The Instagram ban is lifted!

Last week I posted about banning myself from Instagram. Well my week of not allowing myself to use my iphone to post pictures to instagram has come to a close. I let myself use my DSLR instead, and interestingly I took fewer pictures this week than before.

I don't know whether the rainy weather this week influenced my lack of picture taking, but thinking about it I came to the conclusion that it really is so easy to point and shoot with the iphone camera and banning myself really did actually cause me to stop taking pictures because it wasn't so convenient with my DSLR.

However, on Saturday I was walking round London with my DSLR and revelled in taking lots of photos with it, and I definitely get more enjoyment and a better sense of achievement from taking photos with it rather than my iphone camera.

I felt the whole process was more fluid and my photo storytelling was there again, which I was losing a teeny bit with just using the phone to take pictures.

The picture above is before editing, I never tend to edit much, and always aim to keep a picture true to what it the conditions of the day were, unless I am purposely going for a different look. I actually feel there is a better connection and appreciation of my photography this way too, rather than taking photos with the phone and sending them to instagram which I think has throw away connotations to it - once a photo disappears from the feed, in an essence it is lost. Taking photos with my DSLR photos are not forgotten and I appreciate them more.

I'm glad I did this weeks ban, and although there is a place for both types of photography, I have become increasingly wary of the popularity contest side to instagram, and I would prefer to take photos that I love with my DSLR :)

Jonny

Banning myself from Instagram!

So, unless you've been living under The Shard, or a massive rock this past week you will probably have heard that instagram moved into the realms of android, and then there was the colossal 1 billion dollars that was paid by Facebook for the app this week.

I saw plenty of tweets flying around and they were definitely food for thought as the news of the purchase spread across social media; Tweets about topics such as we are living in an era where Kodak filed for bankruptcy a few months ago and won't be manufacturing cameras any more, (the original item that made it a success), while an app has taken the mobile photo world by storm and just been paid a massive fortune for, sure made me stop and think.

This all got me thinking more about my photo taking habits and how they have changed since i got instagram. Recently i have become rather confused as to what I want to use for my photography. In the past few weeks I have actually been out on occasions with my Nikon D60, small Canon video camera and my iphone with instagram on it all at once.

First and foremost I am an artist and photographer and have an eye for a photo or a scene. My Nikon D60 is my trusty old friend that lets me take spectacular pictures with long shutter speeds and so forth but it is bulky compared to my small Canon which I use predominantly for my YouTube videos to film with, but even that small camera is a total Tardis in the photo department! It can do tilt shift and all sorts of magic, you name it, it's got it!

Then comes the iphone and instagram, I can sneakily take a pic here and there without people visibly thinking i am taking photos as i don't have my massive paparazzi lens pointing their way. My phone is always with me as well making it handy and it's easy to use. I also love the fact that my photos can get shared with people instantly, that is what I consider to be one of the greatest points of being an artist in this digital age, I can share my work and people will see it all around the world.

However, every time I take a photo with my phone for instagram I feel a guilt trip for my Nikon D60. It should be the one taking those photos, and certainly I can upload Nikon photos onto my iphone and publish them on instagram but I don't feel that is how I use instagram, I use it more as a story telling platform and as an in the moment diary.

I also am dubious about the quality of the pics on instagram i produce, they are not always technically what I want, but people seem to love the ones I think are ok, and don't show much interest in the ones I think are great haha.... People commented a lot on the mood of the one with the taxis and rain....

Another concern is that we will have all these photos locked away on instagram and for record purposes in the future will the quality be up to scratch, and what will happen if instagram disappears to a future rival? Will people have saved those pics, or is instagram simimlar to the platform it was based upon, a Polaroid snap that people may throw away with time? - A snippet of life, not always intended for longevity.

I feel like I want to ban myself from instagram for a week! Ban the use of my iphone camera, and go back to my Nikon D60. There is something about the digital SLR, I don't feel a cheat as a photographer, maybe I am looking at in the wrong way, there is undoubtedly a place for the digital SLR and an iphone camera hooked up to instagram, it doesn't have to be one or the other, but I know one will prevail and become the preferred method of mine for taking pics on the go. I won't be so simple to get my Nikon out on the bus without some stares to take a picture out of the back window like the one of the taxis.

So starting next Monday I am going to give this a go and go back in time so to speak, and I will be taking my Nikon everywhere and not taking pics on my phone. It will be interesting to see how my photo taking alters! I'll let you know!

Instagram is my new Dailybooth

I recently got an Iphone, and one of the first apps i downloaded was instagram, ok maybe just cus my fiancé had it too, but I was intrigued. I take tonnes of photography so I thought this was going to be a perfect bow to my TKD-ART empire. It hasn't disappointed!  


It's great being able to share photos, and I'm enjoying utting the filters on the photos and getting that old school quality feeling to them that is one of Instagram's trademarks. I have been surprised at a few likes :) What I don't deem amazing photos, (they don't match my Nikon D60's quality), were getting a good number of likes and it's been a bit of a confidence boost in my photography composition! 


So I have been snapping away :) I'm loving it, sharing my daily scenes, and it's great for long distance relationships, it gives that bit more realism for your partner, it shows them what you have been up to, and helps them imagine they could be there too. 


I used to be a big user of Dailybooth but my Dailybooth days are over now. It had it's time and I met fantastic people on there, including Mark. I racked up 1008 pictures, pretty much always one pic a day and i very rarely double boothed. It's a shame the site has changed so much since it began. The community has gone, and has been replaced by spam, and bugs and it's just no fun anymore. It needs a revamp and owners who want to build it up again to a successful site, if it is to stick around and compete against the likes of Instagram.


Instagram has reignited that sort of spark for me that Dailybooth had which is awesome, and it's accessible anywhere on my phone. 


The only thing about my type of Photography is that I like to take photos and tell a story, so one picture never does it for me, I used to have a little series of say 5 or even 15 photos in the comments on Dailybooth below the main picture, and I would often make collages for the main picture! Instagram can't quite do this.. but I still love it.



Here are two pictures from my wandering of London this Sunday when the sun was out in force. They got filters applied and stuff on Instagram though to give them that je ne sais quoi too. 


It's interesting, this shift towards using my phone to share phtography, I wonder if someone might invent a feature for my Nikon D60 to share it's pics instantly, Now that would be cool.


The whole point of putting my artwork on YouTube was to share it with people and now I can do this with Instagram. I am not a fan of Flickr or Deviantart so this is great. I realy like that I can get perspectives from people all around the world, and today one guy I began following actually seemed to be taking pics in similar places around London today! It would have been funny if we had crossed paths....


You'll find me spamming Instagram on a daily basis :D


I'm TKD_ART on Instagram, Go stalking if you want to :) 


See you soon,
Jonny