Instagram has killed pictures. Is that this new app the reply?

Celebrated avenue photographer Alan Schaller believes Instagram is not serving most stills photographers. So slightly than complain, he’s created a brand new app.

Street taking pictures guru Alan Schaller has a gruelling schedule; he’s in Tokyo for the launch of three exhibitions of his work, a few photograph shoots… oh, and he’s nearly to launch a brand new photograph app Irys.

Schaller is thought and recognised for his putting avenue images, primarily shot in his signature gritty black-and-white model. The work has earned him a large on-line viewers and a busy exhibition calendar that might be the envy of many a photographer.

Schaller slowly migrated from a hobbyist avenue shooter to a full-time working professional. His massive on-line viewers performed an essential position on this transition, however he was not a day-one Instagram person.

He joined in 2015 as co-founder of the SPi collective (Street Photography International) with a view to showcasing avenue pictures expertise from world wide, and watched tens of 1000’s of submissions turned SPi into an enormous group account on Instagram boasting a powerful 1.7 million followers.

Built by photographers

‘I realised a lot of people do not want to be professional photographers,’ he says. ‘They want to be recognised, to feel seen, to engage.’ But when Instagram pivoted to short-form video, the context for nonetheless photos modified. ‘If you look at their [Meta] share price, they made the right call,’ he says.

‘But a lot of photographers felt their work had helped build the platform only for the platform to move on.’ Rather than complain, Schaller determined to construct his personal app.

‘I woke up one day and thought, I am upset with how things are panning out. Why should I expect them to change? They do not owe us anything.’ He continues, ‘I think it is time for a change. Time for something that is built by people from the photography world, for the photography world.’

Video pivot

Schaller’s path into tech started through the pandemic as Instagram’s video push accelerated. He had already proved that curation might open doorways when SPi turned a vacation spot for avenue work. He had additionally seen the standing nervousness that numbers can carry.

‘Numbers became a proxy for merit,’ he says. ‘I do not want to be selected because of a following. I want to be selected because the work stands up.’ So we designed Irys to decrease that strain. There are not any seen follower totals on profiles. You can see who follows whom, however the tally doesn’t sit above the work like a scoreboard.

‘When you go to a gallery, you do not ask how many people have seen the print today,’ he says with nice acuity. ‘You look at the picture.’

He additionally needs an area the place pictures means pictures. ‘We are building protections against AI content,’ he says. ‘We will not allow generative images. He adds, ‘ We are adding screenshot deterrence and controlled sharing so people can amplify work with permission.’ He is evident that the stance is sensible slightly than tribal. The purpose is to protect a photo-first tradition and to maintain photographers’ information and knowledge secure.

Being human

Moderation is tuned for an arts platform. ‘Fine-art nudity is allowed in context,’ he says. ‘Freedom of expression is important, but not when it breaches the terms. We have written policy and enforcement with proper legal advice.’ Then he provides the unromantic fact. ‘It is not like setting up a lemonade stall. You need GDPR compliance, security and real moderation.’

From launch, Irys helps high-resolution stills and preserves picture integrity. Free accounts get beneficiant uploads. The paid tier unlocks most file sizes, with a cap shifting towards 50 MB per picture. Curation is human. Editors and invited specialists spotlight work in themed alternatives, and customers can organise their very own photos into collections.

Group mentality

Groups sit on the coronary heart of the Irys group. ‘I have already started a street photography group,’ Schaller says. ‘We have added announcement boards so you can post, for example, a photowalk plan. Meet here. Bring a 35mm. That kind of thing.’ The level will not be solely to scroll. It is to satisfy and make work.

The roadmap is sensible. Shared collections so a number of photographers can contribute to at least one set. Private and password-protected collections for consumer proofing, with feedback and approvals in a single place. Private teams for commissions, workshops or model cohorts. ‘You can set up a workshop group and have people upload their results in high res,’ he says. ‘Leaders like Phil Penman are already doing this.’

