Into an emerging photographic notebook
from Tumblr to Substack
My name is Gary Sauer-Thompson and I live at Encounter Bay, on the Fleurieu Peninsula in South Australia. I have a website and some photographic projects —historical, ongoing and newish.
This initial post marks my shift from the blogs on the Posthaven and Tumbr publishing platform (which no one reads) and social media such as Instagram and Facebook to the Substack one. It is a shift without any expectations about the viability of Substack for photographers or subscribers for the newsletter.
Suprisingly, Substack doesn't have a dedicated category for photography. It is literary orientated While Substack is primarily a newsletter platform, I understand gtpm Google that it is becoming a popular alternative to traditional social media, such as Flickr, for photographers seeking to share their work with more intention and context. [
I presume that there will be an emerging photographic network. It will take me time to find the network—"Photostack"—- if there is one as distinct from individual photographers.
As I am slowly meandering down a small pathway beyond the dominant social media of Facebook and Instagram I used to be on Tumblr . Then its vibrant start was fueled by self-expression, but that social media hub with its 2014 indie grunge aesthetic has died. This pop culture aesthetic depicted the melancholy of everyday life, such as abandoned alleyways and distant cityscapes; and ignited a nostalgia that felt inborn, with photographs coated in black and white, grainy and overexposed filters reminiscent of Polaroids and old camera effects. In spite of its mutation since 2018’s ban on adult content/pornography Tumblr has become a ghost of what it once was.
I am not sure how this photographic notebook on Substack will evolve. Or how I will use this platform for my work. I am just going to see what happens.
My reason for walking this pathway is that it was just time to move on from, and say goodbye to, the commercialization and enshitification of social media’s (Facebook, TikTok) algorithms that had destroyed the mode of presentation on screens for photography’s networked image.
Cory Doctorow’s concept of enshitification describes how digital platforms decay, shifting from serving users to favoring advertisers and corporate clients before ultimately maximizing value for themselves. When you go to your feed on Instagram you see everything except what you want to see. There are adverts, there are reels (short videos) and things that the algorithm thinks you might be interested in. In all that you might find a post from a photographer you follow.
Substack looked to be the most promising alternative as it does foster meaningful conversations in the comments section, rather than chasing likes or dealing with addictive algorithms. It also allows me to incorporate different aspects of my photographic practice into one publishing platform.
I’m taking a punt on PhotoStack in the sense of finding a series of conversations within Substack’s photographic network—if I can find it.