Myspace Tom Is Now a Photographer

Myspace Tom has been sharing a lot of photos on social media lately—but not on Myspace.

More formerly known as Tom Anderson and the founder of one of the first social networking platforms, Myspace Tom has taken to travel photography over the past few years. He shares his shots on Instagram, where he is known as @myspacetom. “Former first friend, enjoying being retired,” his bio reads, as a nod to Myspace, where new members were automatically friends with him. Plus, his profile picture is the same one that was displayed on his Myspace profile back in the day. (Sometimes it’s better to embrace your past than to distance yourself from it.) He was inspired to pick up photography after attending Burning Man in 2011. "I took photos at the event and couldn't believe that was coming from my own camera. I was hooked instantly," he wrote to Architectural Digest in an email.

Myspace Tom has traveled all over the world to showcase his love of photography, with posts documenting his time in Hawaii, Thailand, San Francisco, Indonesia, Iceland, China, Brazil, and Patagonia—to name a few. As evidenced by his Instagram, Anderson's favorite thing to photograph is the great outdoors. "I like to photograph amazing scenes in nature—jaw dropping moments that are hard to believe they are even real," he told Architectural Digest. And he's preferred shooting nature to people ever since he got started. “On the rare occasion I get people in my landscapes and scenes, it’s mostly never planned. I’m a little shy about it,” Anderson told ABC back in 2014.

“The less the camera is able to capture what you’re seeing in a scene, the more editing it needs,” Anderson told ABC. “I’m not necessarily trying to represent nature exactly. I’m trying to make something beautiful like a painter would.” And even though Myspace Tom paved the way for social media innovators, he is no longer involved in the tech world. "I like to help my friends with their [tech] projects, but I'm perfectly happy to never work again," he told AD.

Check out some of his shots, below.