These days, everyone’s chasing algorithms like it’s The Hunger Games, posting reels with audio that sounds like a toaster crying in reverse. And why? So a robot can “boost your engagement”? It’s a waste of time (because it is). So let’s get something out of the way. This isn’t a “how to beat the algorithm” article, because trying to “beat” the algorithm is like trying to out-yell a jet engine with a kazoo. You’re not going to win. And frankly, that’s not the point.
The point is to stop letting marketing fatigue turn you into a diluted version of yourself, especially when it comes to your photography marketing strategy.
Because here’s the uncomfortable truth: it doesn’t matter how good you are if no one knows you exist. It doesn’t matter how clean your composition is or how rich your color profile looks if your Instagram captions sound like you copied them from a Canva template titled “Client Engagement Tips.” And it really doesn’t matter that your work is technically brilliant if your content strategy is just random acts of posting whenever you remember that you have a business to run.
The algorithm doesn’t care that you’re talented. It cares that you’re visible. And most of us (yes, very much including me) are busy trying to be both perfect and present, which means we end up being neither.
You’re Not Burnt Out From Creating, You’re Burnt Out From Performing
Most photographers aren’t struggling with creativity. We’re great at that—it’s why we’re all here doing what we’re doing. They’re struggling with content anxiety. You’re not dreading shooting. You’re dreading having to turn that shoot into seven reels, a carousel post, three behind-the-scenes stories, a blog post, an email blast, and a TikTok where you try to be relatable while also pushing your booking link.
This is what content culture has turned into: a game of never-ending visibility theater. And the problem isn’t just that it’s exhausting. The problem is that it’s distracting you from building an actual photography marketing strategy that works. One that brings in real leads. One that makes people remember you. One that turns browsers into bookings without making you want to scream into a pillow every time someone says, “You should post more consistently.”
If you’ve ever caught yourself scrolling your own feed wondering why nothing feels cohesive, or why all your posts sound like a different person wrote them, you’re not alone. That’s not your fault. That’s what happens when you try to be everything, everywhere, all the time, without a clear identity to anchor it.
Strategy Over Scramble: Why You Need a Plan That Feels Like You
The fastest way to burn out is to keep chasing a content strategy that doesn’t fit your personality, your work, or your bandwidth. If your idea of “marketing” is throwing another reel into the void with a trending audio clip and a caption that says “a little throwback for your Monday,” congratulations—you’ve officially entered survival posting mode. It’s not a strategy. It’s a reaction.
Let’s fix that.
A strong photography marketing strategy isn’t just about frequency. It’s about clarity. You need to know what you’re trying to say, who you’re saying it to, and what you want them to do about it. Every single piece of content should be filtered through that lens.
And no, this doesn’t mean you need to spend hours building a 90-day editorial calendar color-coded by post type and engagement metric. It just means you need to stop winging it. Whether you’re writing blog posts, planning your email list, or trying to figure out how to market photography without sounding like a used car ad, the real answer is: have something to say, and say it in a way that only you can.
Let your brand voice carry the weight. Let your visual style support it. Let your tone guide your content rhythm. That’s where your strategy starts.
Instagram Is Not a Job Title
It’s hard not to feel like Instagram is the central hub of everything. But if you’re spending more time editing reels than delivering galleries, we’ve got a problem.
Instagram is a tool. That’s it. It’s one part of a larger content strategy for photographers, and it should be used like that. Don’t make it your homepage. Don’t let it become the only place you share your work. And don’t chase validation from a platform that’s literally designed to reward inconsistency, bait tactics, and short attention spans.
A few real-world tips that won’t make you want to throw your phone into a lake:
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Post with a purpose, not out of panic. If you don’t know what the caption is saying or who it’s for, it’s not ready.
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Batch your content. One shoot can give you two weeks of posts if you plan it right. Use carousels. Chop up a behind-the-scenes moment. Repurpose.
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Use pinned posts to anchor your identity: your best work, your clearest message, your most important offer.
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Take breaks if you need to, but come back with intention.
You don’t need to be a full-time creator. You need to be a full-time professional. There’s a difference.
You’re Not Too Late. You’re Just Scattered.
