In an attempt to find a wider audience, I’ve been experimenting with Instagram this past year (more on this further down).

So tonight I posted this ‘oldie’ on Instagram:

With the following text:

My first 'memorable' image for me, of the Salar de Uyuni, Bolivia. 2009.

Taken more than a decade ago (phew, am I really saying that?), on my first venture to Bolivia, I got a private tour with a Bolivian friend in a Landcruiser. We camped for a night on Pescado Island in the middle of the salt flat (amazing experience), and on a rare cloudy day I shot this.

Originally a 6x7 transparency, I now prefer it as a square. It was an epiphany of sorts for me. A moment where I thought I was onto something, and now, looking back, I see it was showing me the next 10 years of my photography.

Fuji Velvia RVP50 film on a Mamiya 7II camera. I still use Velvia exclusively for all my landscape work (because I know it so well), but the Mamiya 7II's have been replaced in the last 8 years by Hasselblad because I find the square aspect ratio more contemporary.

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How do I feel about Instagram?

I am grateful for all the lovely comments people leave me. Thank you. For sure. It’s nice.

But on the negative side, I am finding that anyone who ‘finds’ me on Instagram, doesn’t investigate further. They don’t come to the website, and they don’t know much more about me. I just become a fleeting memory for most, as they scan past my images. Like Facebook (who own Instagram), they do not encourage visitors to go and explore other sites. For instance, I only have one tiny line at the top of my page to link back to my website and from what I have noticed - few click on this.

I have also been dismayed to find comments that more or less say this:

“I’m so glad you are on instagram, as it saves me from having to go to your website”.

I will leave you to decide what that suggests.