This is a rant.
It was caused by the umpteenth self-promotional, vertically shot from above video made toting a smartphone, in which, after the hideous opening — ‘hey guys’ — the main, and only, character promotes a personal achievement while pretending merely to ‘share a — God forbid — thought’.
I usually try to be factual in my writing, stating my case in a clear and concise manner, always focusing on the merits of an issue and never blaming a person or a category.
But.
My firm belief is that, when we join a community — musicians, sportsmen, writers and, of course, photographers — we must, must, not should, respect its ethos. This means, in particular, refraining from trivialising what lies at the core of that community: its values, its language, and also its different ways of doing things. This is why I — plainly and simply — dislike, from the depths of my heart, the flood of poorly taken photos and videos that have invaded the various content-sharing platforms available on the internet.
I am not talking about composition, exposure, sharpness, ‘the moment’ and so on — the rant is not about quality or lack of skill — because what unsettles me is the lack of sincerity.
Unless a photo is meant to be sold to a client, in which case it must be good, there are no good or bad photos out there. Each photo is a step in a personal journey, and all that matters is that what we shoot today is better than what we did yesterday and worse than what we will do tomorrow. But each photo, irrespective of its ‘value’, is an act of sincerity, and the act of sharing it means, in fact, sharing a part of oneself.
I cannot provide exact figures or statistically sound data, but it is my understanding that a large majority of the photo and video content — I cannot call them photographs and videos — made available online is simply sloppy: not as a deliberate way of breaking the rules and experimenting with something different, but merely sloppy and self-centred, because it reflects the insincere attitude of those who shot it.
Are these people part of the photographic community at large? One may rightly say that what they do is not ‘proper photography’ and that ‘real photographers’ are a different breed.
That attitude, however, reminds me of the contempt that the Greeks had for foreigners, whom they called ‘barbarians’ because they sounded as if they were stuttering when they spoke. ‘Barbarians’ may stutter but, as the late Roman Empire learned the hard way, they eventually won.
So, what should we do — if, in the first place, we are supposed to do anything?
I am afraid that there is nothing we can do, least of all simply stop giving a damn about these by-products of attention economy. We certainly cannot stop people from producing them, but at least we can try not to supporting them through views and click.
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Andrew on On Insincerity
Comment posted: 24/07/2026
But what I couldn’t get my head around was a younger millennial who spent the entire time posing and filming herself, presumably to go on YouTube or similar, and presumably to promote herself or some “offer”.
I admit to being tempted to tear her phone off her, chuck it over the side, and tell her to just live in the moment…..
All I can offer is that at the end of the day, it is those who do these vacuous things who ultimately will pay the price when they look back and see what they missed out on……
Comment posted: 24/07/2026
Alexandre Kreisman on On Insincerity
Comment posted: 24/07/2026
I believe this is a clash of generation and education. The newcomers are so used to have it all instantly that no they are not photographers. They shoot , make video on phone where they have access to a bunch of filters/modifiers/etc. and use that to gain attention, sometimes money. It's part of their life, just as having a camera on me is part of my life. And i guess for you too.
You are right to rant about it, it's something that bothers me a lot, but what can we do, apart from ignoring them. Earlier Iphone photographs did wonderful images, but nowadays, itt's just a click and a lot of filters, sometimes IA.
They are a community different than ours and of their own.
just my 2 cents
Cheers
Alex
Jeffery Luhn on On Insincerity
Comment posted: 24/07/2026
We live in a world where people don't talk face-to-face as they used to. When I walk around the college campus where I teach, I see groups of young people sitting near each other, but looking at their phones. I have critical thoughts about them, but later in the day when I eat lunch, I have a sandwich in one hand and my phone in the other. I'm doom scrolling. Let's face it: At least posting photos is a bit interactive. They are saying, "Look at me!"
When I have a free moment don't even do that.
Gary Smith on On Insincerity
Comment posted: 24/07/2026
AM> I am afraid that there is nothing we can do,
AM> at least we can try not to supporting them through views and click
Asked and answered!
David Mackay on On Insincerity
Comment posted: 24/07/2026
Whether someone accidentally takes a photo of themselves when navigating a smartphone or sets up a large format camera akin to Ansel Adams what unifies them is that they both took a photo. That is no community, no more than I belong to a community because I own an iPhone. We can find community though as we have here on 35mmc.
As you correctly stated there is no right or wrong way to take a photograph and therefore I believe there is no ethos. A camera is a tool and people use it for a variety of reasons, including as a way to communicate. You yourself take photos in part to write about your experience on this website, at its core is that really all that different from someone sharing a video or photo on a larger social media site for engagement? The form and motivation are different of course but at its core I don't think there is much difference beyond the intended audience.
JA on On Insincerity
Comment posted: 24/07/2026
Why would i care what other people choose to do in their own time. Unless it negatively impacts other where is the harm?
Or we could go online and write an overlong piece to tell everybody how superior we are
....
Comment posted: 24/07/2026
marco on On Insincerity
Comment posted: 24/07/2026
Waiting for the Barbarians, C. P. CAVAFY
Why isn’t anything going on in the senate?
Why are the senators sitting there without legislating?
Because the barbarians are coming today.
What’s the point of senators making laws now?
Once the barbarians are here, they’ll do the legislating.
…
Why this sudden bewilderment, this confusion?
(How serious people’s faces have become.)
Why are the streets and squares emptying so rapidly,
everyone going home lost in thought?
Because night has fallen and the barbarians haven't come.
And some of our men just in from the border say
there are no barbarians any longer.
Now what’s going to happen to us without barbarians?
Those people were a kind of solution.
Andrew on On Insincerity
Comment posted: 25/07/2026
Documentarian Adam Curtis said something to the effect of: the most radical thing one can do is walk from London to Beirut and not blog about it. I think he is on to something.
Russ Rosener on On Insincerity
Comment posted: 25/07/2026
Geoff Chaplin on On Insincerity
Comment posted: 25/07/2026
Leon Winnert on On Insincerity
Comment posted: 25/07/2026
Dan Delaney on On Insincerity
Comment posted: 25/07/2026
Comment posted: 25/07/2026
Comment posted: 25/07/2026
Bill Brown on On Insincerity
Comment posted: 25/07/2026
Derek Zhao on On Insincerity
Comment posted: 25/07/2026
Christopher Welch on On Insincerity
Comment posted: 26/07/2026
Keith A Yeo on On Insincerity
Comment posted: 30/07/2026
I'd like to believe that I believe in 'sincere' phototaking. It is an admirable notion that each photo is a piece of self, a journey; I admire you for believing that. Perhaps you (or we?) are in the minority. Amongst the photo-taking public, how many believe in that 'ethos' of photograph you (or we?) cherish?
As you says 'there are no good or bad photos out there', perhaps there is no right or wrong ethos about photography.
But I know I'd like to ascribe to your ethos and live up to it.
David on On Insincerity
Comment posted: 30/07/2026
How to respond when faced with people, often young people, smiling at their smartphone against a background which could be a tourist site or one if several alternative options we can all imagine after several years of image flows?
I can only speak for myself. By making or developing a different photographic practice which speaks to me, inspires me to try that little bit harder and part of that is a choice to ignore this rapidly aging trend.
Andrew Moore on On Insincerity
Comment posted: 02/08/2026
Michael Murray on On Insincerity
Comment posted: 03/08/2026