Instagram has been all over the news recently with the announcement that it’s being purchased by Facebook for one billion dollars. If by some small chance you don’t know what Instagram is you can read a review I wrote here. Stephen Dowling wrote a piece for the BBC online magazine titled “Has Instagram made everyone’s photos look the same?”. I was one of the Instagram users he interviewed, you can read the article in full here. I thought it would be nice to post my responses to Stephen’s questions in full in case you’re curious for more.
1) How long have you used Instagram?
I uploaded my 1st picture to Instagram on October 12th 2010, it was of sausages frying in a pan. Awe inspiring stuff.
2) How does it compare to using xpro/expired film?
I for one don’t use expired film unless it’s been refrigerated from the end of it’s sell buy date. Only two of Instagram’s filters look like Xpro (X-Pro-ii and Lo-fi) there alright but I still prefer the real thing. I generally don’t use the Xpro like filters in Instagram I prefer the subtler ones.
3) What keeps you shooting film?
Film forces you to shoot in a different way. I teach photography and I have noticed that when shooting film people will take a picture and move on. With digital they get stuck in a loop of taking a picture, looking at it on screen and then trying to improve it by re-shooting. With film people generally take a shot and move on. Once the film is finished you can hopefully look forward to the pleasant surprise of getting the film back and seeing what gems you might have. I can’t imagine not shooting film or using it as a teaching tool.
4) Are apps like this hastening the end of film or helping it survive?
I don’t believe that smart phone apps are helping with the demise of film, if anything they are getting people excited about it. There will be lots of people out there that will just use smart phone apps to take pictures and use apps to sex them up. But there will be those who will want to dip there toes in to the world of film photography. I am always pleasantly surprised when I teach photography workshops in colleges and universities to see the amount of students that use film. I have run the same workshop two years running with Bath University Graphics students, more used film the second time round and there not even photography students.
5) Do you think the apps are overused? People using them without really needing to?
I don’t think there over used, people who start to get serious about there none camera phone photography will start to digitally process / enhance there images to change them from there out of the camera state. Using an app on a smart phone is just the same thing as using image editing software on a computer even though it’s a little more limited. Once you start using Instagram in conjunction with other smart phone apps the possibilities are endless.
6) Do you shoot differently using Instagram than you would on film?
I do use Instagram differently to how I use film / DSLR, instagram images can be all about the immediacy of the moment when I want to let people know what I am up to. I generally send my Instagram pictures to Twitter and Facebook. I keep my Flickr stream for “real” pictures that I shoot with film and on a DSLR. I will shoot similar images on Instagram, digital and film. The quality varies and the times at which I post them on line will differ massively. Sometimes you might see similar images popping up on different networks days after I first posted an image to Instagram.
I take trend spotting pictures for Brighton Source Magazine on film. Recently I have started taken a few detailed shots of my street style subjects on Instagram as a teaser as to what might be appearing in the magazine. I know other photographers that use Instagram to document the behind the scenes of there shoots.
Whilst on the subject of Instagram
I am lomokev on Hipstamatic bye the way. I currently have some of my Instagram pictures on display in an exhibition in Berkley CA. For more details on that and the three other exhibitions I am currently involved in read this blog post.
I think it’s very easy to criticise apps like Instagram, Hipstamatic and Analog, but I agree they do have their place. Sure if you want to get original, authentic effects then crack out the film camera. But if you’re recording the moment then there’s nothing wrong with these post effect filters and an upload to flickr/instagram/facebook/twitter. It’s instant and is not supposed to be high art. I’ve even used these post effects on my DSLR photography to give pictures some faked cross-processing, but I’m under no illusion that if I want a proper film effect, I’ll use film. But if I want something now I’ll use my phone.
Some people treat DSLR photos posted to Instergam with a little snobbery, I believe people called Fakestergam!
Honestly maybe it’s just me but I find very few Instagram photos that are all that special. I feel the same way about ‘lomo’ photography. I’m not saying it doesn’t have it’s place but when it’s so easy to grab a film camera and some film why settle for less? I understand the ‘in the moment’ type shot but a good photo is a good photo regardless of the filters put on it.
Maybe I just don’t get it.
did you mean to say “Instagram photos that not are all that special“.
After shooting digital most people will process there images in some way so they don’t look like bog standard flat digital images. Would you say the same thing about people who shot in black and white?