Ditch 'engagement' and start participating
A brief note on where I'm at with social media, email, and the opportunities that await us; plus some recent favorite film photographs
Social media has been deprioritizing photography for years, and so this year I’ll be making more of an effort to share photos here. And while Substack has become it’s own sort of social medium, my intention here has always been to use this platform to send emails.
In keeping to that, today I’m sharing some recent film favorites. I’ve shared most of them on Instagram, but I realized that it’s likely that many of you have not seen them there.
I value your attention here more than there, and it’s due time I start acting that way. It’s my opinion that the purest days of social media are over, and that that’s a good thing. The best parts of those days were the genuine connections made and followed through on, in-person. Connections that I still have to this day! And while that still occasionally happens, it’s on a smaller scale and moderated by algorithmic pressures. The circles of possibility have shrunk considerably.
So we have an opportunity now to get back to something even better and more true: connections that exist in a more analog world (I’m lumping the humble email into this category now).
This is your reminder then, in earnest and for posterity, to participate — reply to this email, or comment on the Substack post if that’s your thing. I genuinely look forward to hearing from you, and even more so if you’ve followed me or my work for some time. I know your names and it makes me happy to see them pop up when and where they do!
As always, thanks for being here. Thank you for subscribing to Miscellanea, my meandering newsletter and blog since 2016.
Film photographs from the latter half of 2024
NOTE
Some of your emails will cut this off before you can see all of the images. If you wanna see all of the photographs, please visit this post in your browser.
Yes! This feels exciting and worth the effort. I'm glad you're here. I'm reading it all.
I actually have never seen any of your photos on IG but it’s a blessing seeing them here, being able to sizing them up, rotating the screen, slow pace. Perfect.
What you said about social media resonates with my feeling so well.
Thank you for your writing.
Your happy new subscriber
Hanno