Daniel Milnor’s advice to think about getting off social media and concentrate on documentary projects and print has really resonated with me, so good bye Instagram, hello Blurb.
I can’t recall now how I came across Daniel Milnor. It was a YouTube interview I think and quite by chance but what he was saying struck a chord and over the last 3-4 days I’ve watched several more featuring him where, as a Blurb Ambassador, he talks about there being two distinct schools of photographers – those whose focus is online and primarily social media and those who aren’t anywhere to be seen on social media but instead use print.
In recent weeks I’ve got pretty tired of Instagram. On the positive side it has driven me to get out there and do more photography. I’ve tried to do daily postings and not draw from old stuff so productivity-wise that’s been good and I’ve also managed more blog postings here too. But I have been increasingly feeling what’s it all for? More landscapes, more street photos – yes, I hope the practise is seeing an improvement in my skills levels but where’s it all leading? Also there’s a great deal of repetition on Instagram and seeing urban shadowed silouettes (and cute dogs), one after another, was just getting a bit boring.
Plus I’d started my first documentary photography project – Kirkby Flying Club, so now I had more of a reason to take photographs and to look at print. We’d already decided that one of the outcomes of the project was going to be a local exhibition and I was going to get some prints done but now, looking at the options offered by Blurb, thoughts are of trade books and magazines.
I was surprised how inexpensive it is to self publish. Daniel Milnor is a great advocate and through his extensive (and entertaining) videos he takes you every step of the way, draws on his experiences of producing many books and magazines plus offers very handy advice on sequencing your images within a publication. Here’s an example of one of his videos:
Check out Daniel Milnor on YouTube and also his own website Shifter Media.
Meanwhile I’ve started my first trade book on Blurb about the Kirkby Flying Club and, as Daniel advises, because they are so cheap, I’m firstly making a draft copy and trying out what might/ might not work.
And I’m not missing Instagram one little jot. More documentary photography projects bubbling under too!