What should we do with all the photos we take?

Yes, that’s me, taking a self-portrait in a dirty hubcap. And probably wondering what I’ll do with the photo. Maybe use it on Substack? (Photo: Author)

It goes without saying (but I’ll say it anyway): digital photographers produce a lot of photos.

I’m not an especially prolific photographer, but even I produce something like 10,000 images a year. Photographers who regularly shoot sports, birds or other fast-moving action probably produce double, triple or quadruple that number. It’s easy when all you have to do is push a button.

The question that always eats at me is, what do you do with all those photos? If you can sell them, great — you already have an answer. But if you can’t sell them, then what?

Turns out there are a lot of options:

• Social media

• Blog and Substack Photo Essays

• Zines

• Monographs and portfolios

• Photo collections

• Photo books

In this article, I’ll talk about each option and the direction(s) I’ve taken. You’ll note I am not including any ideas related to video, whether slideshows, YouTube videos, TikTok videos or Instagram reels. Those are definitely legitimate ways to present photos, but I’m going to stick to still photo presentations here.

The obvious choice: social media

First, and most obviously, you can share your photos on social media. There are lots of choices, the most popular being Instagram. Despite all the changes that platform has inflicted upon us over the years — and let’s not even talk about all the AI junk being uploaded there now — Instagram is still the most common place to post photos. I’ve taken some long breaks from Instagram, but always seem to come back, as that’s where people expect to find my photos.

The problem I have with Instagram (and other image-sharing social media platforms) is that the posts — if anyone sees them at all — feel disjointed. They lack context, they’re easy to skip past and the viewing experience is poor. A photo that could fill a wall shouldn’t be viewed on an iPhone screen. That’s like watching an IMAX movie on your watch.

And let’s face it: many photos just don’t stand on their own on social media. They are not what used to be called “bangers.” They’re not flashy, they’re not going to win any prizes. But they are important in telling the full story of an experience or of a place. They belong, but if they were posted on Instagram, they would be the last image in a carousel and not the image anyone would spend time with or press the like button for.

So if social media isn’t a good way to use your photos, what is?

Blog up the outside world

Blogging (or Substack, or both) is an option. In a blog post, there is plenty of room to show off your photos and to arrange them in a way that ensures their context is preserved. You can also add commentary about the photos, which helps in telling a complete story.

Blogs and Substack articles share a weakness with social media, however, in that when you create them, you have no idea how they will be viewed or on what device. A photo essay might look wonderful on your computer, but when someone views the post on a phone or with a poor Internet connection, your brilliant photo essay suddenly looks a little ill.

Making the zine

You can create zines, which seem to be enjoying a moment recently. A zine (short for fanzine or magazine, because who could possibly say such long words?) is a self-published collection of photos, other images and writing printed on inexpensive paper — sometimes even plain printer paper fastened with staples. Zine publishers trade zines, give them away and sometimes even sell them at zine fairs or online.

Zines are a great way to “do something” with photos. They’re inexpensive to produce, they allow you to display your photos with context and tell a larger story than you could by posting on social media. And zines have an underground, slightly grubby appeal that lends itself well to genres like street photography.

The key point with zines is that they are printed. Rather than producing simple e-books, which are usually consumed on a computer, tablet or phone, a zine is a physical product that can be held in your hands.

Zines don’t have to be lo-fi, either. Photographer Sean Tucker¹ produces an upscale version of the zine that he calls Parable Magazine. Each bi-annual issue of Parable Magazine includes photos and an essay on a theme of Tucker’s choosing and is available in either physical or digital form. (Tucker actually goes one step further and offers versions with him reading the words from each issue. A sort-of audio photo book.)

Monographs and portfolios

Another approach is what photographer and writer David DuChemin calls “first-glimpse monographs.”² Monographs are traditionally scholarly, written works that focus on a single subject. DuChemin borrowed this idea and applied it to photography. After every significant photo trip (the “single subject”), he releases an online publication featuring an array of first-cut photos. DuChemin’s monographs are simple: just a cover page, a short introduction and 30-40 pages of full-page photographs.

Other photographers produce works similar to DuChemin’s monographs. Husband and wife photographers Sarah Marino and Ron Coscorrosa regularly release what they call e-book portfolios. Like DuChemin’s monographs, these portfolios usually focus on a single topic and feature an introduction followed by 30-40 pages of photos.

So with all these options, which is the best way to go? Hard to say, and probably different for everyone.

