How To: Make It as a Photographer on Instagram

From starting photography in earnest in 2014, MPB resident photographer Ian @ihoworth has just published his first monograph, Arcadia. Publications including The Guardian and The New York Times have written features about him, so it’s fair to say he’s ‘made it’ as a photographer. Ian is one of a new breed who has taken the contemporary route of starting out on Instagram, then selling prints, and then getting published.

Ever wondered how you can get your work recognised and printed? Well, you could do it too. We asked Ian to share his advice and experience. Read on to find out more.

MPB: How did you first get into photography?

Ian: Well, I used to shoot a lot of video - both professionally and for my own artistic projects. But I became disillusioned with the medium, as the finished work would often be just a fraction of what I’d initially envisioned.

My first venture into photography was when a friend asked me to shoot a festival in Croatia. I really enjoyed the process, so it led on from there. I did some work in television with a specific show, which meant shooting in large and expensive houses in London. There, I’d often use my iPhone to take photos of interesting angles or lighting whilst working, anything that would catch my eye. These are the images I would upload to Instagram when I began posting in mid-2014.

MPB: How did you start building your following?

On Instagram, I’d spend time finding the right hashtags. Using these gave me some traction, allowing my account to grow - albeit very slowly. After a pretty gruelling year, an intense schedule with far too much travelling, I began to shoot with a bit more purpose. Using my Canon EOS 7D, I created some cinematic images in an attempt to understand light a bit better. I’d try and notice how my camera responded to different light conditions. I kept that camera for a good six years before trading it in for a Nikon D810.

Some of the first images I shot with the D810 were for a competition run by the Gregory Crewdson studio - and I won the competition. I’d say that the following leap in engagement was the first big change I noticed on my Instagram account. I think that set the tone for me, in terms of how I handled my account. So, I’d say entering the right competitions and finding the right hashtags is a pretty good place to start.

MPB: Setting goals for yourself is important. How did you work these out?

Ian: I’m not sure exactly when this happened, but I do remember seeing a post by someone I followed on Instagram. They were doing quite well for themselves. In their post, they said how grateful they were to photography, and how photography allowed them to travel, see the world and learn. Reading that post had a big effect on me. It was the first time I began to think about the possibility of a career in photography.

A lot of people with a creative endeavour think they couldn’t do it for a living. And I don’t blame them, it’s not easy. Having worked in video for a number of years, I realised that - although I was quite happy creating work for others - it was my personal work that was really important to me.

One goal was to never compromise my own photography. My day job should never leave me sapped of creativity, it should aid it. Working as resident photographer at MPB means I’m always thinking from a photographer’s point of view. It keeps me engaged and inspired.

I’ve always tried to be realistic and see where things take me. Plus, being a relatively late starter in photography, I knew I couldn’t waste too much time. Successfully curating my Instagram account was point one. Do it well, do it often. You never know where it might lead you, or who might see your images.

MPB: What’s the next step after getting big on Instagram?

Ian: Instagram is a wonderful platform overall. It has its problems and annoyances, but overall what it’s done for contemporary photography is great. People berate it sometimes as ‘cheap’, but there's actually a huge community of very well-engaged and serious photographers. Through sharing their work, we have easy access to some amazing images that we’d struggle to appreciate otherwise. As time goes on though, you wish for more. I still believe that printing is the best way to consume photography, so having my work exhibited was always the dream.

I’m lucky to have had a few exhibitions, but there’s always more, always a bigger audience. I do sell prints as well, so even though I don’t get to see them hanging up on a wall, it’s always nice to know that someone is willing to pay for your work and to appreciate it in the ‘right’ way.

MPB: What if you don’t like Instagram? How else can you get noticed?

These days, one of the best things about the photography world is that there are many ways to ‘make it’. The important thing is to think about what you want to get out of photography. Is it to pay the bills? Do you want to shoot for clients? As a way of facilitating your travel? There’s a lot to think about, and it all plays into how you go about promoting yourself down the line.

Get a website and be brutal when you edit down your best work. Enter competitions from reputable organisations in your field. Be brave, send digital portfolios to anyone who could further your photography career.

Also, although it rather contravenes the question, definitely get an Instagram account. Curate it like it’s your own personal museum. Don’t post any selfies or lifestyle shots, save those for your Instagram Stories. Your Feed should always reflect your work, not your private life. No one’s going to follow you for your bathroom mirror selfies.

MPB: Progression is quite important too. How has your work progressed?

Ian: Due to my background in video, I was immediately drawn to cinematic work - using good light play and space to create mood. In many ways, I still like this. But, as time goes on, I’ve become more interested in a body of work instead of the power of a single image. I’ll still try to shoot something that speaks to me visually from a single-image standpoint, but I feel myself progressing towards storytelling with images.

MPB: How important is having the right equipment?

Ian: I’ve generally always been happy with the gear I had. My Canon EOS 7D served me well, as did my Sigma 17-50mm f/2.8 before I decided to sell it. My Nikon D810 was good enough at the time, with good resolution and dynamic range. I now shoot a lot of my work on film, but that’s just because it’s what I’ve grown accustomed to over time. I’m a firm believer in the right tool for the job, and I do still use digital.

MPB: What was the breakthrough moment in terms of getting published?

Ian: When you get a book printed, it’s normally the artist who has to pay for most of the printing costs, which are substantial - almost £15,000/$19,000. It’s rare, but sometimes the publisher agrees to cover the costs instead. That’s what happened in my case.

Although, funnily enough, I wasn’t sure about it at the time. I didn’t feel my work was ready. By the summer of 2018, however, I was much more confident about going ahead with it. I then knew what images I needed, instead of just knowing I needed more.

MPB: Could you talk us through the printing process?

Just when you feel like you can get to the point of mastering the technical side of photography and your camera, then comes mastering digital manipulation and editing. If you’re a film shooter, it’s scanning or darkroom work. Printing is much the same in terms of the subtle nuances that make you become adept at something. Understanding the quality of the paper and what it can do to ‘bring out’ your images’, even down to the weight of it.

Then there’s the experience of the book itself. I envisioned that I wanted someone to be able to leaf through the book with one hand, while maybe sipping a coffee with the other. I didn’t want a book that looked great but was a pain to go through, or one that had images split by a spine - even if it meant displaying images smaller than I’d have liked.

This being my first book, there was an element of risk involved with how things would turn out. There’s a huge number of variables, like the paper and ink relationship, the subtle tonality of the images themselves, etc. The first step was to do a ‘scatter proof’, which is basically a sheet of paper in the exact size that will be printed on by the machine.

The key here is to fit as many of the images in the book into this one sheet to see if there are any issues. After that, you can make adjustments to images, or change the paper if it doesn't work and then do another scatter proof. Scatter proofs cost about £500/$635 per sheet, so we had to minimise how many we did.

After this, it’s printing time. I personally visited the printers and personally signed off every sheet as they came out. Once it's signed off, they then proceed to print the entire run for that sheet. Each sheet contains four images offset, but this can change depending on what the layout is.

Once this was done, which took about nine hours and a lot of waiting, I had to choose the foil for the gold lettering on the front cover. The technician suggested cutting out an A, for Arcadia, into the cover material and placing the foil behind it to see which my preference was.

The material for the cover was fabric, which we felt went well with the overall vibe of the image. After that, it's taking delivery and signing a limited amount of copies and then the hard work starts - chasing up contacts, marketing and really pushing your work in the hope that people will want to enjoy your photography away from the digital realm.

Thinking of upgrading? Don't wait to sell or trade your used kit.