One of the most common lies we tell ourselves as photographers is that we’ve “fallen behind.” We see someone else’s polished content machine and assume they’ve cracked the code while we’re still over here trying to figure out if it’s too late to post a shoot from last month.
But here’s the reality: you’re not behind. You’re just scattered.
The difference between people who feel confident in their content and people who don’t isn’t talent. It’s organization. It’s clarity. It’s having a real photography marketing strategy that acts like a compass instead of a hamster wheel.
If you’re not sure where to start, start small. Pick three content themes that actually reflect what you care about. One might be showcasing work. One might be talking about your process. One might be sharing tips for your audience. Rotate between those. Stay focused. Speak clearly. And when in doubt, default to being helpful over being trendy.
Because helpful content builds trust. Trendy content builds short-term dopamine.
Your Work Deserves to Be Seen. Don’t Let Confusion Bury It.
This isn’t about “playing the game” better. This is about opting out of the game entirely and choosing to market your work in a way that feels honest, intentional, and repeatable.
You didn’t become a photographer to spend your days reverse-engineering viral trends or writing hollow captions that say nothing. You started because you had something to say with your work. So say it.
Build a photography marketing strategy that doesn’t exhaust you. Create a content rhythm that supports your brain instead of draining it. Focus on clarity. Double down on consistency. And stop letting the algorithm gaslight you into thinking invisibility is your fault.
Your work is good. Now let’s make sure the right people actually see it, and know what to do when they do.
21 Comments
Your success is entirely based on how many followers you have. Talent wont even acknowledge your existence unless you have at LEAST 10k.
One issue that I believe is worth mentioning is one major issue that can harm a photographer's visibility, regardless of how much SEO they do or if they try to cheat the system. That is pushing self promotion so hard that it ruins the photos and discourages sharing.
For example, There are some that are so afraid of anyone ever looking at their photos without also going through a full ad, they they plaster images with obnoxious watermarks that become distracting, in addition to advertising too high, thus preventing people from sharing.
The photography industry has not caught on but other industries have caught on. For example, in art communities, people quickly realized that sharing a small image with a large watermark attached to a social media post where the text in the post is a full on ad for commission slots. Those images would get virtually no shares or reposts on platforms like X, as well as ones like reddit. The trend eventually shifted to avoiding obnoxious watermarks, and full on ads, and instead moved to posts which were more subtle in showing advertising the artist, while focusing more of a large art piece that leaves the viewer wanting more. Since reposting is easy, those images get shared far and wide, and subsequent profile views spike as well, and that leads to more commission slot purchases.
The ones that treat every image as an ad, ultimately end up getting ignored, and platforms that do AI based curation that can scan images as well, such as on X, will learn a viewer's interest and begin actively filtering out posts that contain disliked elements. For example, if you only like full art pieces on X and stroll past ones that contain obnoxious watermarks over the subject of the image, or the annoying blurring part of the image ant directing users to a patreon page, then the next time the feed gets a full back-end refresh, it will actively filter out those images, even if you follow the artist. It is at a point where if a photographer I like, does many posts, the feed will prioritize cute lynx and cheetah photos over others, because i really like the amazing cuteness of lynxes and cheetahs.
Anyway, a mindset of not wanting anyone to see quality work without payment first, drives users away, and further tainting things by only sharing a 480p image with with a galaxy sized watermark plastered over the image, means that the only people sharing/ reposting the social media entry, will be people who are friends with the photography, or bots that they pay to share it.
In a culture of heavy adblock use, the last thing people want is to repost a full on ad. Instead people interested in awesome photos, want to discover awesome photos and share those photos so that others can also see how awesome the photo is, and then dig through the photographer's or artist's profile for more of their content.
Follower count does not do much, unless those followers are actively engaging with the content in a genuine way. This is why people in the past who tried things like those gleam raffles where they get people to follow various social media accounts for a change to win something, also failed. They quickly realized that they gained followers that ended up making them look worse, because they would have tens of thousands of followers but only 20 views on a post.
What works more reliably is posting something that others would like to link to on various other communities, and those viewing the share attempt will not feel like you just sent them an ad.