I wrestled with this problem more than I would like to admit. I found myself drawn to DuChemin’s monographs and Marino and Coscorrosa’s e-book portfolios, but I wanted to take them in a slightly different direction. I wanted to include more explanatory text throughout the document to offer context for what the viewer was seeing. I wanted to mix up the page layout a bit, opting for full-page photos on some pages and arrangements of smaller photos on other pages. This would make my collections more difficult to produce, but the results would be worth it.

Shades of Red

The issue came to a head a few years ago when I spent three weeks in southern Utah. I found the area wonderfully scenic, with red-rock formations all around and Zion National Park not far from where we were staying. Predictably, I took a huge number of photos. And as always, I faced the big dilemma: what could I do with all these photos?

The answer was titled Shades of Red: Images of Southwest Utah, a 29-page e-book. The document included a cover page, an introduction letting readers know what the publication was all about, 41 photos and captions to explain the photos. I took care to reference locations only generally, because while I wanted to share what I had seen, I didn’t want to be part of the problem of overwhelming locations. (Not that I needed to worry. Almost no one, including friends and family, read Shades of Red. What does a guy have to do to get a little attention?)

My first e-book: Shades of Red. Created in hopes of keeping people from scrolling past my photos and moving onto cat videos.

I was also careful to stipulate that the photos in the collection represented my first cut at editing, and the photos might change over time as I considered them more carefully. That was prescient, because I have recut several of the images since publishing the collection.

Despite a tepid reaction from my “fans,” I was pleased with the results of my work. There is something gratifying about seeing a published book, even if it is just a self-published e-book. (Check it out here.)

A Week on the Water

A year or so later, I repeated the process. My second collection was titled A Week on the Water: A Collection of Photographs from British Columbia’s Cariboo Region. As the name suggests, this collection consisted of a variety of photos I took while camping and canoeing in B.C., along with captions describing the photos and locations. My second e-book grew to 37 pages and included 49 photographs.

A Week on the Water was my second e-book photo collection.

I was quite pleased with A Week on the Water. But once again, the response to my work was tepid. My wife and Mom loved it, but almost no one else read it. (Let’s change that! You can read it here.)

The Long Road North

Last year, I took things one step further. My wife and I had recently returned from a long road trip through British Columbia, the Yukon and Alaska. Over the six weeks of the trip, I had taken many, many photos and I faced, once again, the problem of what to do with all of them.

This time, the problem was a bit different. My previous two photo collections had consisted primarily of landscape and nature photos. Some of my photos from the Alaska trip were nature and landscape photos, but many others were what I’d classify as travel photos or even (perish the thought) vacation photos. How could I present these photos in a way that anyone would care? As much as people make warm noises and express admiration, no one really wants to be subjected to several hundred vacation photos. Particularly not on your phone’s camera roll. Even if, I’d like to think, my vacation photos were a step above the usual tourist fare.

The other difference was that while we travelled, I had written in a journal every morning. Some of what I wrote was simply transactional or pedestrian (“We slept well last night…”). But some of it was more interesting and, I thought, worth preserving and sharing.

The Long Road North, my first coffee table book. A lot of work, but there’s no feeling quite like holding a book you created with your own hands (and computer).

My answer was to create an actual, printed book that I titled The Long Road North: Stories and Photographs of an Epic, 8,000-Kilometre Road Trip Through British Columbia, The Yukon, and Alaska. If I had known how much work was involved in designing and printing a 270-page book and the cost of printing a short run of books, I might have fled screaming. But the project came out well, and after a few months of work, I proudly presented the few printed copies to some of my family members. Yes, I was stealthily giving them a set of my vacation photos, but in a form they could put on their coffee table and ignore rather than ignoring online. (I’ll have much more to say about the process of creating this book in future posts.)

So these are some of my answers to the vexing question of what to do with all the photographs I take. I’ll probably continue to produce photo collections and maybe even books, though I’m always looking for better ideas. Let me know if you have any, or if you’ve tried any different approaches.

Notes:

1. Sean Tucker is also known for his wildly popular YouTube channel, on which he posts a variety of topics, from photo tutorials to short documentaries to philosophical talks on creativity. Tucker was formerly a priest and is upfront about saying his books, magazines and YouTube channel are a way for him to continue preaching (though I never find him overbearingly religious).

2. As far as I know, DuChemin hasn’t produced any monographs lately, though he continues to travel and photograph. Come to think of it, I’ve looked on his website recently and can’t find any of his monographs. Which makes me glad I downloaded them when I had the chance.