Know Your Instagrammer: Dusty St. Amand
Dusty St. Amand's blend of homoerotic art (sometimes edging on softcore porn) and voyeuristic day-in-the-life photography have amassed a following of 16K+ for the 29-year-old Floridian.
I start off our time together by asking St. Amand to describe himself. "Mystic digital otter weirdo," he tells me. "Maybe?" he asks. (I verbally double-tap: "Sure!")
Below, we chat with Dusty St. Amand/@dusterz.
NewNowNext: In the simplest terms, what is the difference between Dusty St. Amand and @dusterz?
Dusty St. Amand: Dusty St. Amand is a person working through disjointed sexual/sensual feelings and experiences. He’s seeking so much. @dusterz moves with fluidity and offers answers. He, himself, is enough.
Who is your Instagram account catered toward?
For me, it's always important that I satisfy my queer community first and then I'll go from there. I want to be a part of those that do not feel that they are the majority. I hope that in some way by being a weirdo on the internet I'm helping other people that feel weird in other ways.
A photo posted by Dusty St. Amand (@dusterz) on
What would you say to someone that looks at you and says, 'I don't see a weirdo.'
I'm not unaware of the market aspect of what I do to my stuff. I put fluff and filler in there that is based on my face and my body and my looks. I present the aspects of myself that people like and I know they like it because they tell me. So I make a point to be a hairy-chested guy. I make a point to be a beard-y guy.
Gays become very discerning in very vehement, fiery ways because they want to make sure they stop this from going anywhere they don't want it to go.
What do you mean by 'this'?
Gays want to discern what is the hot thing and what is not the hot thing. I want things to get a lot of likes, but I'm not in that mindset anymore. I prefer to see the following rising as opposed to the 'likes' rising. I'm not trying to cater to the mass, I'm catering to my niche.
Would you ever delete a photo if it wasn’t getting enough 'likes’?
I delete things that don’t seem congruous with the rest of the work. Stuff that doesn’t seem as smart upon review.
The first 10 minutes after you post a photo, what do you do? Are you constantly refreshing?
I do, sometimes. It has to be fun or don't do it. I would not do this if it felt like work because so much of this is just f*ckin' sweat equity. I don't make any money on this. I do it because I love it and I think that's why people are on board with this because they're like 'Yo, he's having fun.'
For me, Instagram is a video game and in those moments I'm winning. You have little patterns you start to recognize though. If I get this amount of 'likes' in this amount of time it'll probably get X amount of likes. I know if I get 100 in ten minutes, this is a pretty successful post for my ratio.
When is the best time of day to post a photo?
Noon-ish for more ambient, lifestyle shots. Late night for really racy material.
What is your ultimate goal with the account (you mentioned it becoming a sort-of virtual gallery for other artists, so can you talk about that)?
I’m looking to find artists that vibe with my work that are looking for a platform to explore their interests. I want to provide that platform, while still maintaining the @dusterz brand. I want to guide sexually expressive artists within the context of collaboration. A “haus”, if you will.
Main image courtesy of Heath Stiltner.
