Peter McKinnon Says It’s Time to ‘Let Go’ of Instagram
Instagram has changed a great deal in the last 15 years and, as has been well-documented, it has moved away from being a photo-sharing platform to one that looks a lot more like TikTok.
Photographer Peter McKinnon, a popular YouTuber who boasts over three million followers on Instagram, says it is time to “let go” of the idea that the platform is for sharing photos and accept that it is something else entirely.
“When Instagram first launched, it was a photo app where you could share your photos with our friends,” McKinnon says. “There was kind of no pressure, you take them with your phone and post them in squares”
But nothing stays the same and photographers began uploading pictures taken on proper cameras and they were being uploaded in formats that weren’t always square. Then came Stories, Carousels, and the feature that seemingly killed off photos on the platform: Reels.
“Today, it’s actually not advertised as even a photo platform,” McKinnon points out. “It’s video-based. And it’s meant for high consumption, quick consumption.”
The famous photographer calls the move from stills to motion picture a “bummer” and says he is still “snobby” about the changes — despite making videos for a living on YouTube.
The Change From Grid to Rectangle
McKinnon says the controversial move to get rid of grid profiles — which many users had spent a long time curating, including McKinnon — was a defining moment as it ruined the hard work of many a perfectionist.
“But the reality is no one actually goes to your profile anymore to look at it,” adds McKinnon.
“People are opening the app, they’re checking Stories, they’re swiping through Reels. If you see a photo, you might like it, you might not. But you’re not hunting and exploring and really analyzing someone’s feed that they spent hours meticulously curating anymore.”
The New Game
McKinnon acknowledges that “If you do want to grow your account, sometimes you’ve just got to play the game.”
In 2025, photographers who want to make an impact on Instagram need to think about creating videos that share behind-the-scenes work or personal stories — rather than just showing the final product.
“We are given all the tools to make it work,” adds McKinnon. “The CEO himself [Adam Mosseri] comes on Instagram and answers questions every single week giving you tips and insights on how to grow and how this machine works.”
Ultimately, McKinnon believes it is time to let go of the old Instagram and embrace the new, more video-oriented social media.
