I bought a new camera a few months ago—my first "real" one. What I purchased was a gently used Fujifilm X-T5 with an 18-55mm Fujinon kit lens. I've been having a lot of fun with it and my followers on Instagram and Mastodon seem to like the photos I take with it.
The trick is, Mastodon doesn't really have a lot of reach and my Instagram account is private. As such, my photos of local spots and touring performers are going largely unseen by the people who might like them. A few weeks ago a person next to me at a Milk Carton Kids show asked if I would be posting the shots I took at the gig. I told her I would at some point, as my editing queue is rather long. [1] She pulled out her phone and asked for my Instagram. I tried not to be cold, but I think I disappointed her with my answer.
That got me thinking, I should probably have a more accessible place for photos like that. I do post galleries on Pixelfed, but that suffers from the same visibility issues Mastodon does. I actually get really good engagement there and the strangers that comment are awesome, but fans of a California folk duo are not going to be looking there for photo memories of the gig they saw in Cleveland.
So I spun off a new Instagram account, using a handle I’d been sitting on for around a decade. jacobtender will remain private while jacob.tender will house my public photography posts. Through Instagram’s “collaboration” feature, I plan to continue posting all content on my primary account and “share” anything I think should be public with the secondary account.
You can follow the new account here.
The photo at the top of this post is local singer Tom Evanchuck, photographed by yours truly. He blew me away. You can find his music on Bandcamp.
I have a much longer post drafted on my journey towards a suitable workflow and all of the stresses that come with that. ↩︎