A Photography Substack Experiment: A Community-Curated Zine
Stories Beyond the Photographs
Writing helps slow down time.
Writing about your photography helps you reflect on what you want to achieve.
It gives you direction and forces you to be critical about your work.
A photograph's potential is only reached if it tells a story or makes the viewer stop and ask questions. Yes, because people can interpret the same photograph differently.
You must be courageous to share your unique perspectives, stories, and ideas in your photographs. Make your vision of the world visual.
By writing, you expose yourself further. It is an exercise in asking yourself why and how you made that photograph.
If you can explain the why and the how, you’ll be a step closer to becoming a better photographer.
Sharing your experiences can inspire others.
I seek writing that makes me pause, whether it’s an image or words that stir my emotions.
I discovered Substack in September last year.
I’ve also been writing on Medium since the beginning of 2024, but the interaction and the photography community here are far more engaging. The cherry on top? I can find plenty of street photographers on this platform.
The format for writing a newsletter on Medium or over here is not different.
The difference is the chat.
With chat, you can get closer to people interested in your work and those you want to follow. This is a game changer compared to the current, impersonal social media platforms elsewhere.
With more people leaving IG, Substack chat might become the same kind of loop: post, scratch someone's back, hope they scratch yours, and post again.
It’s up to us to make it different: a place of meaningful interaction, learning, and support.
Many wonderful initiatives exist. My favorite example is the Darkrooms magazine put together regularly by
.Last month, I had an idea. Start a community of street photography aficionados to share work and support each other. A sort of virtual photo club or collective, which, who knows, could also lead to physical gatherings.
My proposal to begin was to ask fellow street photographers to submit five photographs and to be ready to tell stories about them.
Then, we would vote to select each photographer's favorite photo. After choosing the top photographs, the photographers would share the stories behind those images—what inspired them, what was happening when they made them, and any behind-the-scenes details.
Well, the initiative was a success.
In this week's newsletter, I want to share the result with you as a simple, yet content-rich digital zine. It’s a delight to see this visual journey and read the stories behind the work of my fellow sixteen substackers who chose to participate in this challenge.
I’m sure you’ll be thrilled by the seventeen amazing photographs and stories.
Grab coffee or tea, download the zine by clicking below, and enjoy ;-)
PS: to better appreciate the zine, download and read it on full screen on a laptop.
Thank you all for making this happen!
Steven Ferrara
Thank you all for the compliments!
It was a very fun initiative to undertake. To be continued 🤓
Excellent!!