As we are quickly approaching the middle of August, and stores are starting to display and advertise “Back to School” (a term usually music to parents’ ears, but maybe more-so this year), it’s a grim reminder that vacation season is also quickly coming to an end.
The corporate world is different than school, obviously; but there’s a certain freshness as most are back from their children’s dictated leave for a break from the hustle and bustle. A time when all employees are back in the office together for the first time in months, gives it that back to school feel to it.
Just like the yearly school photos, now is a great time to update your own business headshot for your company’s website or your LinkedIn profile.
I like to do on-site sessions, giving it an environmental feel to the frame. It is up to you, as I also have a studio on site where you are able to come as well, if you’re looking to get out of the office.
Click on the floating “Book Now” tab on the right side of the screen to book a free consultation.
Many of you are familiar with a number of applications to display your photography to the masses. Some are photographic centred, while others are not. Some of the photographic centred apps have been purchased and are now run by companies that are not necessarily photo-oriented and have become money driven.
I have been a huge fan of Dayflash since I first learnt about it from an online magazine and ventured over for a look. There have been quite a few articles about the next “Instagram killer” app and naturally I was skeptical. After all, I have lost track of all the supposed IG/FB killers out there only to fade away without a whimper, or accept and embrace the fact that they will never be IG but, hey that’s okay, too, this is where the creatives really hang out and share… I’m looking at you VSCO. đ
I signed up, thinking at the very least, “Let’s get another portfolio out there to maximize the eyes on my work.” It wasn’t very long before I was sold. The image quality on Dayflash vs. IG, and definitely FB was miles (kilometres) ahead. The other thing that I absolutely loved about Dayflash was that if you were to post a horizontally framed photo with an aspect ration greater than 4:3, it would automatically rotate the photo, so that it filled the entire screen instead of shrinking it to 1/3 the size.
Notice the full screen usage of the photo, and only a views counter without likes displayed with your name.
Simply tap on the name at the bottom to view the likes and the button to leave a comment.
Dayflash tries its best to showcase your photo using the entire screen, or at least as much as possible. There is only one photo per screen. To view the next photo swipe up or down like you would on IG. If you want to like it, simply double tap on the photo, or touch the name at the bottom and a transparent pane shows a like button and a comment button. Compare that to the wasted real estate over at IG for promote buttons, likes, and hashtags.
Look at the comparison of the real estate set aside for your photo!
The other major and wonderful feature of Dayflash that’s under the hood, is that the feed is, and they say – will always be (according to their website) – chronological. There is no algorithm to try to figure out and either play or cheat. You post it when you want and the same number of eyes (which is 100% of the community) have the opportunity to see your work.
The other, albeit somewhat of a selfish pleasure, thing that I love about Dayflash is their hashtag, or keyword system. Despite yours truly’s ability to go on and on here in my blogsphere (do they still use that word?), I am absolutely horrible with my key-wording and hashtags. On Dayflash, hashtags are not supported. How can people find others with similar interests? You enter a limited number of key words on your profile when you sign up. This is nice because you are forced to choose words that best describe your style or photos without the fluff like “#photooftheday” which will allow you to find people who are that much closer to what you are looking for.
See the comparison at the end of this post to see what happens when I rotate the photo in IG.
They’ve recently added “Collaborations” – a system where you can find another photographer, designer, or model to work on any specific project you might have. They have also released a thing called the “Partner Program” which allows fans to donate or compensate you directly for your work, so that you may continue to do your work. It is currently under invitation only along with some requirements that must be met. They’ve also just released direct messages. The first message that I received was one asking if I would be a Dayflash ambassador. To which after some deliberation, I accepted. (My last venture as an ambassador with another app didn’t go so well. But that’s a rant for another rainy day.)
