In June, I featured photos from my recent trip to Utah on my social media sites on Instagram and Vero.  Usually,  my posts receive similar responses on both platforms, making it easy to see which photos were the favorites among my followers.  That was not the case this month, as there was a bit of divergence between the platforms.

The photo below of the winding park road at Snow Canyon State Park was in the top 3 on both platforms.  I posted a photo from the same location on my feeds in 2023, but in that photo,  the composition was a bit tight and zoomed in further.  I returned to the spot this year and gave it a little more breathing room, and was very pleased with this result.

On Vero,  the photo below of the morning sun on the canyon wall at the Kolob Canyon area of Zion National Park received the most favorable response rate.  In addition,  this photo was featured on the #snap_landscape gallery as one their daily picks during June, and was one of my favorites from the trip as well.

My Instagram followers responded most favorably  to the photo below of trees on the rocky hilltops at Zion National Park.  This one was a bit of a surprise, as while I liked the photo,  I don't know that I would have considered it to be one of the top 3.  It can be a bit tricky to figure out which photos your followers like best on Instagram, given the wide variability in the followers reached with any given post.  The like count is relatively useless when the reach varies so much,  so I typically look at the percent of followers that actually saw the photo and liked or commented on it.  This particular shot had limited reach, but a high percentage of followers who saw the photo liked it. I have noticed my recent posts on Instagram have been seeing lower reach but higher response rates.  I suppose this means the algorithm is doing a good job of predicting which of my followers will like a photo,  but I'd be happier if they just showed it to all the folks who've followed me.

I've continued to post photos from my June trip to Utah throughout the month of July,  and  am continuing to edit and post photos from that trip, as well as those from a trip to the Wyoming front range.  Last week,  I was in west Texas and northwestern New Mexico and I'll be featuring those photos in upcoming posts as well.  Thanks for following me and for your interest in my work, and for reading this blog post!

Scott