Sunday 1 April 2012

Instagram

I recently discovered a Forum/debate on Instagram which I feel at the moment is a very debateable subject; I myself am in two minds about it. The images below I sourced from Google images purely because I don’t have my own or the interest to create some.
This argument takes me back to the argument of Analogue V's digital and how people think "if you have a good camera anyone can take a good picture" Which I don’t agree with because it’s about taking all elements of a photograph into account such as composition, lighting, setting, model, props, depth of field etc, which takes skill to be able to apply to a photograph. I feel that it’s the same with instagram, and people feel because they put a few filters and effects on an image, which yes might look good, that they have all the skills that create a "perfect photograph".
A lot of people class instagram as a fun way of editing and sharing photographs with friends and family which I think is a good idea. However, I don’t agree with the aspect of people calling their images "My photography" or "My latest projects" because as I said, none of the images require the skills and technique to become a photographer because anybody can apply filters and effects to different images. Especially the majority of the time, people upload photographs of their dinner each day for a week for example and call it "my photography". If they showed the original image, and the one which has been edited it would just look like a normal snap taken on a low resolution phone for example.
On numerous occasions when I’ve been asked what i study at university the majority of people say "photography, that’s not a real subject, anyone can take a few pictures"
It’s taken a long time for me to understand that the only people who give this reply is those that don’t understand how much photography effects the world as a whole, or the work that it does entail. So when it comes to thinking about instagram I personally know how long it takes to create one single image. However, people on Instagram can create images in minutes which are what frustrates me, because we photographers are the people who get told we don’t do a "proper subject”.
I do agree with how instagram could broaden photography as it becomes more accessible to younger generations and is used on social networking sites. However, I do feel that as a society people should distinguish the differences between a real "photographer" and "Instagram"





Sourced from Google images

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