In many discord servers, a popular tool is an automated bot that searches for an artist's complete portfolio, e.g.,if they post some art on X, and others on pixiv, and some older work on DA, or FA, it will find all of them and link it under a shared image, as when people see one great image, the desire is almost always to see more of the artist's work.
The best advertising is content that isn't trying to advertise. Instead it is just a good image which naturally leaves the user wanting more.
I agree with pretty much everything you said. I feel like social media today is the biggest drain on creative inspiration and motivation. At least back in the old days, you could post a great photo and have it actually get some traction if it was good, but the way the algorithms work today, unless you are pumping out "viral" content, your photos probably won't get any reach whatsoever.
I've spent 15 years amassing a following of a whole 2600 followers (woopity doo), but when I post, Instagram shows it to like 3 people. The only time my reach starts to expand is when I start going hard on posting a ton and playing the IG game, making everything about BTS and narrative. (If I don't post every day, my reach instantly falls to 0 until I start posting every day again. The problem is, the nature of my work is that posting every day just isn't possible, I can't create that much content with the work I do) The challenge I run into is that I don't want to be a performer; I want to be a photographer, but the worst thing I can do for my growth is focus on the quality of my work, while the best thing I can do is turn it into a performance treadmill that is exhausting. If you scroll down the feed of many of the top photographers, you will notice that often there are shockingly few posts of their work, and a crap ton of reels of them holding a camera.
I remember a while back I came across this one wildlife photographer who had a really high following, I couldn't find a single photo of any animals on her IG feed, it was ALL photos of her. "Hot girl with telephoto lens" was the entirety of her social media. The only way I knew she was a "wildlife photographer" was her bio at the top. Using that strategy, she is 1000x times bigger than I ever be.
The challenge is, your credibility is your following count these days, not your work. People first look at your following, and if it isn't big, then it doesn't matter what you can do. Following is social proof, and if you have no social proof, you are nothing. (not really, but at least in the eyes of the online world)
We live in a photographic world where the standards are higher than ever before and the competition is the fiercest, but worst of all, our entire existence revolves around an incentive structure trying to push us all into being performers, not photographers.
"I was just stubbornly me, and no one was ever going to change that. In everything I do, the typical path is the one that terrifies me. Normalcy is my Kryptonite. Some would say that I have a lust for making life difficult. In truth, I simply find joy in carving my own road, my way." ----- Your words, Ryan, about yourself.
Sounds like a totally different person than the one writing your comment here about being manipulated and controlled by algorithms. If IG is such a waste of time and totally counter to your nature of independence, why even give it a thought? You really can't survive without an IG account? Why should you believe and be governed by the idea that "your credibility is your following count, not your work." That statement, in my opinion, is a trap. After all, followers are not necessarily buyers. Followers on the opposite side of the planet are definitely not customers for most of us mere mortal photographers.
You live in a big city. Aren't there numerous other networking avenues for promoting your work? Other traditional methods of sales and marketing perhaps? Think local. You have some distinctively creative portraits in your portfolio. Surely there are better ways of engaging with customers than prostituting yourself as a performer. Number #1 priority: Stay loyal to yourself. Without that, you are nothing. You said it yourself.
Well I'm NOT doing it, which is why my reach on social media is pitiful. Thats my whole point. I've experimented with it briefly to see if it would work, and I see an tiny uptick anytime I do, but it is simply not sustainable nor something I want to do so I specifically stop doing it. (hence the whole do things my way thing) . There was a time I had over 6000 followers, which still is nothing, but its a lot more than I have now. For the past 10 years or so, anytime I post, I lose followers, I don't gain them.
But that doesn't stop me from recognizing the fact that in the eyes of the general audience, I am a rounding error to 0. I'm nothing. And the social clout of having a small following means you are irrelevant in the eyes of the masses. The quality of the photography is not relevant.
I don't even have IG installed on my phone anymore. But I still post there because if I want to find models to work with, I have to have some sort of presence. Lets say I was to completely delete it. That would be the end of my work because it would be impossible for me to find people to collaborate with and I can't justify the cost of paying rates for pro models.
