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Joseph Cowlishaw's avatar

That last image of the monk amidst the candles is fantastic; I love it for the art and the time it took to create with light. The mini figure is awesome too, not just because I love minifigures but it’s a monk! Anyhow, I digress.

The photoblog community that was destroyed by social media was all about the art and being a better photographer. I used to be a part of that community before it dissolved and dissipated to IG. When IG came out it was about the art; the realistic filters for photos designed by professional photographers to enhance even mundane photos and make them look more awesome.

I feel like as time went on more and more folks joined IG and the “photographic” community purely for extrinsic motivations. I, along with many other photographers were intrinsically motivated to shoot better photos. Intrinsically meaning inside; no need for external motivations like likes and shares and saves and clicks and comments. But when IG was purchased by FB it was apparent that FB wanted to push extrinsic motivators on to everyone because it made the platform more broad reaching outside of photography and the photoblog communities IG had replaced.

There are plenty of researched articles and journals on the subject of motivation. These studies found that most of the time when extrinsic motivators are introduced, it killed intrinsic motivation almost immediately. Like having my kids do the dishes because they love to be part of our family and help out around the house (intrinsic); yet when I pay them to do it (extrinsic), all of the sudden they put a monetary value on the action and decide it’s not worth it.

I feel there are many extrinsically motivated folks that come and go because IG was built on the foundation of Intrinsic motivation at its roots. I also think that’s why it’s so hard for photographers that are intrinsically motivated to see the platform de-evolve into something so basic as extrinsic motivation. But it’s a real thing and it is what it is. So I agree there that if it quacks like a duck and looks like a duck and flies like a duck then we should treat it and approach it like a duck. But I will still keep it intrinsic—because that’s what it is for me; I’m motivated to up my game because it’s fun and I enjoy the learning experience so thank you for writing this article. It’s true to form of the photoblogs of yesteryear.

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StarTrev's avatar

This is so interesting! Always wondered why the “figbarf” 🤣 photos do so well!

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