I don’t like Fb. It looks like a haunted time capsule that insists on reminding me of who I used to be 14 years in the past. It pops up with posts like a close-up of a dandelion paired with Demise Cab for Cutie lyrics. Or it digs up pictures from my first “portrait periods” in 2009, when my associates graciously stood in entrance of my digital camera so I might work out what aperture even meant. Each time I log in, it looks like an unwelcome nostalgia journey.
And but, I’ve not deleted it. There’s one very particular purpose Fb stays on my telephone, and I feel lots of different photographers are in the identical boat. I maintain Fb so I can watch photographers combat in Fb teams.
Why Pictures Fb Group Fights Are So Addictive
I’m not pleased with this, however I’m additionally not alone. I’ve business associates who ship me screenshots from the identical teams all of us lurk in. No context. No commentary. Only a wall of textual content and an eyeball emoji. It’s our responsible pleasure.
People have at all times had a fascination with watching battle. From Roman gladiators to medieval duels to modern-day UFC, there has at all times been an viewers for competitors. Even skilled wrestling, with its scripted drama, attracts a crowd. I’m not shopping for pay-per-view fights, however I’ll scroll by way of a Fb group thread for 15 straight minutes simply to look at an argument unfold.
And let’s be trustworthy: a heated remark part is our business’s model of a coliseum.
Why Are Photographers Like This?
Pictures is without doubt one of the few inventive fields the place “group over competitors” appears to be extra of a slogan than a actuality. Painters not often brawl in public boards over brushstroke approach. Musicians don’t normally get into remark wars about microphone placement. However photographers? We’ll argue about something.
An Insecurity within the Trade as Previous because the Medium Itself
A few of this might probably be traced again to the early days of images, when the medium struggled for legitimacy as an artwork kind. Conventional artists questioned whether or not it was even actual artwork, and that insecurity by no means totally left the tradition. As an alternative, it developed right into a kind of generational chip on the shoulder.
Mix that with the truth that images is a ability with infinite approaches, and a consumer base that typically values tendencies over craft. With that, you may have a recipe for fixed disagreement. In a manner, the combating is baked into the tradition.
The Anatomy of a Photographer Fb Combat
Most of those fights begin innocently sufficient. Somebody will put up a narrative a few tough consumer state of affairs, one the place it’s apparent the photographer is in the fitting. The feedback roll in. Ninety % are supportive, sympathetic, and aligned with the unique poster.
Then it occurs.
One individual decides to play Satan’s Advocate. They counsel the photographer ought to have finished one thing in another way, or that the consumer possibly had a degree. That lone remark is the match that lights the powder keg.
Inside minutes, replies begin stacking. The unique poster defends themselves. The Satan’s Advocate digs in. Different members bounce in to set the file straight. And all of the sudden, we now have a 120-comment thread with a 20-v-1 pile-on in opposition to one cussed commenter who refuses to again down.
Ultimately, the thread spirals to date that an admin steps in. Generally the put up will get locked. Different occasions, the unique poster storms out of the group with a dramatic “I’m finished right here” exit remark. If we’re fortunate, somebody will get banned.
Why It is Simply So Arduous to Look Away
The reality is, these fights are not often groundbreaking. They’re usually about contracts, copyright disputes, or consumer etiquette. And but, they’re irresistible to look at unfold. It’s actuality TV in textual content kind, with characters we half-recognize from earlier posts.
A part of the fascination is that we see ourselves in these conditions. We now have all had tough purchasers, questionable interactions, or fellow photographers who appeared somewhat too keen to supply unsolicited recommendation. Watching another person navigate the battle—and typically crash and burn within the course of—scratches a really human itch.
It’s Not All Dangerous in Pictures Fb Teams
For all of the drama, these teams can be useful. Generally, arguments reveal genuinely helpful views. A dissenting voice can spark a dialog that results in higher enterprise practices or deeper understanding. Not each heated thread is a waste of time.
However the actuality is, most of us are there for the leisure. Whereas Instagram is curated and polished, Fb teams are uncooked. They present the unfiltered facet of our business, for higher or worse.
So… What Are We Even Doing, Photographers?
Photographers, possibly we might tone it down somewhat. Or possibly not. As a result of as a lot as we would roll our eyes on the drama, we maintain coming again for extra.
These threads are our water cooler moments. They’re the place we collectively blow off steam, check our convictions, and typically waste an hour that might have been spent modifying. However they’re additionally a weirdly unifying expertise. Even after we are arguing, we’re nonetheless, in a roundabout way, in group with one another.
An Trade of Passionate (and Chaotic) Creatives
And possibly that’s the reason I nonetheless maintain Fb round for now. Not for the recollections it insists on resurfacing from 2009. Not for the enterprise networking. Actually not for the algorithm. However for the chaotic, messy, usually ridiculous fights that remind me our business is filled with passionate, opinionated, typically combative individuals who care sufficient about what they do to argue about it publicly.
I suppose it beats scrolling in silence.
Lead picture: NPS / Jacob W. Frank [Public Domain]
