Developing Social Media Watch Photography, Part 3: Storytelling, Collaboration, and a Bunch of Boobs

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Collaboration in different ways

One of the things I learned during my time in Silicon Valley is that the model for success there is based less on ownership of ideas and more on the open sharing of concepts, based on the principle that the surest path to success lies in rapidly improving a promising idea rather than carefully guarding a static trade secret.

As the number of young watch enthusiasts – including many from the tech world – grows rapidly, this idea of ​​openness has now also made its way into the way we view watches online.

In my last article in this series, I highlighted Wanyu Lee (@deletrium)., who was one of the first to catch my eye offering behind-the-scenes tutorials on her shooting setups in her Instagram posts. She has now expanded that idea into a series she calls “One Watch 30 Ways,” which is exactly what it says on the tin: 30 different views of a single watch (currently a Bovet watch) released over the course of a month, with her generously revealing the secret behind each shot.

The story shot and the story behind the shot by @enjoythewatches

And she is not alone. Lydia Winters (@enjoythewatches), whose actual job title on Minecraft is Chief Storyteller, now has a how-to shot for each of her Instagram posts. And designer and photographer Verne Ho (@watchstudies) posts a tutorial on a different aspect of watch photography every Sunday, adding to his ongoing stream of high-quality studio photos of watches.

The tutorial can be found under the link in (his) bio: @watchstudies shares the magic every Sunday

If there's anything I find wrong with some members of this new generation of photographers, it's the apparent tendency to believe that the history of watch photography pretty much began when they picked up a camera and started snapping away. There's no shortage of posts, for example, full of self-congratulation for discovering things like depth of field and easy use of light.

As long as the more experienced practitioners let me in on their tricks, I will tolerate the occasional valuable prose of others and focus on accelerating my own improvement.

Collaboration, Type 1: Wrist control chain entry in Instagram stories at @the.next.exit.watch

Another form of collaboration that has mushroomed in recent months is the use of Instagram Stories and cross-tagging to build online awareness and reputation. As a moderate Instagram addict, I usually scroll through my feed of new posts a few times a day and then check out the first few Stories in the queue before moving on to other things.

Lately I’ve been seeing a flood of stories with cross-tags that in the “old” days we would have called wrist checks: “@thewatchywatch asked what I'm wearing today…” accompanied by a photo of the wrist of said watch and three to five tags from others asking to continue the chain.

I suppose it's good for visibility and can help with better standing in the IG algorithm, but for me it's already gotten boring. The same goes for long story chains where every compliment for a particular post is reposted by the original photographer, then back by the compliment giver, and so on – although in the spirit of full disclosure I must confess that I do this myself on occasion. While I'm too lazy to make it my life's work, for some it seems to be.

Collaboration, Type 2: Unusual challenge topics and you at @lapetitewrist

Another trend related to collaboration is the expansion of the number and variety of posting “days” and “challenges,” seemingly in defiance of the laws of online physics.

I mean, Speedy Tuesday was fine, and Blue Watch Monday, Macro Monday, Caseback Fridays, Tourbillon Tuesday, etc. were tolerable. But now it's just getting silly.

And while photo post suggestions like “nature” or “water” have been around since PuristS Fridays in the early 2000s and more recently in connection with various competitions, in recent months a seemingly random flood of challenges with themes like “flexed biceps in a red shirt” and “leg day” have filled the airwaves.

Collaboration, type 2, takes 2 and 3: Leg day takes on a life of its own at @mrs.timepiece

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