Who is the practitioner (what is their name?) and when were they practicing?

Bryant is a 26 year old L.A based photographer. His interest in fashion sparked his interest in photography. Thus, he has been doing photography since the age of 16 when he was given a Nikon D40 by his parents (Gampat 2013). He uploads his work to his Instagram account which has amassed 3.9 million followers.

What is the title of the photo or video you have chosen to analyse (can you provide a link?)

I obtained this photo by Bryant from his Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/p/BuexVC0Avik/). It is a photo of YouTuber Ethan Dolan and whilst the photo doesn’t have a title, it does have an accompanying caption ‘i wish it was summer time 🌞@ethandolan 🌟’.

With the photo or video, you are examining when was it produced (date)?

Whilst it was uploaded on March 2nd 2019, it is unclear how long prior to publication the photo was produced.

How was the photo or video authored?

It can be assumed that Bryant uses a Canon EOS 5D Mark III as this camera can be seen in photos taken of him whilst he is photographing people. For example, it can be seen in the photo pictured below.

(https://www.instagram.com/p/Brb4z4gHADR/)

Furthermore, Bryant often expresses on social media when he is editing photos in order to create anticipation for when the photos will be released. In saying this, it can be assumed that prior to publication, Bryant would have edited this photo. It is however, unclear which editing software he uses.

How was the photo or video published?

This photo was published on his Instagram account. Being digital photography, a copy of the photo would have been uploaded to his Instagram as opposed to it for example being a scan of a polaroid if it were analogue photography.

How was the photo or video distributed?

This photo was distributed by Bryant through Instagram. What’s interesting about Bryant is that he doesn’t tag the person on the photo but rather only in the caption. Whilst they both serve a similar purpose in which they link the viewer to the account mentioned, there is one point of difference. This point being that the photo will not appear in the ‘photos of you’ section on a profile as they are not tagged directly within the photo. This however, seems to not matter too much in the case of this photo as well as his other photos as there is an abundance of fans who will repost the photo and directly tag Ethan or anyone else, thereby spreading the photo across Instagram. Furthermore, the distribution jumps from Bryant to the viewers as they have the ability to repost not only on Instagram but other social media platforms too. Therefore, it seems that a key factor in successful distribution on Instagram is publishing content that makes people want to share it as this leads to increased exposure of the account. In the case of Bryant, he has strayed away from fashion photography (which can be seen early on in his Instagram account) to photograph social media personalities as it keeps him relevant. What this means is that because fans of these social media personalities are always on the lookout for new content, the photos that Bryant puts out are in high demand. Such as in the case of this photo of Ethan that has received over 400k likes, fans of Ethan are highly engaged with the post not only through liking, but also through commenting and tagging friends to see the post. This in turn, directs traffic toward Bryant’s account, increasing the potential to gain followers and distribute his work further.

Reference:

Gampat, C 2013, Bryant Eslava: Success at a Young Age, Explora, viewed 17 April 2019, <https://www.bhphotovideo.com/explora/content/bryant-eslava-success-young-age>.