The Solely Motive I Hold Facebook Is To Watch Photographers Fight

I don’t like Facebook. It seems 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 Death Cab for Cutie lyrics. Or it digs up photographs from my first “portrait sessions” in 2009, when my mates graciously stood in entrance of my digicam so I might work out what aperture even meant. Every time I log in, it seems like an unwelcome nostalgia journey.

And but, I’ve not deleted it. There is one very particular purpose Facebook stays on my cellphone, and I feel plenty of different photographers are in the identical boat. I hold Facebook so I can watch photographers battle in Facebook teams.

Why Photography Facebook Group Fights Are So Addictive

I’m not pleased with this, however I’m additionally not alone. I’ve trade mates who ship me screenshots from the identical teams all of us lurk in. No context. No commentary. Just a wall of textual content and an eyeball emoji. It is our responsible pleasure.

Humans 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 a Facebook group thread for 15 straight minutes simply to look at an argument unfold.

And let’s be sincere: a heated remark part is our trade’s model of a coliseum.

Why Are Photographers Like This?

Photography is likely one of the few artistic fields the place “community over competition” appears to be extra of a slogan than a actuality. Painters hardly ever brawl in public boards over brushstroke method. Musicians don’t often get into remark wars about microphone placement. But photographers? We will argue about something.

An Insecurity within the Industry as Old because the Medium Itself

Some of this might probably be traced again to the early days of images, when the medium struggled for legitimacy as an artwork type. Traditional artists questioned whether or not it was even actual artwork, and that insecurity by no means absolutely left the tradition. Instead, it developed right into a type of generational chip on the shoulder.

Combine that with the truth that images is a ability with infinite approaches, and a consumer base that generally values tendencies over craft. With that, you could have a recipe for fixed disagreement. In a manner, the preventing is baked into the tradition.

The Anatomy of a Photographer Facebook Fight

Most of those fights begin innocently sufficient. Someone will submit a narrative a few tough consumer scenario, one the place it’s apparent the photographer is in the precise. The feedback roll in. Ninety p.c are supportive, sympathetic, and aligned with the unique poster.

Then it occurs.

One particular person decides to play Devil’s Advocate. They counsel the photographer ought to have completed one thing in a different way, or that the consumer possibly had some extent. That lone remark is the match that lights the powder keg.

Within minutes, replies begin stacking. The authentic poster defends themselves. The Devil’s Advocate digs in. Other members soar in to set the file straight. And immediately, we have now a 120-comment thread with a 20-v-1 pile-on towards one cussed commenter who refuses to again down.

Eventually, the thread spirals up to now that an admin steps in. Sometimes the submit will get locked. Other instances, the unique poster storms out of the group with a dramatic “I’m done here” exit remark. If we’re fortunate, somebody will get banned.

Why It’s Just So Hard to Look Away

The fact is, these fights are hardly ever groundbreaking. They are sometimes about contracts, copyright disputes, or consumer etiquette. And but, they’re irresistible to look at unfold. It is actuality TV in textual content type, with characters we half-recognize from earlier posts.

Part of the fascination is that we see ourselves in these conditions. We have all had tough shoppers, questionable interactions, or fellow photographers who appeared slightly too keen to supply unsolicited recommendation. Watching another person navigate the battle—and generally crash and burn within the course of—scratches a really human itch.

It’s Not All Bad in Photography Facebook Groups

For all of the drama, these teams may also be useful. Sometimes, 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.

But the fact is, most of us are there for the leisure. While Instagram is curated and polished, Facebook teams are uncooked. They present the unfiltered facet of our trade, for higher or worse.

So… What Are We Even Doing, Photographers?

Photographers, possibly we might tone it down slightly. Or possibly not. Because as a lot as we’d roll our eyes on the drama, we hold coming again for extra.

These threads are our water cooler moments. They are the place we collectively blow off steam, check our convictions, and generally waste an hour that might have been spent enhancing. But they’re additionally a weirdly unifying expertise. Even once we are arguing, we’re nonetheless, ultimately, in group with one another.

An Industry of Passionate (and Chaotic) Creatives

And possibly that’s the reason I nonetheless hold Facebook round for now. Not for the recollections it insists on resurfacing from 2009. Not for the enterprise networking. Certainly not for the algorithm. But for the chaotic, messy, usually ridiculous fights that remind me our trade is stuffed with passionate, opinionated, generally combative individuals who care sufficient about what they do to argue about it publicly.

I suppose it beats scrolling in silence.

Lead photo: NPS / Jacob W. Frank [Public Domain]