RedLion
Come to the Faire
Great blog post:
http://kennethjarecke.typepad.com/mostly_true/2012/10/instagram-the-devil-and-you.html
A short excerpt:
http://kennethjarecke.typepad.com/mostly_true/2012/10/instagram-the-devil-and-you.html
A short excerpt:
Years from now, you’ll awake in the middle of the night and suddenly realize putting a fake border on a picture makes the whole picture fake. You’ll understand that the technical choices you made destroyed the longterm credibility of both you and your images.
Instead of having a body of work to look back on, you’ll have a sad little collection of noisy digital files that were disposable when you made them, instantly forgotten by your followers (after they gave you a thumbs up), and now totally worthless.
You’ll wish you’d have made those images on a Pentax K1000 and Tri-X (at the very least or most depending on your age and perspective), but the times you failed to record properly will be long gone.
Instead of having a body of work to look back on, you’ll have a sad little collection of noisy digital files that were disposable when you made them, instantly forgotten by your followers (after they gave you a thumbs up), and now totally worthless.
You’ll wish you’d have made those images on a Pentax K1000 and Tri-X (at the very least or most depending on your age and perspective), but the times you failed to record properly will be long gone.
Pickett Wilson
Veteran
Instagram photos are what they are. Disposable.
However, you have to understand that those "enhanced" photos are now the mainstream. What we shoot and the way we shoot is now the counterculture. What we are doing may be what does not survive.
However, you have to understand that those "enhanced" photos are now the mainstream. What we shoot and the way we shoot is now the counterculture. What we are doing may be what does not survive.
pvdhaar
Peter
Not sure what's so evil about images from Instagram, it's just a way to give an image your favorite retro look.. Granted, only time can tell whether they've got more staying power than images shot through Cokin's creative filters (remember those?). But they're invariably more interesting than brick wall or resolution chart shots..
boomguy57
Well-known
Did people feel the same way about the Brownie and the Polaroid back in the day? The effects are silly and frivolous, granted, but the whole idea of photography has been to make things smaller and more easily shared. Otherwise we'd all carry large-format cameras, right? Everyone uses their phone for photography these days, and the silly effects just differentiate from others a bit. Or it's a fad. Or...who cares.
Who the hell is going to want a picture of your cat in 100 years anyway, regardless of whether you made it with Instagram or your K1000+Tri-X?
Who the hell is going to want a picture of your cat in 100 years anyway, regardless of whether you made it with Instagram or your K1000+Tri-X?
Highway 61
Revisited
Neither predestining our work to trash, nor thinking that we are great artists : just doing our best to take pictures which please our eyes, and may deliver something reflecting our original vision about what is surrounding us, then letting people looking at the pictures deciding whether they're nice, or not. And having fun taking pictures with the gear we like, whatever it is.
This is what I'd describe as an honest way to do.
The rest is literature.
Joosep
Well-known
As someone doesnt understand the love and effort I put into film, I dont understand the "cool" factor of "artistic" filters and such.
I dont condemn them tho...
I dont condemn them tho...
Roger Hicks
Veteran
Roger Hicks
Veteran
Neither predestining our work to trash, nor thinking that we are great artists : just doing our best to take pictures which please our eyes, and may deliver something reflecting our original vision about what is surrounding us, then letting people looking at the pictures deciding whether they're nice, or not. And having fun taking pictures with the gear we like, whatever it is.
This is what I'd describe as an honest way to do.
The rest is literature.
Beautiful!
Cheers,
R.
Pherdinand
the snow must go on
oh come on. Instagram is not created for people interested in creating a "body of work".
And there are also plenty of people in between- who don't use instagram, but also don't plan to leave behind a "body of work". Like myself.
And there are also plenty of people in between- who don't use instagram, but also don't plan to leave behind a "body of work". Like myself.
boomguy57
Well-known
There are also people, believe it or not, who use Instagram/Hipstamatic AND shoot film. Like me!
After all, maybe Obi-Wan said it best: "only a Sith deals in absolutes."
rawhead
Established
+1 for this.
It's just another form of expression. And, like it's been said, I've been plenty happy about Instagram shots that I could not have taken with *any* of my "real" cameras, ranging from micro-4/3 to 4x5 film (and my first 8x10 that's on the way), because I didn't have them on me (or would not have had the time to whip them out of my camera bag in time for the shot.
Here's an Instagram shot I took this past summer; I had a 5DmkII AND a Hasselblad SWC/M on me at the time; I was actually taking photos with them minutes before this shot; but when my son started dashing down the dune as I was checking exposure times with my iPhone/Light Meter app, the only camera that could've been ready in time to take the shot was the iPhone. And I was happy enough about it that I cross-posted it onto my Flickr stream (which I rarely do with my Instagram photos).
Dune Runner by Dr. RawheaD, on Flickr
FrozenInTime
Well-known
Great shot and presentation - it will stand the test of time for sure.
Timmy P
Established
Not a fan of it for taking normal pictures from proper camera's and churning them through the app, but considering most cell phone camera's are ****e & designed mainly for their convenience rather than their printability I think instagram is perfect. And it's popularity speaks volumes to that purpose.
Sure, it can be frustrating that someone gets recognition for their "instagram" work, but unless that's affecting your own work (other than wasting enough time for some people to write entire articles about how much they hate instagram) then let them do what they do, while you work on what you do.
