Instagram, the Devil, and You.

Agreed, but the "article" seems to negate a well seen image because of the fact that it is shot with Instagram- when many Instagram images have no effects, or no borders, or perhaps just some warmth added, etc. etc. If the intention is nothing more than a screen view IG quality can be quite adequate, and depending on the phone prints can look rather good.

But, as the choir will sing along, the tone deaf will complain 🙂
 
I think a lot of you aren't really getting what the point of the article is, or maybe I'm getting a different point. I think the real meat is that there are not a lot of emotionally resonant, artistic images not because many people are using Instagram, but because papers are relying and crappy instagram shots instead of sending photo jornalists into the field. It would be as if polaroids or 110 pictures were published from amateurs back in the day. Think about the lady and her kids in the Dust Bowl. Do you think an amateur could have taken that. And this is a problem of the papers, not the individuals. They have access to this stuff for free so they take it - often with no permission or source.

I also feel like Instagram is offensive to photo journalism in the fact that you see something important, horrifying, tragic and you take the time to put a ****ty filter on it. It's disrespectful to the subject and the even. It's similar to any special effect you would apply inappropriately in photoshop like "oil painting" or "moziac".

The only place the article fails and becomes someone agist, in my opinion, is at the end where he references proper photography as film. I doubt most of the shots he praises were taken on a film camera, and there's no reason why they should be.
 
I don't understand why people get so uptight about instagram? Today, everyone and their grandmother is a "photographer" and almost everyone enjoys taking pictures. I understand that the introduction to digital photography has made it harder for people to get recognized through their beloved artwork due to mass amounts of crap photos on the interwebs, and instagram ads to that. Sure, a lot of people on instagram have no idea about composure, aperture, shutter speed, how to load a reel of film, or even what the differences between jpeg and raw are. Guess what!? That is where the future is heading. No need to be grumpy about it. Just be proud you know what you are doing behind the lens and enjoy it. let the instagramers do the same and open your mind to the wave of he future' because their no point in complaining about something you cannot change. Or else make a difference and teach a young in how to use a film camera so that they can enjoy photography and appreciate it as much as you do. Photography is fun, so let's all have some fun, yeah?
 
The other day I was going through Magnum photo member books that now can be accessed and downloaded from member profile page. I was looking at Harry Gruyaert books, he's a color shooter, and while looking at his Morocco book it struck me that these images look like they were taken with a cheap cellphone: http://www.magnumphotos.com/C.aspx?VP3=CMS3&VF=MAGO31_10_VForm&ERID=24KL53Z2PM while in fact they were shot on Kodachrome, most likely using a Leica M system.


This is a disaster because what used to be first-rate photography now looks like cellphone stuff. All these apps trying to emulate the past have killed the past of photography, especially color photography.
 
Seriously do you really think black and white film or Kodachrome is more "authentic" than Instagram? Or using single coated lenses or film cameras or take your pick.

They all render reality different than it actually was.

To me instagram lends formerly flat, dull digital photos an element of visual stickiness that they lacked, much the way that Tri-X in Rodinal does for overly grey/flat black and white photos.

If you are grasping at "authenticity" I think you are playing a losing game.

Art, artificial, artifice...

tumblr_m6hjsrMx9i1qamvqvo1_1280.jpg
 
Exdsc said:
The other day I was going through Magnum photo member books that now can be accessed and downloaded from member profile page. I was looking at Harry Gruyaert books, he's a color shooter, and while looking at his Morocco book it struck me that these images look like they were taken with a cheap cellphone: http://www.magnumphotos.com/C.aspx?VP3=CMS3&VF=MAGO31_10_VForm&ERID=24KL53Z2PM while in fact they were shot on Kodachrome, most likely using a Leica M system.


This is a disaster because what used to be first-rate photography now looks like cellphone stuff. All these apps trying to emulate the past have killed the past of photography, especially color photography.
Click to expand...

Gruyaert should really just have used his phone, or a cheap point and shoot, I mean everyone knows how easy that is ... and how bizarre those old Kodachrome's colours can be ... oh now; hang on ...
 
Exdsc said:
This is a disaster because what used to be first-rate photography now looks like cellphone stuff. All these apps trying to emulate the past have killed the past of photography, especially color photography.
Click to expand...

Well, if you only concentrate on the surface I guess, but how about composition, content, etc.? Not sure how anything has been killed by cell phone photos. Nonsense really.
 
I just wish Instagram allowed for rectangular photos. The square can be limiting. But I guess easier to display and allows for a uniformity in presentation in various apps/web pages.
 
You can post recatngular photos by using an iPhone app called 'Whitagram'.

I love Instagram, I've seen so many friends become interested in photography by using it to record their daily lives and develop their own perspective and style with it. How fantastic, that's the point, right? We all want more people to appreciate photography.

I'll be there @rehview
 
Every new anti-Instagram article I read sounds more shrill and frightened. It is what it is - democratized digital processing presets combined with a social network - and you can create beauty with it or post tacky photos of your nail art. It's down to taste, skill, and care, just like everything else. If I had a penny for every amateur photographer who uses Tri-X and a mechanical camera as an affectation to dress up their mundane photos...

I will say that Instagram has affected my own photography more than any equipment I've bought in the past couple of years, in that it's taught me how to make subjects personal to me - and the ongoing relations between my photos - relevant to others.
 
A question for all who were there to witness it ( if indeed any did).

What were the luddites of the time saying when roll film Cameras arrived on the scene?

One generations grave will (or rather could) become the next generations garden.

No one has to like it but, chances are something you believe strongly in is being overtaken by something you don't.
 
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