Iconic Tumblr Photography | Tropes, Traits, and Legacy

[@countjulu]

People being nostalgic about 2014 is more painful than I anticipated

[@benitobanana3943]

Nostalgic about nostalgia. Late stage capitalism become very meta

[@almostinfamous42]

I've actually gone back to tumblr recently, feels quieter and more sane than any other media

[@Ohm.Slice.]

Tumblr is like the photo centered child of emo/grunge/goth kids myspace/ blog pages from the 00's. Thats what the images remind me of. An already nostalgic look, like a mix of stock photos and an old music zine, or images on the lyric pamphlets that came with your cds in the 90's-00's. So now we have nostalgia for nostalgia

[@peinmilan]

Wow, it's midnight and I've just listened to a 20 min monologue about Tumblr and I have never heard about it before. So congrats Yvonne, I think the presentation was engaging...

[@SloopJohnBee-vq6dw]

Yvonne’s enthusiasm is both addictive and kind of draining, but in a nice way. I wish I could have that hyper thang going on. Don’t think I ever had it. Too chilled 🙄🤣📸

[@audrey_eee]

“Real” photographers don’t know what they’re missing 😂 Love to see the impact of VSCO called out!

[@YvonneHansonPhotography]

Hahaha it was a whole mood for a MINUTE

[@roadtojason.theythem]

congrats on your first sponsor! also, as a mentally ill former teenager on tumblr in 2014, you perfectly described vibe

[@ferriswheel5481]

Wow, I see a niche photography channel with videos about tumblr, I subscribe. I'm a simple person

[@mackysobrevega1780]

Interesting, kinda makes sense my early photos in instagram are the "Tumblr" aesthetic.

[@clacketyclack]

Looking at the first part of my Instagram page confirms this for me 😂

[@km099]

What a cool idea for a video! Tumblr shaped my taste for paintings, photography and movies like nothing else

[@qnetx]

You have an amazing mind. Your research, writing, and presentation skills really keep me engaged. Additionally, this essay could well be a research topic for a PhD dissertation. Thank you for explaining and analyzing this topic.

[@YvonneHansonPhotography]

Thank you so much! You flatter me! I certainly had a fun time with the research for this one- especially finding all the photos!

[@jaysonlee5231]

This brings back memories, I used to save pictures/images from tumblr daily. I'm so glad I found your vid.

[@martellstepney778]

Tumblr INFLUENCED my photography heavy, before I officially picked up the camera. You make some valid points, it was all about esthetics, moods and vibes. My feed had some fire on it, there were a few tumblr looks doing that era. Also VSCO filters was sooo good back then lol

[@chrisvlachopoulos7565]

really interesting insights and analysis, Yvonne - love it - keep those videos coming!

[@YvonneHansonPhotography]

@@chrisvlachopoulos7565 aye thank you!

[@juliesantiago4663]

A picture I took of hot Cheetos got 35k notes on Tumblr. It wasn't even good, but there weren't very many of those on the website.

[@onnoweb]

Fascinating. How different social platforms attract different styles is quite intriguing. And congratulations on your sponsor!

[@iamthefilter]

This is so niche and im so here for it!

[@iwillnever4getu]

spot on analysis on tumblr photography.. only thing i have to add is in my experience the tumblr community absolutely rewarded "good" photography also.. the post of mine that would go viral where def the ones i felt where my best photographs shot on my dslr but u made me realize i was def leaning into that incomplete romanticized vibe. i credit tumblr for almost single handedly launching whatever music career i had solely off of pictures beats and vibes lol - beautiful lou (producer for a$ap rocky, kitty pryde, lil b, [adult swim] etc)

[@Ladulcevida_]

Loved this, and totally agree with all your points. Thank you for the nostalgic joy

[@kevinjabalera5840]

The party I hated tumblr for was all those pictures referring to self harm. Like razor blades or noose knot or pills, but I agree they were collected as collages for this emo style, and I would have never consider it art, and always thought it was just bored and attention seeking teenagers, but in some way time proved it also tells a story of a generation

[@Petitephysiquebarre]

Have fun in Montreal and Toronto!

[@JackNick-i2b]

Beautiful observations

[@postgarodegoogle2389]

it was interesting and enjoybale. been a tumblr user since 2010, scrolling through my personnal page is like going back in time, wich is somehow pretty precious for me :)

[@MirkoErrigo]

Very interesting analysis, Yvonne! Keep up the good work! A hug from Italy.

[@KevinBjorke]

The "which is Tumblr" bit was striking! Loved that, and got them all right, too. Who knew. Thanks! I have a strong feeling that the Tumblr style descends from same-age female Japanese fans of Rinko Kawauchi. She was already a big deal in the trendy Minato shops around 2002, in the last days of Japanese photo magazines (very different from western ones... and many completely gone now)

[@wildrootsphotographyartwor596]

Oh I loved this video so much!! I used tumblr a lot and, honestly, love vibey images to this day, which is now making me pause and wonder if I love them because I was a tumblr person and it feels a little nostalgic now? Anywho, great video (again) I'm off to go make some aesthetic art now 😅

[@pashketchup]

Woo, Congrats on your first sponsor!

[@YvonneHansonPhotography]

Aye thank you!!

[@CalebThomasMedia]

Literally called out precisely within the first minute. 😳 35 year old film boi who was mentally unwell teen on Tumblr in the 2010’s 😅

[@YvonneHansonPhotography]

@@CalebThomasMedia hehehe there had to be a few!!