Finally, I wasn't speaking to it from the perspective of professional photographer, making sales, and making a living. I don't do that. My work is economically worthless. I don't make a penny off it. I do agree if I wanted to go become a full time "salesman" I might be able to go make a go of that, but I have zero desire to be a full time salesman so my work is purely hobby.
I recognize that while I enjoy what I do, and have a passion for creation that my pattern of work is not compatible with building a business. (And by pattern I mean just focus on photography, not sales marketing or performing)
Ryan wrote:
"The challenge is, your credibility is your following count these days, not your work. People first look at your following, and if it isn't big, then it doesn't matter what you can do. Following is social proof, and if you have no social proof, you are nothing."
I disagree.
If you look through the hunting and other wildlife magazines, and look at the photo credits (yes, those credits that you practically need a magnifying glass to ready) you will find that most of the photographers making sales to these publications - actually making money - have very small followings, and that some of them are not even on social media at all. Meanwhile, most of the wildlife photographers with the huge followings are hardly ever licensing their work to publications and advertising companies. They are just big on Instagram, but that doesn't result in any tangible benefit to them; no income comes from that.
The wildlife photographers with the most credibility among editors and ad agencies (the people who actually pay money for photos) are the ones who have consistently produced viable imagery for years and years. Those on the inside know who those photographers are, and most of them are NOT the ones with big Instagram followings.
In a genre other than wildlife, one of the more financially successful photographers I know does not even have an Instagram, Twitter, or Facebook account. He does not have a website. There is nowhere at all you can go online to see any of his work. He just doesn't care about that crap. And yet he is getting paid more for his photography than 90% of the full time photographers out there. He takes photos for a few large hospitals / health care corporations in his city. These corporations like to have quality images in their annual financial reports, as well as quality images for use in their advertisements like billboards, brochures, websites, etc. So they have used him for years and years, and it is a very lucrative endeavor for him; so much so that he will not take on any other clients.
So what you say about credibility coming only from a big social media following, I just think you are wrong.
The thing is, though, that being able to sell your photography at a commercial level often is less about your ability to create great images and more about your ability to sell. No I can't speak to the photographers you mention, and I am sure they are fine shooters but I don't think economic success has much correlation with whether you are a great photographer. I've seen far too many mediocre/crappy photographer make a healthy living while sensationally talented photographers struggle for years. The ability to sell at a commercial level is only credibility in your ability to sell.
Whenever I have heard the origin story of highly successful commercial shooters, the story is never about how they mastered their craft but rather, how they worked their asses off cold calling, selling, and marketing. Many of them are also great photographers but it was never the expertise in the craft that launches their career.
The reality is, if you meet someone new and say: "I'm a photographer", the first thing they are going to do is look you up on social media and if your following count is low, they will assume you are irrelevant. I'm not saying following makes you a good photographer or not good photographer, but in the public eye, it is your major source of credibility as one. Especially when the vast majority of the public has no ability to distinguish great photography from mediocre.
And moreover, there are a lot of commercial clients out there who do really care about photographer's social following. I have known multiple very good photographers who lost out on jobs because their following was too low.
I think the wildlife world is a really interesting one and one I've mulled over a lot. I think many of the old guard still do a lot of good business using traditional avenues, but I think its nearly impossible at this point for a newcomer to follow that path. Virtually every animal on the planet has been photographed in virtually all relevant conditions at this point so what commercial value does a wildlife photographer really bring to the table anymore? Especially as AI reaches the point of being able to generate accurate images of any species on earth. The only answer I can think of is: "The story of the experience". Its no longer about taking a great photo, its about how you tell the story of you taking a great photo and most importantly how that story connects to audiences.
I don't like it but as someone who purely shoots as a hobby, if I was to shut down all my socials tomorrow. My work might as well cease to exist. Moreover, my ability to find models to collaborate with would instantly go to 0 because I can't even contact most people without social media anymore.
Like it or not, social media is a huge part of the photographer's journey now and its only going to become more of one as time goes by as AI completely replaces us in commercial photography. The only thing a "human" photographer brings to the table is the story we tell and the audience we reach. Guys like Peter McKinnon will thrive long after all the old commercial photographers find themselves with no work anymore.
