Instagram
Onto Instagram. I joined and started uploading iPhone photos to Instagram back in 2010. I’ve only ever uploaded photos which were taken on my iPhone. I thought that it’s a mobile photography platform to be used and viewed on a mobile device. So I used to be all snobby and couldn’t understand why people would upload anything else.
I once wrote a book on ‘Smartphone Photography’ called Snap Shots. I looked at apps for shooting, apps for editing and apps for sharing. Instagram does all three of those in one app. It’s just brilliant. The fact that I don’t shoot or edit with it doesn’t matter. I do share my photos with it and whats more it’s not just an app for sharing your photos on other sites. It’s an amazing social network.
And thats the key. It’s a social network. It’s been embraced my so many photographers to show off their work and so much more. Why am I not using this? Why am I just using it to show, what is for me, the least interesting of my photography? And by that I mean the photos I put the least effort and thought into?
Instagram is so much more than just a photo taking app. It’s become the place to view photographers work. I don’t have to just put my iPhone photos up there. I can share my commercial portrait work. I can put the odd wedding photo on there. I can also put my family and friends stuff up there and everyone can see it all in one place. It’s my photography and my style will hopefully be obvious in all my work. Why limit myself?