Slightly delusional, medicated and taking a trip on YouTube
January 3rd, 2026, the start of my photographic year. Sunny, bright, vibrant colours in the city of Glasgow. Me? Sluggish with the remnants of a two-week long cold, but inspired, to start the new year looking at the world in colour, new techniques and challenges to push me! YouTube conditioned with 5 ways to improve your photography, 10 ways to improve your composition, or how to master layers, get emotion into your shots, and three thing I wish I knew before growing my YouTube channel! Being physically unwell really screws you up when feeling slightly delusional, medicated and taking a trip on the world’s favourite internet video hosting platform. On the plus side and possibly still in a medicated state, the look back at 2025 in photographs videos of some creators gave me some reassurance that my work isn’t that bad!
Lurking in the shadows
The close of 2025 I posed a question to Instagram and Facebook followers, should I shoot more in colour for 2026. Why? Why even consult them? Have I fallen into the fantasy that IG and FB followers really care that much, have I invested too much of myself in fostering relationships via online platforms that my sense of reality is now in a way skewed. Did I ever think people looked at my social media pages and took an awful lot of notice, not really as I’m not that vain! I have invested in the community I have on Instagram therefore I have people with similar values, who use the platforms in a genuine way. As a wrote that previous sentence it prodded a feeling that remains inside, one that took a period of counselling to deal with not so long ago, in fact a period that lasted all of 2025 in my professional career, the lack of genuine people who display shared and agreed professional values, not just use them as buzzwords, and for me working through why I care so much that it affected me to the degree which it did! I digress, or do I? There has been much written and spoken in the photographic community of shared values, ethics, professional respect and more over 2025. The reality, most photographers, like me, are hobbyist. Nothing wrong with that, in fact one of the most significant bodies of work to come to photography in recent history is that of nanny and hobbyist Vivian Maier. But as hobbyists, do we need agreed/shared values, maybe if you are trying reportage and want to sell your soul to something worse than Meta. I feel it does matter in street photography, more from a humanistic perspective. A recent interaction brought back something we were taught in childhood, don’t dish it out if you can’t take it in return. Therefore, don’t post an image mocking people all be it in humour, but then when your post is responded to in a similar way take offence, followed by passive aggressive messages ending in ‘Pal’ and ‘mate’. We should end this with another old saying, treat people how you would like to be treated!
My photographic shopfront
What does this mean for me and my photography in 2026? I have and will continue to conduct myself in the way which I have, I will continue to send messages of support to other creatives letting them know they are seen, supported and appreciated. There is a community lurking in the abyss of social media, beyond the large accounts. A good way to test larger accounts out, try this, take time and formulate a message to them with something that takes a minimal amount of brain power to respond to and see what you get back, I’ll guess a tokenistic response for the majority! Do the same for smaller accounts and see the difference, the appreciation and time taken to engage with you in the absence of ego, an eagerness to talk about their work and photography in general. There is my answer, for me 2026 is setting boundaries just like in my professional career, doing my thing, my way, working away without the need to be noticed, working on the projects few people know I am working on. Returning to my website not to be noticed but to journal my progress and display my work in the way I want it to be seen. Some will say a website for a hobbyist is unnecessary, however, if it gives you the freedom away from media platforms and the toxicity that can accompany them, it is a price worth paying. If I am having to spend time seeking out the creatives, I chose to follow on social media because the algorithm overrides that and feeds me sh*te, then I may as well save those people and their websites in my favourites to look through now and then. I also need to spend less time on platforms and more time on intellectual and personal growth via other art forms.
Unlock my potential
In conclusion, 2026 will be on my terms. Just like the images in this post I will be working away in the shadows, enjoying the photographic process, figuring out what it is all about for me and not what an algorithm or online community want it to be! Will I shoot more colour in 2026, maybe, if it fits with what I am working on, for now my language remains predominantly in Black and White, that way I am shielded from what distracts!
Have a prosperous 2026, good health and lots of photographic luck!
Scott