I recently read a piece by my friend and wedding photographer Susan Stripling where she admitted she is completely done forcing behind-the-scenes (BTS) content on a wedding day. She’s tired of the pressure to perform for an algorithm while trying to create actual art for her clients.
Reading it felt like a massive breath of fresh air, because this exhaustion isn’t just a wedding photography problem. It’s an industry-wide epidemic. Whether you shoot commercial gigs, family portraits, or quiet street photography, the pressure to turn your workday into a reality TV show is real.
Somewhere along the line, we let the self-proclaimed social media gurus convince us that if we didn’t film the process, the final image didn’t happen.
I’m calling it. The era of manufactured backstage access needs to end.
The Divided Mind
The original concept of BTS content was great. It was an authentic look at how an artist works. But it has mutated into a full-time secondary production.
As an ambivert, it takes a massive amount of mental energy for me to step into a session, connect with a client, and manage my own social anxiety to get the shot. If my brain is split between watching my subject’s genuine expression and worrying about whether a phone camera caught a good vertical angle of me doing it, the client loses every single time.
Or if you are a street photographer trying to practice quiet, discreet observation, but you are constantly thinking about capturing narrative audio clips for a Reel, you’ve completely destroyed the story in the frame. You aren’t observing life anymore; you’re staging a performance.
Every ounce of energy you spend producing content for an online audience during a live shoot is energy stolen from the person who actually hired you.
Content for the Client, Not the Algorithm
Now, let me clarify something. I actually do mount a phone to the hot shoe of my camera sometimes.
When I am out photographing surprise proposals, I frequently have a phone clamped right on top of my rig. But here is the difference: that camera isn’t running for my TikTok or Instagram. It isn’t pointed backward at my face, and I’m not thinking about my “good side” or framing up a sleek marketing transition.
That phone is locked down, pointed forward, and recording a continuous video of the proposal itself.
I do it entirely for my clients. The moment someone drops to one knee, the adrenaline hits, and the couple completely blanks out. They rarely remember what was said or how it felt because their hearts are hammering. By hitting record on that phone, I can hand them a raw, unedited video of their exact moment right alongside their professional gallery.
That is an example of using a workflow tool to over-deliver for the person paying you. It adds real, emotional value to their experience. The second you flip that phone around to record yourself working so you can post it with a trending audio track, you’ve shifted the focus from your client’s memory to your own ego.
Get Off Rented Land
The only reason we tolerate this pressure to document ourselves is fear. We’ve been trained to feed the social media monster, hoping for a sliver of organic reach, while the landlords of those platforms change the algorithm rules every single week.
If your final photographs cannot stand on their own merits, a video of you taking them isn’t going to save your business.
Instead of performing for followers who might never buy a thing, shift that energy into building a direct relationship with people who care about your work. Put your time into an email list. Talk directly to your audience, share the deep stories behind your images, and provide real value on a platform you actually own.
Making Technology Work For You
I love technology. Because of my dyslexia, I rely heavily on AI tools and grammar assistants just to get my thoughts onto a screen cleanly. I use AI-powered culling and editing tools in my studio workflow because they handle the tedious, time-sucking tasks and give me hours of my life back.
That is technology serving the creator. It lets me finish my work faster so I can actually go spend time with my wife and kids.
Forced BTS content is the exact opposite. It is the creator serving the technology. It turns you into an unpaid intern for a social media app, working a second job during your own paid gigs.
If someone happens to capture a quick, organic clip of you working, fantastic. Share it if you want to. But stop making it a line item on your session checklist.
Let’s go back to focusing 100% of our attention on the people on the other side of our lenses. The curtain doesn’t always need to be open. Sometimes, the magic should just be the photograph itself.
You May Also Like
Leave a Reply