Here is some of the statistical differences between Dayflash and Instagram from someone who doesn’t have a large following on either. I put this photo up on both roughly around the same time frame. I think Dayflash got a few hours head start. But the numbers are interesting. As of the time of the screenshots, (roughly 2 days later) the view count is 175 – 193 in favour of Instagram. But that is the only category that they can really claim. Dayflash: Of the 175 views, it has gotten 57 likes (32.57%). Instagram: 193 views and 33 likes (17%)
Instagram has gotten 6 comments Dayflash 0 comments Of the 6 Instagram comments, 3 are my replies and the other 3 are spread between 2 friends. Whereas no one I personally know follows me on Dayflash.
Instagram says that 36% of the viewers were not following me. I currently have 345 followers, which works out to be about 69 people. I have â70+â followers on Dayflash so even at 79 people that would mean that the smallest number of people who donât follow me that saw the picture would be 96 or 55%.
This is also on top of Dayflashâs superior photo quality, and the automatic full screen viewing of landscape (horizontal) oriented photos.
Even if I manually rotate my photo 90 degrees and upload to IG, the wasted screen-space is alarming.
Itâs not as simple as it was made to sound, but I did hear a presentation not talking about Dayflash in particular but any new social media outlet where the person said, âIt doesnât matter if the platform will be dead in a year.â Paraphrasing: If thatâs where the people are for now thatâs where you have to be. Now obviously Instagram is still where most of the people are, but if thereâs a much better chance of a wider audience actually seeing my work somewhere else, thatâs where Iâm going. These days, (and it’s been almost a year) itâs Dayflash, and I’m very proud to be an ambassador.
Sorry Andriod users, at the time of this post, Dayflash is still only available on iOS. Although from what their website is saying, an Android version is on the horizon.
If you do use Dayflash, or have recently signed up. Head on over to @leighmacarthur.
The short version is that Foresting is a new social media platform. The longer version is that it is blockchain based. In my mind, and from my understanding of the platform and their ideas, it stands to be a promising premise for artists and photographers. One of the main selling points is the ability to make money on your own posts as opposed to making other people money on your posts. It is also my understanding that through this technology it will be much more difficult for intellectual property theft. Again, that is my understanding (I could be dead wrong.) If there’s one thing I’ve learned in my years as a photographer who posts online, if someone really wants to steal your photo, they will.
Not only is this a beginning for Foresting and their team. It’s a new beginning for me.
Why is my second blog post about a new social media network that is still in the beta testing phase and probably one that you may not have heard of? Last year, I signed on to be one of the original contributors.
I didn’t know a lot about blockchain technology or crypto currencies before, and it still has me scratching my head at times.
I have been an active participant in the beta testing, and even though I can’t and won’t give any details on what is going on behind the scenes, I can tell you the app itself has been a wonderful experience. It’s clean, fun, and easy to use. The team over at Foresting HQ have been overly supportive and quick to respond to everything. I really can’t wait to see what it’s going to look like at the end of the tunnel, it’s been an awesome ride so far and we haven’t even really started yet.
Hopes and Expectations
With the blockchain tech and with people using crypto currency to “like” your content, my biggest hope and expectation is that it should drive up the quality of the posts and content that you see. I’m hoping that this will encourage people to stop posting their breakfasts and dinners and unflattering selfies. I think that there will be a lot of people who do migrate from other sites (you know who) that may start to wonder I got 3000+ likes over at I….m why am I not making any money here? The short answer is that although your friends and family may think that your selfie in the bathroom is funny or cute enough to pass on a like, as a way to show you that they saw it, it really isn’t worth a nickel or dime in the real world.
I’m also hoping that it will promote originality. Over at that “you know who” social media place, where a whole lot of people want to be an “influencer”, all go to the same place and shoot the same scene at the same angle. So much that one account has been made to show how much people copy others. I think it has started already, in that people are getting fatigued. If you scroll through your feed and the same-ish image keeps flying by, it gets lost and really are people going to give out a penny over and over to different people for the same thing? Maybe for hamburgers or hot dogs, but for art… If you buy a poster of the Mona Lisa, you want a poster of the original, not a poster of a copy that may even not use the same colours. To stand out, especially in today’s age, originality is going to swing back very soon on the pendulum.
Leigh MacArthur Photography 
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