We've all seen it, merit based posts getting rewarded sometimes and sometimes completely shunned. One must consider the lowest common denominator when measuring against humanity and what drives it to do certain things like up-voting or down-voting. Steemit is a toddler yet, acting like a preteen.
(kolam in Boulder, CO)
Do no despair, as long as the bottom does not fall out of the valuations achieved thus far - you still may get your day in the sun. Just as many now famous individuals lived their entire lives painting or creating music died before being discovered, should help you clarify your own intentions about creating content here. I not talking about the copy/paste wizards dumping famous peoples photos here for crazy upvotes - the masses will soon be able to discern what is what.
So back to Van Gogh, do you think he wanted to get rich? Sure he did, but did it happen? Nonetheless, he continued on following his passion scratching out a living. There will always be the over-privileged in our midst... so what they got 10k for a post, if you are jealous or demotivated, it's no different that seeing a 65 yr old dude in a silver Maserati and throwing in the towel on your passion just because he happened to get there before you did. So if this isn't your passion, maybe go easy on yourself and do some reflection, but you know as well as I do that you are pretty much done w/ FB.
(infrared on film - Boulder, CO)
I've been involving with photography and time lapse for a very long time now. I travel the world with a huge bag of camera gear because I love it. People ask, do you sell your work as stock photos. Nope, no real interest in that. I do it because I love it. I was a wedding photographer for several years. Now, I'm quite content to be doing photography that I enjoy. My skill set has evolved and I now do commercial time lapse photography. A fairly small niche, but it pays and it's quite enjoyable.