Irys can be setting guidelines round id. ‘Brands will be verified,’ he says. ‘We will not let people use logos they do not own.’ He is equally frank about knowledge and advertisements. ‘We are not going to sell data and we are not going to serve third-party adverts,’ he says. ‘People have been through enough of that.’

Size issues

Funding issues. ‘You cannot attract partners or protect users without doing this properly,’ he says. ‘Hosting large files is far cheaper than a decade ago, but it still costs money. So does moderation, accessibility, privacy and legal. We have invested in that from day one.’

The first working construct went to a waitlist of roughly 20,000 folks, with a number of thousand early customers testing forward of launch. ‘We wanted to stabilise for hundreds of thousands of users before opening the doors,’ he says.

The option to help massive information isn’t just a matter of being purist – it units up plans round print fulfilment and publishing. ‘We plan one-button print ordering through approved partners,’ he says. ‘You will tag images as for sale, set sizes and prices, and the system will handle fulfilment.’

Schaller retains returning to the identical concept. ‘You do the photography,’ he says. ‘We will do the rest.’ If you need a feed that respects nonetheless photos, you will see that one right here. ‘A free account gets a lot,’ Schaller says. ‘High-quality uploads, collections, groups and unlimited viewing.’ The paid tier, about 5 kilos a month with an annual low cost, unlocks most file sizes and pro-leaning instruments. ‘We need a percentage of users to subscribe so we can pay for servers, support, moderation and the team,’ he says. ‘In return, you get no ads and no data sales.’

Collectives

The sensible beneficial properties are apparent. A photograph editor can browse curated work and focused teams slightly than trawling a generalist feed. A workshop chief can create a personal group, share briefs and collect ends in one place. A business consumer can approve a protected assortment as an alternative of juggling file-transfer hyperlinks that expire. ‘We are building targeted features because we are not trying to serve everyone,’ Schaller says. ‘We are building for people who love photography.’

Discovery is designed to favour high quality. ‘We are prioritising talent over numbers,’ he says. ‘Editors and brand partners tell us they want a more precise way to find photographers. We can give them that.’ The firm is already lining up partnerships with digital camera makers, cultural establishments, publishers and galleries to introduce the app to their audiences. ‘We will announce the first wave after launch,’ he says.

Growth will come by way of partnerships and tradition slightly than pure efficiency spend. ‘We are bringing the community we already have, but we are also working with brands and institutions who want to support photography in a more focused way,’ he says.

He can be constructing an ecosystem across the app: a print journal, a publishing arm, an company that centres the work slightly than the social attain, real-world exhibitions and occasions, and a basis to fund deserving tasks. ‘The industry does not need fixing,’ he says. ‘It needs support, and a place where it can thrive without the pressure of unrelated trends.’

Irys v Meta

All worthy objectives, however can Irys actually compete with Instagram/Meta? Schaller doesn’t hesitate. ‘I do not see us taking on Meta,’ he says. ‘We are complementary.’ The analogy is easy. Independent espresso doesn’t should be Starbucks to achieve success. It must be good and to serve the individuals who need it. ‘Meta builds for everyone,’ he says. ‘We are building for a specific culture. That means we can ignore trends that do not serve still photography and adopt features that do.’

The photograph world has been squeezed by contracting publishers and closed galleries, whilst extra folks take photos than ever. Film is again. Photobooks nonetheless matter. Brands of each variety depend on pictures.

The hole is a digital house that treats photos as photos, not as bait for a video feed. Irys will not be alone in making an attempt to shut that hole, however the mixture of a photography-first spec, funded engineering, clear governance and a founder with international attain is uncommon. Schaller doesn’t declare to have reinvented the wheel. ‘A social platform that shares photographs is not new,’ he says.

‘What is new is the intent and the focus. We are committed to photographers. We are not going to pivot away from them.’ If he delivers on that straightforward promise, a whole lot of photographers will breathe somewhat simpler each time they open the app.

Irys launched just lately (Oct 2025) on the App Store and Google Play. Early entry is now opening to all. Free membership is obtainable, with a subscription for added advantages. ‘The world has changed,’ Schaller says. ‘Photography has changed. It deserves a home that is built for it.’