Thanks for adding to the conversation @shomophoto! Especially since you have had a different experience - it is always nice to get more diverse viewpoints in a conversation like this.
If you are feeling like you aren't getting much human interaction on your posts - maybe take a look at how much outreach you are doing on other peoples pages? Especially other photographers that you admire here on the platform. For me, I have found that people tend to follow and comment on people's posts because they feel a personal connection with them - and not strictly based on the content. Maybe there are discord groups for photographers you could get plugged into to start growing out that network.
One of my favorite stories of this is @sweetjsss. She is obviously one of the top Steemians here on the platform - and she talks about how in the beginning, she would try to leave 100 commetns a day on other people's posts. That blew me away when I heard that and really shifted my perspective on the value of outreach when I was new on here.
Thanks again for stopping by and chiming in! :)