Tuesday 2 May 2017

On authenticity online.

Yesterday morning I ate a cold, albeit very pretty looking breakfast after having spent about 15 minutes trying to snap the perfect picture of it, and I wasn't even satisfied with any of the ones I took yet I felt like I had to post one on Instagram because the colours fit my theme perfectly. So while I ate my cold and photogenic french toast I started thinking about the kind of photos I have been sharing lately. 

I have always envied the people who managed to have a very cohesive looking Instagram grid, and now that mine has lately started to look like that too  -all corals and pinks and light greens and beiges- I am starting to think if that is what I actually want. I know I am probably thinking too much about a silly social media - that's probably where the problem is. I think too much about it. I have always loved photography and I have always thought of my Instagram as a gallery of curated photos; I only post something if I'm completely in love with the picture. And I think that that sometimes leads to lack of authenticity.

I've been thinking about the bloggers and Instagrammers I truly enjoy following the most, and I realize that they all have a quality in common - authenticity. Amy, Amanda, Lulu just to name a few: I feel like their photos are glimpses into their actual lives, and that create a special connection between me and them. The photo of a french toast I posted yesterday doesn't say anything.

I have always felt like the only way I could 'succeed at Instagram' was by posting very polished, 'perfect'-looking photos and by having a curated grid. Now I realize I'm not enjoying it as much as I thought I would. I think my photos are all quite nice, but sometimes they have no meaning to them and I just took them because I thought they'd look nice on my feed. I don't think there's anything wrong with 'setting up' a photo and thinking about how you want your grid to look like, but I'm kind of tired of it now. Wow. Never thought I'd say that.

So I guess I will try and be a bit more spontaneous on my Instagram from now on, and see what happens. 

What about you? What kind of Instagrammer are you?

PS: I didn't have a photo for this post, so I grabbed my phone, stood up and photographed what I have in front of me right in this moment. Maybe a bit too spontaneous?

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