So what's new on the photo-sharing front?

So, what’s new on the photo-sharing front?

Before I enter into the world of “what’s new”, I’d like to start this article in a similar way to a children’s story – and it goes something like this:

Once upon a time, way back in 2010, there were these two guys, Kevin Systrom & Mike Krieger, who developed a photo-sharing app. They called it Instagram! We photographers loved it, and we shared our content for the world to see. However, in 2012, along came a greedy little chap and bought it up! What followed was still a photo-sharing app, but huge changes were underway. Money being the key driver of its development, it soon turned into a global money making machine. Full of suggested content we all hated, ads and reels, and more ads, and so the money just kept rolling in. Us photographers became tired of its content and no support, and its original value just disappeared to what it is today. Myself and a huge number of real photographers got fed up and a move for us was underway.

So what are the alternative choices for us photographers out there, then?

Well, there’s the well established ones such as Flickr, Imgur, EyeEm, and 500px, just to name a few. Generally speaking, though, these platforms tend to be mostly digital with some film, of course, and their variety, fees and design vary from one to another. So what happens then if you’re looking for a film-only photo-based sharing platform? One might begin to think you might be limited on that front, but the sheer popularity of film these days continues to grow, and real photographers such as myself are looking for alternatives to share our work.

So what’s on offer then? Firstly, let me take you back a couple of years when a guy called Kyle came up with a new and refreshing idea. That Idea was called “Grainery“.

It’s a film-only sharing platform that launched with a big fanfare. Kyle had nothing other than good intentions in developing it, but he was a one-man show. Over the last two years, it gathered pace, but now it’s stalled. There’s no support, and it just sits there, sort of running itself. It’s available on iOS and on desktop, which is a bonus for some of us, but it’s not moving forward. Don’t get me wrong; it’s still a great sharing app.

Is there another choice, then? Oh yes, there certainly is, and for me, it’s the one that has the legs on Grainery, if I’m honest. “Newgrain” is the brainchild of Tim Issenmann and was helped along the way by CTO Arish Tripathi. Already, that’s double the input from Grainery, and Newgrain has some backing, too, I’m told. Both platforms are fee-paying, but it’s only a small fee. Newgrain is currently available on IOS, but Tim tells me a web version is on its way, as is Android, too.

Looking at both platforms, they both offer something different to each other, and the most refreshing thing about them is the fact that they are so far removed from Instagram, thank God. It’s only taken a decade or so to finally offer us, real photographers, a place where we can show the power of film to all.

In terms of useability, they are both different in their own ways and offer different options whilst being similar too.

Let’s take Grainery in the first instance as to what I’ve found over the period I’ve been using it. Bearing in mind here, I’m using it in the desktop format as I don’t use a smartphone, so I can’t comment on the mobile front. Grainery uploads well, even on large files. It has the “suggestions for you” option but remains static. Those suggestions are always the same. One irritating element I have noticed, though, is when you upload the “tags” and then finally update all of the data, it often doesn’t add the tags; you have to redo it. Annoying! Overall, it’s a little clucky for me, but it still works and gets your images out there.

Newgrain uploads are very similar to Grianery in terms of speed, so nothing different there. Newgrain, though, feels and runs better in its overall performance feels smoother. It seems to be a little more polished in its finish, but I am running it on an iPad and can’t comment on its performance on a smartphone. That might be similar to Grainery. I get the impression that this platform has attracted a much larger audience, and the US seems to be the main user. I might be wrong on that front, but see what you think.

To conclude, then, both platforms work well, both are far removed from IG, thank god, and both offer something slightly different to the other. Grainery offered this “community engagement” element when you sign up for the paid side of it, but that’s never happened, and speaking to them is totally impossible, whereas Tim at Newgrain has always got back to me when I pitched a question to him. Long term, I’m with Newgrain.