The article starts off promisingly, but then ends up following the same lines we have already written about several times here. Perhaps it would be appropriate to show a different way forward? Not a new one, but a different one, a professional one?
I keep asking myself why (professional) photographers are always portrayed as being at least photographers, advertising experts, and salespeople all rolled into one. If you really want to achieve professional and therefore commercial success, you have to focus on your profession. Everything else is a distraction. That's why the focus should be on how photographers can professionalize advertising and sales. As in any business, this requires professional partners – from advertising and sales. Of course, this involves costs. But these costs are an investment in my work as a photographer and not an expense. Freelance networks offer inexpensive alternatives that take care of the work that has nothing to do with professional photography. This prevents burnout on all levels and creates a lot of peace of mind.
Professional athletes don’t just play — they also train, promote, and build their careers. Photography works the same way.
If you want to stay focused purely on the act of taking pictures, become an in-house photographer. But if you choose to run a photography business, you also choose its rules: about 85% of your time will go into business, and only 15% into shooting. That’s not a flaw; it’s how every professional field operates.
This is precisely why most professional photographers are not as successful as they could be. To stick with the athlete analogy: an athlete who trains 15% of the time and does not train 85% of the time will never be as successful as an athlete who trains 100% of the time and leaves tasks that have nothing to do with training to those who are 100% knowledgeable about them. Instead of building a network of specialists for each task, many photographers believe they are universal geniuses who can do everything on their own. Well, good luck with that.
The problem with the 15-to-85 ratio is that photography, as a professional skill, is inherently simple — and therefore extremely competitive.
It doesn’t demand 100% of your time to master, but the market demands 100% of your attention to survive. The craft itself may be straightforward, but the context in which it exists is not. That’s why photographers who treat their work as a business often succeed not because they shoot better, but because they understand where their simplicity meets the complexity of the market.
I don't buy the 15-85 ratio principle. Not every professional operates that way. Instead, I uphold the idea that if it takes 20 phone calls to prospective customers to generate a fifth of the income that you desire, then you need to make 100 phone calls. Whether that takes 15% of your time or 85% of your time doesn't matter. I want as much production time making photographs as possible.
How can a phone call be relevant in the year 2025? Some things never change. People respond to other humans. So much of social media is misdirected toward prospects who will never need your services, and dehumanizing that it's too slimy for my tastes, but even if I did go that route, the same principle holds true... if 10,000 followers give me $30,000 a year in income and I want to double that, then I need to get 20,000 followers.
The market does not demand 100% of my attention... it merely demands whatever amount of attention I need to give it to generate my desired results. I found that in the prime of my printing business career, I could devote one day a week to selling and the rest of the time to production. While photography is not as complicated as nuclear physics, it takes constant education and hard work to excel at the craft. I can't imagine diminishing that part of my business to 15% of my time and becoming a highly skilled photographer... one who deserves relatively higher fees for their services.
To me, the number of hours spent with a camera doesn’t make anyone a better photographer. We grow when we think through every image, when we prepare it as a product — which is exactly what you’re describing. That’s business, where the act of shooting is just one part of a larger process. I spend as much time with a printer as I do with a camera, and that’s not about photographic skills. It’s what turns a photograph from an image into a fine art product.
"To me, the number of hours spent with a camera doesn’t make anyone a better photographer."
So how do you think people get better at photographing if not spending a good number of hours going out taking photographs? Yes editing is a part of it but if you don't have the skills to see and take potentially great photos then editing and printing are not going to make your photos any better. Taking photos is a part of the process but a very important part and yes, spending a lot of time taking photos does help you to get better at it. Spending hours with a printer does not. Put crap in and no amount of polishing (editing and printing) will turn that crap into a fine art print ready for display in a gallery.
“So how do you think people get better at photographing if not spending a good number of hours going out taking photographs?”
To me, the answer is obvious: to make better photographs, you have to think more about what and why you shoot. Practice matters, but I’m not looking for reflexes, I’m looking for awareness.
Decades of repetition don’t turn a lab technician into a Nobel laureate, and decades of shooting without reflection only increase the odds of getting more lucky shots, not better ones.
