05 November 2012

Instagram!

I finally got my first smartphone and so I’ve become and Instagrammer. Instagram, the app that turns your camera photos into vintage or grungy or hyper-colored images. I have to admit I love it. The styles achieved with “IG” are what I always tried to achieve thru hours of working in Photoshop. Now, simply press a couple buttons and I’ve made an image that evokes nostalgia as I’ve so often tried to achieve thru Photoshop. And it’s so easy it’s making everyone an artist. Granted, many photos posted on Instagram are lousy snapshots, but many are actually excellent compositions worthy of art galleries and I enjoy perusing the Instagram user galleries. The Instagram revolution has enabled millions more people around the world to express something that’s been inside them but they didn’t have the tools before now. I say this is all a plus. Yes, it’s “competition” for visual attention, but what the heck. More power to everyone to express themselves, I say.

My phone is a lesser model with only a 3.2 megapixel camera. And being an Android phone, I don’t have access to some of the apps (software programs) to enhance images that are available for the iPhone, which itself has a better camera. Nontheless, I’m just starting out and having fun with it. And unless photography is used for official ID photos or to document a crime scene or what have you, whether its end result is fine art or a portrait of a loved one or vacation memento photos, photography has pretty much always been just about having fun.