MY INSTAGRAM account— @petersolisnery, but I guess you can access it also by #petersolisnery, #ThePSN —is a little pathetic.
It has more posts (1,100+) than followers (a measly 950+).
But to be fair, I’m only following nine accounts, and only two of that really matter to me.
Or only two provide worthy update posts anyway.
I am not in business for the “follow for follow” modus operandi among Instagrammers.
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A lot of my posts get suggestions to send the photo somewhere for promotion.
I have resisted it for the longest time.
I’m still resisting it.
If people want to see my photos, and how I see the world, they can check out my account.
I don’t have to promote it on Instagram.
I mean, I may promote my account here in my column, but that’s the extent of promotion that I need, and want.
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I do not intend my Instagram for business, and for influencer status.
I mean, I’d like to influence people’s life more positively, but I don’t want to be an influencer because I want freebies and compensation from businesses.
I am not poor!
If you review my Instagram content from the beginning, you will see that it started with witticisms, and mottos for life.
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Then, came the haiku— mostly erotic haiku.
It was a reaction to bad poetry on Instagram.
A reaction to bad haiku.
To pretensions, and pseudo-haiku.
I didn’t want to be the haiku or literary police.
But I want to put out there real haiku.
Haiku with an understanding of the Japanese literary art, and real scholarship of the haiku through its evolution.
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I didn’t expect it to be popular.
And it didn’t go popular.
Maybe because the wannabes didn’t get it.
Or it was very good for the mediocre readers. Haha.
But that’s just me being arrogant.
That’s just me having studied the art and culture of haiku from Japan.
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The next stuff I did on Instagram was the 365 sunsets of 2017.
I’m still very proud of that achievement.
Imagine tracking all the sunsets of a year in snow, rain, and cold.
I remember going out of the movie house a few times, and of a theatre, for a few minutes just to get a snap of the sunset.
You really have to admire my commitment, and dedication to things I set my mind to.
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But Instagram wasn’t my favorite social media platform.
For years, I was partial to Facebook.
Maybe it’s because more Filipinos do Facebook than they do Instagram.
This year, I’ve Instagrammed more because I fell in love with hashtags.
And, well, because I’m doing sunrises and sunsets like I did in 2017.
My sunsets project five years ago was also on Instagram.
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In addition, I have my picture-friendly intermittent fasting diet tracking.
In my mind, pictures equal Instagram.
So there.
If I keep everything consistent, I could be posting three photos on Instagram everyday: sunrise, my previous day diet compiled, and sunsets.
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But falling in love with Instagram also gives me other possibilities.
Why not post my travel photos?
Why not post my religious architecture photos?
Why not stained glass art that I love so much?
Why not my portrait photos?
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And so, I Instagram more now.
My Instagram account is often linked to my Twitter and Facebook.
So yeah, sometimes, my Instagrammed photos appear on my Facebook account.
But not all. For example, my daily food intake is not automatically shared on Facebook.
I just want to do it my way.
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Let me revisit, and revise, my first sentence in this piece:
My Instagram account is not pathetic.
It may have more posts than followers, but I really don’t like to be followed by people who follow carelessly.
In the end, I want people to discover my Instagram—perhaps by accident.
And to discover the wealth of art, and wisdom in my posts.
I want them to discover how I see our world, our planet.
How I love the sun, the sunsets and sunrises, the clouds and the sky.
How I dedicated I am to the things I commit myself to.
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Maybe, just maybe, they’ll discover and understand how much a lovable, and loving, person I am.
Maybe, they’ll even want to marry me.
I mean, that would really be awesome. Haha!/PN
