Instagram and Its Influence on the Art of Photography

Instagram and Its Influence on the Art of Photography

A guest post by Megan Arevalo

With more than 500 million monthly users, Instagram is now one of the most active social networks, beating Twitter and sitting behind parent company Facebook, which acquired the platform for $1 billion when the company was just 2 years old. The photo-sharing app has morphed to become the leading platform for visual communication, changing the way we consume photography altogether. Some professionals dislike the way things are headed because it cheapens their talents. In the past, painters who were celebrated as artists had a similar feeling towards cameras cameras. Photographs taken were more realistic than paintings and artists were worried that their work would lose its significance. Digital photography has made analog photography a loving memory and whole generation has never even used them.

On the flipside some photographers and artists embrace the Instagram because they can connect with their fans and showcase their work to a new wider audience. The high-quality smartphone cameras don’t replace DSLRs, but they are a viable alternative even for the professionals. Whatever the opinions of professionals, the everyday person can now utilize their smartphone camera and Instagram filters to create appealing photos and build a following – whether their models taking selfies, travellers showing off their destinations, or even meme creators making people laugh.

People are now suddenly inspired by their surroundings as they constantly search for Instagram-worthy moments. Everything from the meal you just cooked, to the book you just finished, to the landmark you visited, can be snapped and has the opportunity to garner likes.  

It is therefore understandable why professionals might feel threatened, especially when advanced filters can make even a low quality image look appealing. However the positioning of objects, lighting and subject matter chosen by career photographers is still likely to have an edge over the average selfie taker. Hours of effort still trumps computer generated airbrushing. Some Instagram celebs still use professionals to take their photos to get the best of both worlds.

In fact the overuse of filters has created a situation where a large percentage of Instagram posts have the same look and somebody who uses a rarer filter or thinks outside of the box can benefit from uniqueness. This may be where professionals still have an edge.

Is Instagram helping to feed narcissism, the kind not typically seen with traditional phorography? Selfies, legs in the beach, taking photos of meals, flexing in the gym, etc are some of the trends popularized by the social network that weren’t that common previously. At the same time however, Instagram is also the main medium behind the popularity of body positivity campaigns as real people share real photos as a form of protest against the rampant use of filters.

Whether we like it or not Instagram is a modernist take on photography and the industry is looking for ways to embrace the technology so that the art form doesn’t alienate the audience.

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Why I Hate Instagram

This cyber warfare photo became possible when I happened across an army tank and grabbed a shot of it with my iPhone.


New Freedom With Photography

When I say I hate Instagram I am using the word "Instagram" as the category of pictures shot with a mobile phone. Now I didn’t always have such a dislike of mobile phone camera photos. I first took notice of such images when a friend of mine, Nevada Wier, showed me the images she was shooting with her iPhone. Damn they looked good! We were on a trip to India and here she was getting awesome looking images with her phone. I had visions of finally being able to discard my DSLR bodies and lenses and all that other camera gear and enjoying a new freedom with my photography.

An Excursion Into iPhone Photography

Unfortunately my brief (so far) excursion into iPhone photography hasn’t quite gone as planned. First, I find it very difficult to shoot great pictures with my phone. I have a hard time holding it steady, a hard time not getting my fingers in the pictures, and a hard time triggering the shutter at the moment I want. Too, I have a hard time finding the beauty in my phone pictures when viewing them on my desktop display (as opposed to my camera screen). Did I mention it is a pain in the butt to learn new things too? Looking on the good side, I sure have a lot of pictures of my cat now!

A Different Reality

Further, grab shots are not what I do. I shoot carefully composited concept images. Sure, the idea of never missing a shot appeals to me, as well as the idea of supplementing my stock library with those spur-of-the-minute opportunities. Yet I find the reality a bit different. I don’t seem to be finding those significantly good spontaneous opportunities and instead I feel constant pressure to produce, and constant disappointment in my own failure to come up with the awesome phone-camera shots that so many of my peers achieve.

