I do not like Facebook. It looks like a haunted time capsule that insists on reminding me who I was 14 years ago. It pops up with a post-up post-up-up of a lover-up-up of a deth cab for the cute song. Or it digs photos from my first “portrait session” in 2009, when my friends were politely standing in front of my camera so that I can find out what aperture meant. Every time I log in, it looks like an unwanted apathy.
And yet, I have not removed it. A very specific reason is that Facebook is made on my phone, and I think a lot of other photographers are in the same boat. I keep Facebook so that I can see photographers fighting in Facebook groups.
Why photography Facebook group quarrels are so addicted
I am not proud of this, but I am not alone. My industry is friends who send me screenshots from the same group that we all are lying. No reference. No comment. Just a wall of text and an eyeball emoji. This is our guilty happiness.
Humans have always been a attraction with the struggle. From Roman Gladiators to medieval doubles, modern UFC has always been an audience for competition. Even professional wrestling, with its scripted drama, draws a crowd. I am not buying pay-per-view fights, but I will scroll for 15 minutes through a Facebook group thread, just to see an argument.
And let’s be honest: A hot comment section is a collizium version of our industry.
Why are photographers like this?
Photography is one of the few creative areas where the “community on competition” seems to be more slogan than a reality. Painters are rarely disputed in public forums on brushstroke technology. Musicians usually do not comment about microphone placements. But photographer? We will argue about anything.
The industry has an insecurity as old as old
Some of it may potentially be detected in the early days of photography, when the medium struggled for validity as an art. Traditional artists questioned whether it was also real art, and this insecurity never left culture completely. Instead, it developed in a type of generational chip on the shoulder.
With the fact that photography is a skill with an infinite approach, and a customer is the base that sometimes gives importance to the trend on crafts. With this, you have a recipe for continuous disagreement. In a way, the fight is cooked into culture.
Anatomy of a photographer Facebook fight
Most of these quarrels begin innocently. A person will post a story about a difficult customer situation, where it is clear that the photographer is right. Comments roll in. Ninety percent of the assistant, sympathy and combine with the original poster.
Then this happens.
A person decides to play the role of Devils Advocate. They suggest that the photographer should have done something different, or that the customer had probably a point. This is the only comment that brightens the powder keg.
Within minutes, the answer starts stacking. The original poster defends itself. The Devils Dugs Advocate. Other members jump to the record to set straight. And suddenly, we have a 120-Comment Thread with 120-V-1 pile-on, against a stubborn commentator who refuses to return.
Eventually, the thread spiral steps inside a administrator. Sometimes the post is closed. Other times, the original poster hurricanes with a dramatic “I am here” out of the group. If we are lucky, someone gets restricted.
Why it’s so hard just to see far away
The truth is that these quarrels are rarely groundbreaking. They are often about contracts, copyright disputes or customer courtesy. And yet, they are unmistakable to see unfolded. This is reality TV in the form of lessons, with characters we are half -recognized from the previous post.
A part of the attraction is that we see ourselves in these situations. We all have difficult customers, suspicious conversations, or fellow photographers who were a little eager to give unwanted advice. Seeing someone else navigating the struggle – and sometimes crashes and burns in this process – a very human itching.
All this photography is not bad in Facebook groups
For all plays, these groups can also be helpful. Sometimes, logic reveals a really useful approach. A dissatisfied voice can give rise to a conversation that leads to better business practices or deep understanding. Every warm thread is not a waste of time.
But the reality is that most of us are for entertainment. While Instagram curate and polished, Facebook groups are raw. For better or worse, they show the unfiltered side of our industry.
So … what are we doing, photographer?
Photographer, perhaps we can do it slightly down. Or maybe not. Because the more we can roll our eyes in the drama, we keep coming back for more.
These threads are moments of our water coolers. They are where we collectively blow steam, test our beliefs, and sometimes ruin an hour that could have been spent in editing. But they are also a strangely integrated experience. Even when we are arguing, we are still in the community with each other, each other.
Emotional (and chaotic) an industry of creative
And perhaps this is why I still keep around Facebook. Not for memories that it emphasizes on revival from 2009. Not for business networking. Certainly not for the algorithm. But for chaotic, messy, often ridiculous quarrels that remind me that our industry is emotional, full of opinion, sometimes militant people who care about what they do to debate about it publicly.
I think it scrolls in silence.
