CENSORSHIP + SOCIAL MEDIA.
Today I tried to make a post on Instagram about how I was missing the Utah desert and was working on making plans to get back out there Summer 2024. I had a long post written out about what I wanted that to look like and the fact that I was excited at the chance to book more Empowerment Sessions in the desert and mountains again. It would be something to look forward to on those dreary Indiana Winter days. A little sunshine at the end of the tunnel, if you will.
Here’s where I went wrong. I was attaching these words to a beautiful, sun-kissed ass from a past session. A portrait that I love so much, from a session that is easily one of my all-time favorites. This image is one that my client has shared on her own Instagram account, along with many other images of mine from the session. I was immediately notified that I was going against community standards and could not post said image. Even though it lives on IG elsewhere and has for months. And here’s the thing: I had literally scrolled past several other more provocative and revealing images that had been posted by other photographers today and in the past week.
I’m not going to pretend to understand what prompts the bots to flag one account over another. I do not understand. But what I do understand is that, sadly, social media is still an important part of marketing for any business…especially a small business. And social media has not been serving me well this year. It has not allowed me to share my most powerful images with the masses. It has not allowed me to share what I need to share in order to reach those I can best connect with as a photographer. I know that there’s zero rhyme or reason to the nonsense…I mean, a friend of mine just got flagged and had a post removed…and the image was of her husband looking at her in her dress on their vow renewal day. Everyone was fully clothed (as you typically are when renewing vows) yet it “contained nudity or sexual content”. Make it make sense. It does not.
So. Moving forward, I’m putting my images exactly where they need to be: on my website. I will soon have a dedicated gallery to some of my more revealing Empowerment portraits, and I will be blogging them as well. Because fuck censorship of bodies, I’m over it.
I’m ready to keep celebrating ALL of the amazing, strong, beautiful humans. Won’t you join me?
“Pretty much the strongest, most badass, and rebellious thing that you can do is to love your body in this world that screams at you that you shouldn’t.
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