Opportunities And “Breaks”

Yes I do continually look for opportunities with my iPhone in hand. Which means that now I never get a break from work! I spend so much time thinking about and “doing” stock photography that I am in constant danger of burn out.  Not having my equipment with me gives me a kind of break from that self-imposed pressure.  Or rather it did, because now I have my "equipment" with me all the time! To be fair I do get some interesting and useful images. In the “cyber warfare” image at the top of this post, the war tank was shot with my iPhone when I unexpectedly saw it on a trip to the dump. Without my iPhone handy I would never have created that stock image.

A Good Attitude And A Great Tool

Okay, yes, the camera phones are a great tool and, I guess, are already contributing to my career. The trick for me, as with most endeavors, is having a good attitude and the self-discipline to keep my approach a healthy one, one that contributes to my way of working rather than distracts from it. For some photographers mobile phone cameras can open up a whole new set of opportunities (check out David Sanger's Instagram work), for me it is one more love/hate relationship to be managed. And, I guess I don’t really hate Instagram after all:).

The Age of Instagram And Stock Photography

This "suspicious cat" (he knows me too well) is the type of picture I end up with when shooting with my iPhone! Oh well....

Cell Phones And Stock Photography 

The hot ticket these days seems to be image captured via phones through apps such as Instagram, Hipstamatic, and God knows how many more piling on by the second. There are stories of advertisers hiring Instagram shooters to shoot campaigns. Stock agencies are starting to have iPhone photo collections. Heck, there is even a new app that IS a stock agency for selling iPhone pictures http://foap.com/! Hey, remember when cell phones were in the picture…not taking them!

A Conundrum

Part of me is pretty excited about the rise of cell phone photography. I have always thought it would be the ultimate to have a pocket-sized camera that I could shoot stock with…a camera I could have with me all of the time. The conundrum comes about, for me, in that I don’t actually like taking pictures with my iPhone.

Cell Phone Cameras And Commercial Opportunities

My old eyes have a lot of trouble seeing what I am doing when trying to shoot with my iPhone; pressing the button at the right moment to make the capture is an elusive talent for me, and the opportunities to capture truly worthwhile imagery, in a commercial sense, seem far fewer than I would have imagined. While that may or may not be true for others, in my case my sense of what is “commercial” is severely restricted by my industry experience. For me a successful commercial image is one that commands numerous repeat licenses over a lengthy period of time. I just don’t seem to be seeing those opportunities as I walk around with my iPhone.

A Passion For Shooting (Not)

You can probably tell from what I am writing that I don’t have passion for shooting with a camera phone. Keep in mind that just about every successful photographer stresses the importance of passion in photographic achievement. Further, though the “Instagram Look” is the hot thing right now, that too will pass.

Embracing New Styles

Photography embraces new styles and looks, absorbs them, expands its repertoire and moves on.  I remember in the 90’s when the leading agency of the time, Tony Stone Images (now Getty Images), would stress the importance of new looks such as cross-processing, shallow depth of field, and a host of other looks.  The “Instagram Look” will doubtless hang around, and some may even do quite well with it. But I believe that, for me, it is only a distraction from what I do well and what I do with passion and what will keep me earning a good living producing stock photos.

A Camera With Me All The time

There is no doubt that having a camera with me all the time, one that is capable of producing images that the agencies handle, can be of benefit.  I am, reluctantly I admit, committed to learning to use my iphone camera. But that is more a belief in embracing change than in expectation that the iPhono will replace my dslr or even supplement it in any significant way. Of course, how many of us scoffed at the idea that pixels would replace film?

Shoot More Pictures!

I do hope that a ton of photographers embrace cell phone photography, particularly professionals engaged in creating stock images. The more of my competition that is spending their time shooting on cell phones the more my own work will stand out. So quite reading this, grab your cell phone, and go out and shoot some pictures!