[@-grey]

Lifestyle snap photography was real on tumblr. It was like this back since 2009 even. Great vibe photography. 👌

[@AlexLuyckxPhoto]

Oh Tumblr! I had a few Tumblr blogs! But what defined my time on Tumblr was tied to the Regency era, but less Bridgerton, more wool, muskets, and Napoleon! But I saw a whole pile filled with images like that and had a few friends who had their Tumblrs setup mostly Pale or Grunge because of Urban Exploration.

[@akhileshk1584]

This was the kind of photography I'm into but I've lost it I can rember I used to be an tumbler user now it make sense

[@rayrayg9]

0:12 I'm a 36-yr old film-guy (only recently film-ed) and tumblr was, for me, instagram before instagram for me (to copy artsilva's comment below). Although I used it more like a blog back then...

[@dankspangle]

I super-guilty of the coffee pic, almost always a pinhole selfie of me in a cafe with a coffee in the foreground. Pinhole photos take 5 to 10 mins (average indoor light), .Having a coffee is when I'm most often 1) sat still 2) with 10 mins to spare and 3) with my camera to hand. So it's a situational thing.

[@RikardLindby]

Tumblr is more focused on art than craft. Telling a story with complete sentences is basically craft. The craft of photography. You can learn this by following formulas of pose, light composition etc. Leaving the viewer with a vibe/emotion and with things to fill in is more in the direction of art. Look at the work of Ralph Gibson for a pre tumblr look. Or Olivia Bee for a contemporary one.

[@DivergenceConvergence]

nds ago I clicked in to learn what Tumblr photography is all about.. end up discovering that your music choices are entirely the same as mine

[@glitchygecko]

Very informative 👍🏽

[@AtentieCadMere]

35 over here :D

[@Okinihsoy]

Anyone photographers here long time users of tumblr? or recently went back to it? comment your blog name, let's connect.

[@Grumskiz]

I found your comparison of tumblr vs instagram very fascinating. It seems to me that tumblr image curation hinges very much on removing anything and everything that confronts you with your own reality. You related it to financial restrictions, like not being able to attend this specific restaurant. I think you could go further that the image must not be too real. If it is too real, you have to confront your own mediocrity. You are no longer yearning, you are cut off. On Instagram, the solution to the same problem is very different. Here you get to fully embrace your own sense of inferiority. Perfectly curated lifestyles show you that maybe you don't have what it takes, but at least you get to believe in the fact that there are people who have made it and have achieved that perfect life. And maybe you can get some second hand enjoyment from that?

[@artsilva]

Tumblr was the Instagram before Instagram but without the low-res filtering and censorship. Content-wise Both can be the same, there are no rules [outside of certain censorships] of what images you post on either platform. Any user can build and curate their Tumblr and/or IG any way they see fit. I have used both in the same way. VSCO was short lived but like you said, aesthetically via filter sets is what is the difference of default imaging in VSCO and IG. I think it comes down to the majority of what the "photographers" choose to use for their work, thus giving the [enter media site name here] it's more common "look"..

[@Anthony-fz9ye]

One of the major tumblr trends I didn’t like then, and still don’t now, is making all the shadows that should be black, gray. Some people still do it. Just makes the photos look underexposed, bland and ugly 😅 (to me!)

[@Anthony-fz9ye]

Wonder if you remember ffffound!

[@batek_666]

this backrounds makes me go nuts... why isn't the alignment straight? :(

[@YvonneHansonPhotography]

Lmao when I put the pictures on the wall I didn't use a measuring tape, so the whole wall is slightly off. I don't mind it though 🤷‍♀️

[@francescolisboa903]

Did you mean 2004?

[@Michele_aka_Latente]

cracking up saturation on my monitor.

[@Halbmond]

VSCO had such a shitty interface, I still feel violated by it a decade later

[@boredgrass]

62 (LXII)...

[@thelegendrubyrodd]

Gosh I’m happy I never used tumblr. 😂

[@MJohnson-qp9he]

Wow, such a smart, gorgeous woman. Really great video!

[@chantalmyfawny]

The mentally ill teenagers had a cold grasp on trends on tumblr. RIP the old tumblr era.

[@PsychedelicChameleon]

"you can always tell!" nope, I can't. I haven't seen tumblr images before so I can't tell. I like your explanation 1. non-documentary, 2. incomplete. I just looked at tumblr's "explore" feature to see examples, and I realize why I haven't seen tumblr images before: after letting me see 5 images, tumblr require me to login, but I don't have an account. The 5 images that it showed did not seem to meet your criteria. I wonder if you idea of "a tumblr image" is no longer accurate for current imagery, or maybe if it's more of an impression from marketing and isn't really a statistical representation of the images that are actually there.

[@LeeAllen337]

I'm 39 and never used Tumblr.

[@hayleyng2873]

that's because you weren't a teen during its heyday.

[@jpegists]

@YvonneHansonPhotography This video essay was so good! 🎉 It was so good that I wish I wasn't already subbed to your channel because it would've made me _smash that like and subscribe button_. Sincerely. Great take. I especially loved the observation that a generation of photographers that are producing work now (largely) grew up Tumblr. I've got a video essay series in my work-in-progress/drafts folded called "Nostalgia Stuff" that touches on some of the same ideas. I'd love if you or someone also explored the "medium is the message" variable of Tumblr Photography™. I.e., early smart phones' cameras did best in closer range, their image quality defects could be disguised with some aesthetical editing choices, bandwidth was small. Social media of the time: twitter was still 140, largely text. facebook was/is uncool. flickr had been mothballed. tumblr was a hosted "tumble log", intentionally easier to setup and use than Blogging™ CMSes (wordpress, mostly). content type posts (a photo post instead of a blog post with a photo in it). no titles required! ...etc Keep it up 🌟