INSTAGRAM: It’s All About The Story 

Instagram is all about telling stories, and AZPA is part of this exciting and popular new media, which presents an opportunity to create and shape a narrative of the group and its photographer members.   

Why Instagram?

David Dupree of AZPA says sharing with others is what makes Instagram appealing to its users.  One of the world’s largest social media systems, Instagram counts 700 million users globally, which is remarkable for a social media format that was only formed in October 2010.    

A creative medium, Instagram lets users share all forms of art images, educational and other videos, and information of all categories, including some of the best moments of the day.  An estimated 32% of all Internet users are on Instagram. 

Instagram engages people who are seeking inspiration and new ideas in a more creative, less defensive place.  It’s a powerful vehicle for brand engagement; 10 times higher than Facebook, 54 times higher than Pinterest and 84 times higher than Twitter.  Instagram 

In 2018 Instagram saw the fastest user growth rate in its history, and it’s growing even faster during the Pandemic.  “Instagram is the platform to beat right now,” says David.  “People are there, the growth is there, the engagement is happening, and the creative and advertising tools are available to all.”  

How You Can Be Part of AZPA’s Instagram

David directs AZPA’s Instagram Account and generates activity on a visual platform that should have large appeal to AZPA members.  He’s created a Weekly Photographic Challenge, where members have an opportunity to show their work online.   

The process is easy:  Go to AZPA’s Instagram Account.  View the week’s photo challenge of a given photo subject.  Follow the instructions on tagging photos so they land on the AZPA platform.  Enter your work by posting the photo to the hashtag shown on the site.  Hashtag examples include #azpahome_mom, #azpacollection_wideangle and azpacollection_myarchive. 

The weekly theme began as a way for members to stay connected and active in photography during the pandemic, and to show their work on Instagram. 

The first seven weeks of the Challenge included subjects such as Soap, Outdoors, Family, Black & White, Motherhood, Wide Angle, and My Archive.  “Mother’s Day” was the photo challenge for the week of May 11, and AZPA reached international status when Kat Kozell, a woman based in India, had her photo posted on the AZPA Instagram site.   

David would like to see AZPA expand its membership, concentrate on supporting each other as photographers, and reach out to other groups doing fine art photography.  He hopes the AZPA Instagram Account will eventually have 1,000 followers, with the content promoting serious fine art photography.  

“I would like to involve statewide, national and international photography organizations, high school and college students, galleries, and all venues that feature photography, including collectors of photography. I believe working with other groups will allow us to broaden our horizons and attract additional followers.”     

How To Use Those Hashtags

David offered a brief tutorial on Instagram, which is basically a large data base.  When a user is searching on the Internet, the symbol # plus the keywords or description of the entity being searched forms a Hashtag, that brings up a data base with the names of related products and services.  For example, #inboundHour and #Chocolatelovers are both hashtags.  Some hashtags for photographers would be #landscapes, #portrait, #street photography, #B&W. 

You can put these hashtags anywhere in social media posts: in the beginning, at the end, or anywhere in between. 

Your image will show up on Instagram when they are associated with hashtags.  Your Instagram feed is everyone who is following you and who you are following.  The goal is to have your image show up on other feeds, so more people will know your work.   

David finds people who may be potential followers of AZPA by researching and searching out their images and checking their hashtags on Instagram.  That’s how he found photographer Kat Kozell, the woman from India who posted the Mother’s Day photo. (See Above Image)

David says that when tagging #Nikon or #Canon, there are probably hundreds of thousands of people using the same tag, so your image may get lost in the crowd.  He says it’s better to use a combination of large companies and small companies, where you can be picked up by users.  

Working Together

David mentioned we can benefit from the successes of other groups that share similar goals as AZPA by observing what they are doing, and possibly working with them.  AZPA has been doing workshops, book signings, studio tours, and members’ shows in the past year, and Board Member Richard Laugharn has done a fantastic job in setting these up.  

Our challenge is to drive more members to participate in the above cited activities. Social media is just one of several tools available to AZPA to expand the marketing reach to our members and the fine art photographic community at large. “It’s all about engagement and utilizing the efforts in an efficient manner,” says David.  “We are all volunteers with a passion for photography; as volunteers, we have only so many hours a month available to donate to the organization.   We need to be efficient.” 

What is the story we want to tell and share with others?

More About David Dupree

David’s early involvement with photography began in 1977 when he worked as a darkroom technician in Prescott.   He began the study of the Zone System and experimented with blending his own developers.  Most of his free time was devoted to fine art image making.  He registered for one class at Yavapai and his instructor was Gary Lewallen, who is currently a member of AZPA. 

Later in his career, he started a studio dedicated to reproducing artwork, performed darkroom services in black and white film and color transparencies, and expanded into commercial architectural photography.  He eventually started Parhelion Press, offering an online creative sourcebook for photographers and illustrators and eventually giclées to fine artists and interior designers.  His printing expanded to 9 full time employees, and 12 published artists under contract.   

David joined the “In Focus” group of Phoenix Art Museum, and later became a member of AZPA.  Through all the changes in his life, David says his passion for photography has been constant. 

Image Credit: © 2020 Kat Kozell