Instagram Top 9 2024 - and another one...

One of the definitions of madness is to continually do the same thing and yet somehow expect different results.

As such, I think I must suffer from a brief moment of madness whenever I reach the end of the year and search the "Top 9" of my Instagram page -https://www.instagram.com/kimayresphotography/ - and expect my best photos to rise to the top.

Instead, because it is based purely on "likes", what happens every year is it is dominated by selfies and photos of my daughter, Meg.

As you can see, this year is no different. Apart from one of my Aurora photos, and a portrait I did of artist, Denise Zygadlo, all the others are selfies of some kind, or photos of Meg.

In fact the one of her in front of the shed with odd socks on was a repeated image from a few years back that I took for World Down's Syndrome Day.

I've long understood there's a reason it's called "social" media - and that a selfie with my daughter, father, or grandson, is a much easier, quicker "like" when people are scrolling at high speed through their feeds.

But it does always make me sigh inwardly that my actual hard grafted, meticulously composed and edited photos rarely get a look in.

This year I have added a 2nd Instagram feed to find a Top 9 for -https://www.instagram.com/kimayresphonepics/ - only it is not about crafted professional photos or trying to promote my business.

Instead it is full of images taken on my phone, usually when I'm out on my daily walk.

It might seem odd to some that, given I am a professional photographer, with a big professional camera, that I would take photos of bits of moss, reflections in puddles, or bits of rusty metal, on my phone.

However, the best way to think of it is like artists who do quick sketches, or musicians who play scales - it's a way of continually training and honing my eye.

Each time I try to make a dead leaf or a bit of peeling paint look interesting, I have to think about light, line, shape, form, camera angle, colour, composition etc.

None of these images will ever be sold, or win accolades but they will, in a very real sense, contribute towards those that might.

Back in April I did a bit of photography mentoring and, in an attempt to encourage the person to begin a journey of "how to look", I suggested they set up an Instagram page to help motivate them to post something each day (or at least a handful or times per week).

And as an extra layer of encouragement, I decided to join them by dusting off an old Instagram account I'd set up years back (and then abandoned) and do the same thing.

Although the mentoring only lasted a few weeks, I decided to continue with the exercise of regularly posting my phone pics.

What I'd learned was, there is a further layer to doing this - that of curating your work.

Previously I'd still been taking the phone photos when out for my walk, but now I had to select which - if any - were worthy of being posted.

And it changes how you view your photo if you are going to put it in the public arena - even if you only have a handful of followers.

So here, for the first time, is my "Top 9" from my phone pics Instagram page.

They are not necessarily the ones I would have chosen as my best, but they are the ones that achieved the most "likes".

And I find it more interesting, and definitely less predictable, when there are no selfies or pictures of my daughter.

Any thoughts or comments are welcome.

My next post will be my favourite photos from 2024, regardless of social media likes - stay tuned...