10 Things to Consider NOT Doing As a Photographer in 2023

Photo Editors Are Sick of Seeing the Same Stuff, So Dare to Be Different

“Whenever a photo makes me stop on my Instagram feed and say, ‘Wow,’ then it's good, in my opinion,” Kenneth Bachor, a Photo Editor at BuzzFeed News tells us. “Unfortunately for me, that's been happening less and less lately. There's tons of static noise on Instagram, visually, and I am definitely tired of seeing the same old stuff. I often see similar images over and over again, from different photographers. We need to work together to tell new stories.” 

For many of today’s photo editors, the problem isn’t that they’re seeing bad photography. It’s this feeling of “sameness”: the photos are great, but the stories are too familiar. As a follow-up to our newsletter on what photo professionals would like to see in 2023, we asked editors and gallerists what they don’t want to see anymore. From parachute journalism to contact forms, they shared a few of their biggest pet peeves—and provided insight into how photographers can do things differently going forward.