That path doesn’t seem particularly meaningful to me.
By the way, Alvin... I was experimenting this last week with the old Vaseline trick for soft focus results. Thought you might be interested as a companion for your ICM photography. The heavier you lay that stuff on (better on a UV filter than a lens itself), the more abstract the image becomes, to the point of vague colors and shapes. You can even apply it in streaks which simulate ICM. I preferred the lighter amount for just a hint of soft focus. I suspect there are digital alternatives but the analog approach was fun and effective.
That’s a great technique, and the result looks fascinating. I’ve been experimenting with something similar, though in my work I try to keep an eye on micro-detail, which is crucial for large-format prints. This approach serves a slightly different purpose, but the potential is huge and definitely worth exploring. Beautiful work.
"his is about opting out of the game entirely and choosing to market your work in a way that feels honest, intentional, and repeatable"
This all sounds so abstract and complicated...
The thought that ‘it doesn’t matter how good you are if no one knows you exist’ is so self defeating I expect you’ll never be satisfied with photography.
Speaking strictly as an amateur, photography is deeply personal to me. I couldn’t care less if no one ever sees my collection outside of my immediate circle, as everything I snap has a story behind it that isn’t always obvious.
You’re creating a scenario where you want to be famous without following the market demands to fulfill that requirement, what do you expect?
If you want to be famous, if you want millions of followers, then satisfy the demand of the market or create a new demand. Don't expect people to think you’re noteworthy just because you’ve convinced yourself you are something special.
Most of our pictures (mine more than most) are awful, like the guy with the greasy Vaseline smear picture; there’s a reason no one follows us.
My advice is stop chasing fame and make photography a hobby so that you can continue to enjoy it, because that’s what’s most important.
I'm the guy with the greasy Vaseline smear picture, and if I thought that nobody liked the work I do, I wouldn't bother to pick up a camera regardless of whether it's a hobby or profession. Even if I were the sole person on the planet who liked the picture, I wouldn't waste my time if I felt that my work was awful. Admitting such is surely an even greater self-defeating point of view. If snapping awful pictures for friends and family is fun and enjoyable for you, great, but don't confuse that with photography.
The point of the article appears to be made from the perspective of a professional photographer. In that respect, it does in deed matter whether anyone knows you exist. And it also matters how we choose to get our work in front of those who buy our pictures. It's called sales and marketing. But also to his point, I'm not interested in followers. It does not matter what the large majority of folks on social media think of my images. What matters is whether enough people on this planet every month get out a credit card and buy enough of my work to pay the bills. And, trust me, there's a significant audience in the interior design community that likes soft-focus images, just like they like abstract impressionist and color field paintings. If nobody is interested in my photography, it's not because the work is bad, it's because I'm not showing it in the right place.
While your parting advice is to keep photography a hobby, that may work fine for you, but I would rather work as a photographer any day of the week than set the alarm clock, fight commuter traffic, and work in a cubicle for someone else always telling me what to do. If that's not self-defeating, I don't know what is. Professional photography is not only enjoyable, it's freedom for me from the daily grind of stress and corporate expectations.
As a photographer specialized in pregnancy and newborn sessions, I deeply resonate with the message of this article. It’s so true that no matter how carefully we compose an image or how gentle and thoughtful our studio lighting is, all that effort counts for little if our work remains invisible. I’ve seen it many times — a beautiful newborn session, full of softness and emotion, that never finds the light of day because I postponed posting or struggled to find the “perfect” caption.
What struck me is the reminder that chasing algorithms or trying to “perform” for social media often drains the soul of what photography truly is. For me, photography is a quiet, intimate art — it’s about capturing a first breath, a tender caress, a fleeting eyelash that curls at dawn. When I post, I try to let that intimacy speak for itself, rather than forcing it into trendy formats or hollow reels.
I used to feel guilty when I wasn’t posting constantly, comparing myself to those who seem to flood feeds daily. But reading this article helped me realise there’s nothing wrong with creating slowly, meaningfully — and waiting until the moment feels genuine. In the end, consistency rooted in authenticity will always build deeper trust than chasing visibility for visibility’s sake.