Not that anyone on here seems that histrionic about it, but there seems to be many articles of late cropping up on the wider web about the evils of instagram. I think it's great that people are at least making original content rather than recycling lifestyle porn & stolen photos like on pinterest & tumblr.
Sure, it can be frustrating that someone gets recognition for their "instagram" work, but unless that's affecting your own work (other than wasting enough time for some people to write entire articles about how much they hate instagram) then let them do what they do, while you work on what you do.
Not that anyone on here seems that histrionic about it, but there seems to be many articles of late cropping up on the wider web about the evils of instagram. I think it's great that people are at least making original content rather than recycling lifestyle porn & stolen photos like on pinterest & tumblr.
mbisc
Silver Halide User
On a (somewhat) related note, I think my kids (now 1 & 4) will be one of the few kids of their generation to have photos from their childhood in 20/30 years (thanks to Kodak's TMax and other film), while their peers' "photos" will long have gone to an electronic recycling yard or diappeared together with their parents' Facebook page or cell phone...
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boomguy57
Well-known
You might be surprised. I have made two books already of travel snapshots taken with my phone and Hipstamatic. They turned out nicely, and I will have them for a long time. I also make an annual book of photographs documenting my son's life since he was born. He's now almost 8. Many of the shots were digital, and many were film. Either way, they are on a shelf and I look at them regularly. I also give copies to grandparents, and anyone else who wants one.
Ultimately, the two small square books I have made with exclusively square phone photos from my Hipstamatic app have turned out well. I first experimented with the idea on my trip to Portugal in March. I had my MP and X100 with me, but took silly snapshots with my phone. The idea was to publish daily shots in a set on flickr which I called the "travel journal". Friends and family could catch a glimpse of what my wife and I were up to while gone. When I got home I realized that I liked many of them and they documented our trip well. So I imported them into a book, and spent a little time putting notes about where and what each one was while it was fresh in my memory. About 90 minutes and $20 later, I had a book coming my way. My wife and I love that book. It's a great visual record of our trip. I am still working my way through the scans of film and post-processing, and will eventually produce a "real" book for us too (I already tried my hand at one)...but this is informal and not at all pretentious...but that's what this blog link and some comments underneath smack of.
Isn't this in some ways really just another film vs. digital thread? OR another thread on how important it is to print shots and not let them get lost as most digital shots do?
Aren't we all past this yet? Shoot your Brownie, your 8x10, your 120, your Leica M5, your M Monochrom, your SX-70, your XA2...whatever. I don't care. I shoot what works for me. Try spending less time obsessing about what others do. If it bothers you, don't look at them, and certainly don't waste time ranting about it online. Spend time shooting your own photos and looking at ones you like.
froyd
Veteran
On the other hand, the advent of self-published photobooks might actually create some enduring documents that will hopefully be cherished as children grow older.
Pioneer
Veteran
Photography has been developing and changing almost constantly since it was started. It is just the pace of change that has increased. Twenty five years ago I was using a K1000. Today I use an M9. Who knows what I'll be taking pictures with in twenty five more years? It may be some cell phone based device that captures a continuous stream of images from which you can select the one you want, complete with different lighting, depth of field and perspective if I wish.
The only thing that will likely remain constant is that someone will be complaining that it is not real photography because that died when people quit taking still images with their cell phones.
The only thing that will likely remain constant is that someone will be complaining that it is not real photography because that died when people quit taking still images with their cell phones.
Pickett Wilson
Veteran
More likely in 25 years the only cameras allowed will be the surveillance cameras spaced every few feet, wherever you go. Photography will have been banned "for the safety of the children."
MarylandBill
Established
But the importance that it might matter to your children or grandchildren only should not be minimized. My Dad's father was dead for 15 years before I was born; my Dad had no pictures of him and as far as I knew, none existed. Then last year, when I was 41 my Aunt brought some old pictures, including one of my Grandfather. It was hard to say what it meant to see his face for the first time. The fact that it was black and white and looked like it could have been taken yesterday had a lot to do with me deciding to start shooting film.
--
Bill
David_Manning
Well-known
Enjoy the tools you like to use.
I think negatives, as well as digital files, are just storage mediums...digital files are eminently easier and faster to share and archive.
If you want to make a lasting image...really enjoy and partake in photography...you should print the image, which is where longevity and presentation matter.
I have iPhone Hipstamatic images (much better than Instagram to make pictures, I think) that I've printed as both 4x4 and 7x7 inch prints and framed, and they look really nice. And guess what? They'll last a long time, can be handed down, shared, mailed, pored over at the kitchen table, and revered as both document and art.
I'll again state for the record, that until an image hits the printed page, it's not a photograph...it doesn't matter where it came from...Leica M9, iPhone 8MP digital camera, Leica M6, Oly OM-D, Kodak Instamatic and 126 film, EOS 1DX...
I think negatives, as well as digital files, are just storage mediums...digital files are eminently easier and faster to share and archive.
If you want to make a lasting image...really enjoy and partake in photography...you should print the image, which is where longevity and presentation matter.
I have iPhone Hipstamatic images (much better than Instagram to make pictures, I think) that I've printed as both 4x4 and 7x7 inch prints and framed, and they look really nice. And guess what? They'll last a long time, can be handed down, shared, mailed, pored over at the kitchen table, and revered as both document and art.
I'll again state for the record, that until an image hits the printed page, it's not a photograph...it doesn't matter where it came from...Leica M9, iPhone 8MP digital camera, Leica M6, Oly OM-D, Kodak Instamatic and 126 film, EOS 1DX...