Instagramming Typhoon Haiyan

[BlackXList]

I'm pretty anti Instagram for photojournalism purposes, it rubs me the wrong way for a whole bunch of reasons.

But Kevin Frayer's shots for Newsweek of Typhoon Haiyan are really pretty special:

http://www.newsweek.com/instagramming-typhoon-haiyan-224166?%3F%3F%3F

I'm sure he could have done a great job with any camera, and personally I'd prefer for it to be something other than an Iphone, but I have to say that beyond my own prejudices about the medium, these are very powerful images!

 

[JoeV]

That's a great photo essay, much better than some other stories I've seen from photogs with "real" cameras.

The images in that piece were maybe 500 pixels wide. At that scale, it really matters little what kind of camera was used, the limiting factor to image quality being dynamic range rather than megapixels.

And as a documentary photographer, the first directive is being there, the second directive is getting the images out. A phone-based camera makes getting there easier, while mobile wireless connectivity makes getting the images back out of the disaster area easier. In that regard, I'd say he chose the perfect tool.

~Joe

 

[BlackXList]

Exactly, it made me have to eat some humble pie about the use of phones.

Admittedly there's still the issue of filters, level of control etc, and we can pick out the size they're reproduced at (or able to be reproduced at), but really that's all me being curmudgeonly and made totally irrelevant by the work.

Those are great photos! Regardless of the medium used, and really that's the most important thing.

 

[newsgrunt]

I know and have worked with Kevin and he is indeed an excellent photographer who could craft photos with an Etch A Sketch if it came to that 😉 He's a wonderful soul and has been rewarded over the years with wins in World Press Photo. http://www.worldpressphoto.org/content/peoples-prize-winner

While there was some filtering going on, it wasn't the usual level of Insta that many fall back on with crazy colour renditions and borders. I'm guessing he chose not to do that because he didn't want to trivialize what is happening to the people in the devastated area and that they deserve more than that.

 

[BlackXList]

I know and have worked with Kevin and he is indeed an excellent photographer who could craft photos with an Etch A Sketch if it came to that 😉 He's a wonderful soul and has been rewarded over the years with wins in World Press Photo. http://www.worldpressphoto.org/content/peoples-prize-winner

While there was some filtering going on, it wasn't the usual level of Insta that many fall back on with crazy colour renditions and borders. I'm guessing he chose not to do that because he didn't want to trivialize what is happening to the people in the devastated area and that they deserve more than that.

My grumbling about filtering was in terms of using Instagram as a medium in general, rather than in these photos, which frankly shut me up in terms of any criticisms I could have haha.

He deserves any and all credit he gets, and I shall enjoy checking out that link.

It's wonderful and inspiring to be confronted with work that destroys preconceptions about a method of working, and at the same time creates some wonderful photographs.

 

[newsgrunt]

agree, I'm not the biggest fan of the usual Instagram/Hipstamatic destructive filtering.