others through a hard time, as, one by one, every place around the globe seemed to go into lockdown. I launched weekly donation-based Instagram live workshops on several popular photography topics. And I got a handful of my students that joined regularly. But that in-person face-to-face connection you get when teaching an actual class in person was still severely lacking.

The Hungry Instagram Followers and Mental Health

A couple of months into the pandemic, I also realized that personal relationships with people I am close with had dwindled. Everyone seemed to be tired of seeing the same regurgitated images that I had posted prior from my archives, and my engagement severely dropped. I also think that everyone was simply tired of being on social media and hearing about pandemic things in some ways. But nonetheless, I was no longer getting the numbers that I once saw.

As a creative, I myself have also suffered from deep bouts of depression. Photography, in general, always has a way of bringing me back to life – It is my voice, my heart, and a language all on its own where I do not need to say words to express myself. I stumbled into a bout of depression, which felt like it was impossible to get out of.

I began to do other things like building a wood and metal shop from the ground up to make things. I camped in nature and learned survival skills. I started my own t-shirt line online. And I wrote lots of music.

During this time, I didn’t post much on my Instagram. It felt super discouraging with the engagement numbers that were coming in. So in October of 2020, after realizing that it felt like I was chasing popularity on Instagram in...