Darius Bashar
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Toronto Portrait Photographer || HEARTshots || Black + White Photography

Memoirs and musings of Darius Bashar. Toronto portrait photographer and writer, in pursuit of all things real, raw and intimate. 

7 Things I Discovered After 1.7 Million Views on TikTok

  1. Don’t make content for yourself or people at your level. Make content for you 10 years ago. The simpler the lesson, the better.

  2. You can 100% change people’s lives with a simple 1-minute video. I have hundreds of comments, messages, photos and videos of people loving the way they look in photos again— people literally crying because they love the photo they took after they used the tip.

  3. There are so many kind people out there. The love on TikTok is truly beautiful and abundant.

  4. Mean and racist comments don’t bother me as much as I thought they would. It’s rare, but sometimes people go in hard on me, and nothing feels off boundaries for these people. But something powerful happens when you encounter that thing you were afraid of several times in a row. The first mean comment hurt a lot, and then each one after that had less and less impact. It’s like exposure therapy.

  5. Not getting it right is a secret weapon. In the past I wasted so much time trying to create the perfect video. Now I realize that making mistakes can encourage people to leave comments and increase engagement. For example: I didn’t mention what iPhone version I had and people have asked 100’s of times in the comments. This gave me a chance to reach out and connect with each person by answering their question. It also gave me an idea for a future video.

  6. All the attention can make you self-conscious. It feels amazing having over 55,000 new followers and almost 1.7 million new views in 48 hours, but there is a voice in the background that keeps whispering, “What if it all goes away?” But then a friend of mine told me that I’ve been doing this work for years and years. If it all goes away, I’ll keep doing what I do. (Thanks Sal.)

  7. There is absolutely a formula to making a captivating TikTok or Instagram Reel. The vast majority of people do not know about this formula. (If you want me to make a separate post on this, comment below or send me a direct message).

Good luck with your journey of sharing your passion, wisdom and aliveness with the world. I’m rooting for you. Let me know which of these discoveries resonated with you the most.

Big love,

D

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