It’s May 2021. More than a year since the start of the global pandemic. With the end optimistically in sight for the U.S., naturally, I am forced to begrudgingly face the job market as the school year ends. It might be obvious to most people, but the job market this year seems different for some reason. Without a formal internship, in the middle of the summer, I am moving short-term to NYC and meeting and working with any photographer or creative I can find. In the meantime, I am also learning to market myself. Much to my dismay, it starts with Instagram and social media. However, I am thankful for that challenge and am writing this article because of it.
I started by looking for trends across Instagram by photographers, models and influencers. All of which ultimately trickle down to most users on the platform. Through that, I fixated on what I call the “Photo dump” trend that I’ve seen take over Instagram since the start of the pandemic. Looking back, this trend seemed to be at the height of its popularity amid the pandemic when everyone huddled down, kept to themselves for the greater good. We put our relationship with ourselves and our own life on a pedestal like never before. Social media and technology quickly became havens to escape the horrors of the pandemic.
I felt the fatigue and stress finally catch up to me this past month, and I was inspired to slow down and (although it may sound cheesy) find the beauty in life again. Social media has its pros and cons, but I’m choosing to find the good in it all for the sake of this article and exploration. I think this trend grew out of the world’s collective subconscious to find that beauty in their lives.
These photo dumps are characterized by a random series of images, often multiple places, and days, with detail shots or extreme closeups that are vague but somehow work together to tell a common story. The stories are usually simple and seem to say, “What I stopped and noticed today.” When the trend first began, I would argue that it was combatting the perfect life image stereotype of Instagram, and only good can come from that. Feeling inspired, I chose to base my final fashion series of the quarter off this mentality of pausing to notice something beautiful in a moment.
While staged to a degree for styling purposes, I walked with my model and a flash through my alley and never left the block. Not because I couldn’t or didn’t want to, but because I didn’t have to. I drive through this alley on my way to every shoot and never thought twice about using it as a location. Despite all the bad this past year, there is undoubtedly some good that we can take and learn from once we rise above it.
Words and photography by Patrick Cox.
Modeling by Madeleine Stulz.