Meet Benjamin Fitch,
Creative Lead at Instagram
Interview by Rob Johnston, Founder of Meet the Creatives
Can you tell me about your journey? When did you first find your love for design/photography/the creative field?
I grew up in a very creative household, with relatives on both sides of my family involved in the visual arts — from painting to photography to interior design. My mom was our elementary school art teacher growing up, and my four siblings and I were always getting into creative projects at home. We would put newspaper down on the dining room table and go crazy with oil pastels; as we got older, we began experimenting with other art forms such as music and film. Somewhere in the depths of our basement at home is a stack of old VHS tapes with “Benoah Productions” written on the side (the very official name of my brother’s and my “production company” growing up — a combination of our two first names).
While I continued to draw and paint throughout high school as a hobby, it wasn’t until college that I discovered my serious interest in photography. I majored in Journalism and Art History, and was captivated by my first lessons in photojournalism. I loved how it combined my interests of storytelling and news reporting with the visual arts. In my Art History courses, I was fascinated by how much knowledge you could gain through the grand paintings and portraits we studied — and I found photojournalism to be an equally powerful way of learning about other cultures, people, and perspectives through visuals. It was at this time in my life that I knew I wanted photography to play a significant role in my future career.
What was your first “real job” in the creative field and how did you land it?
My first “real job” was as an associate photo editor for National Geographic. I interned twice at Nat Geo throughout college — first as a photo intern at Traveler magazine, and then as a production intern in the home entertainment division. After graduating from college, I kept my eye out for job openings. I probably applied to at least three jobs at Nat Geo (and dozens more elsewhere) over the course of a year before being offered a full-time role on the digital photography team. Our team was responsible for the visual content on the National Geographic website, and my job entailed curating photo galleries for various news articles (mostly focused on science and the environment) and working with the YourShot photo community. I then started a new role back at Traveler as a photo editor for the print magazine — replacing the editor who had originally hired me for my first internship three years prior. It was a very full-circle experience.
While my internship is really what got my foot in the door at Nat Geo and helped me land my first job, staying active in photography after college was also important in developing my resume. I spent the fall after school in New Mexico working and studying at the Santa Fe Photographic Workshops — and then moved to New York where I assisted photographers for several months (and worked at a sandwich shop in Brooklyn to pay the rent).
My first mentors at National Geographic instilled in me the value of visual communication and the art of telling stories with pictures. I will always be grateful for that experience and how it has shaped my perspective on the world.
Enabling expression and fostering connections are at the heart of Instagram. I would imagine that Design/great creative plays a major role in making all of this possible. How so?
My particular area of focus at Instagram is editorial work. I’m the Creative Lead for the team that oversees @instagram, which is Instagram’s official Instagram account (it’s pretty meta) and currently the most-followed social media account in the world.
Every day, we use our channel to tell stories from around the Instagram community of people using the platform in uniquely inspiring and creative ways. Enabling and encouraging expression from within the community is at the center of our work and the creative we produce. Our hope is that by spotlighting diverse voices each day — from all different backgrounds and places in the world — we can help inspire others to express themselves freely as well.
Connection is also a huge part of what we do. For every feature we publish, we’re looking to make connections between our followers and other people and interests on Instagram they may have never otherwise discovered. Ultimately, we hope this might introduce people on Instagram to a new part of the world — or perhaps a new art form, trend, or even to a new perspective or way of seeing.
After four years at Instagram, I am still surprised daily by the stories that our team surfaces from the community. There are so many interesting people and communities to explore — the rabbit hole is literally never-ending.
In your time working at Instagram, what have been some of your favorite moments?
Being at Instagram for the launch of Stories and IGTV are definitely moments I’ll never forget. Both products have had such a significant impact on the way people share, and have completely impacted my day-to-day work as well.
When I first started working on @instagram editorial over four years ago, our only surface for storytelling was Feed. Looking back, it feels like a completely different time and job in many ways. Since the launch of Stories, we’ve been able to bring features to life in a much more up-close, intimate and personal way. IGTV has also been a huge gamechanger, and has allowed our team (and the entire community) to create content in the longer-form video space. Personally, it’s been exciting to be able to tell richer and deeper stories about the people and interests we highlight on that surface. (I’ll also never forget the first IGTV piece I filmed which happened to be with Kim Kardashian less than a day before IGTV premiered to the world last June. The 24 hours leading up to launch were particularly exciting and crazy.
More recently, I returned from a trip to France and England filming features with some incredibly inspiring community members there. One of my favorite projects from that trip was a feature with LGBTQ+ illustrator and advocate @hellomynameiswednesday. Along with my colleague, Hannah, and an extremely talented production team, we were able to bring Wednesday’s story to life as part of our Pride month programming on @instagram. As a member of the LGBTQ+ community myself, it was really meaningful to work on that project and help tell Wednesday’s story to a global audience.
Meet the Creatives seeks to bridge the gap between entry-level creatives and the industry’s best so I’d like to do a few questions for creatives just starting out:
When reviewing portfolios, what are some of the things you are hoping to see and what are some things that might indicate the candidate is not qualified for the job?
Simply, I look for a point of view in a candidate’s work. Something in their work that indicates a unique way of seeing or thinking about the world.
On the other hand, I think the biggest flag when conducting a review or interview with a candidate is when it’s clear they haven’t done their research for the job they’re applying for. If you’re meeting with an editor, you should understand what types of projects they commission or produce and have a clear perspective/reason for wanting to work together.
What advice could you give to someone who just graduated college and is new to the creative field, but does not know where to begin?
There’s no single, perfectly-prescribed trajectory that will lead you to your dream job. I am fortunate to have explored my interests largely through internships and school work — but that’s a huge privilege a lot of people don’t have. Finding time to be creative is always the biggest challenge for me, but I’d say that if you’re passionate about being in the creative field — say yes to as many opportunities as you can. I worked a lot of assisting and volunteer jobs after college that I felt I was maybe overqualified for at the time — but I knew those experiences would expand my knowledge of the industry and keep me active in the photography space. Showing your interest through staying involved is important I think. In other words, actions speak louder than words — especially when applying to jobs.
What’s the most useful piece of feedback you’ve ever received?
When I was first starting off in my career, my dad would often say “just keep your head down.”
What he meant by that was — in times when you feel like your work isn’t getting recognized to the degree you had hoped — sometimes it’s best to keep your head down and stay focused on producing high-quality work. If you’re passionate and thoughtful about your work — eventually it will get noticed, and you’ll be rewarded more so than your peers who like to make a lot of noise (but perhaps don’t have as much substance behind what they create).
In the end — I think that staying focused and thoughtful, working hard and being nice are the keys to success.
Finally, what are you currently focusing on?
We recently launched a slate of new editorial series on @instagram that I’m really excited about. Everyone on our team has been sprinting for months on launching this new programming that celebrates the diversity of our community in new ways — and seeing it all come together has been incredibly rewarding.
For example, a couple of weeks ago, we launched “Three-Minute Autobiography” — a new series in which some of the top talent and celebrities on Instagram tell the abbreviated story of their lives in three minutes. I filmed the pilot of that with actress Millie Bobby Brown in Paris and am excited to bring more of that series to life soon.
We also launched a series called “Advocates,” which spotlights inspiring individuals using their Instagram accounts to create good in the world. Last week’s episode featured the creators behind Black Girl Fest, the first arts and culture festival celebrating black British women and girls — and there are lots more powerful stories to come there as well.
I feel incredibly grateful to be able to do the work I do every day at a company that cares about expression and diversity and craft. I’ve learned that change is inevitable (both at my job and in life), and I’m excited to see what surprising things come next.
