Let’s face it, iPhones have changed the way that we live. They have brought all the resources of the Internet and more to the tips of our fingers, instantly. Yeah, there are other smart phones that do all the same things, but most people will attest that no one has done it quite as well or as sleekly as Apple. Those perfectly rounded corners on each of the apps. That single black button that offers just enough tension. That feeling of power and infinite possibility that you get when you hold one in your hand. The iPhone may very well be the technological tool of our generation, and one of its most important features is its camera.
The widespread popularity of the iPhone has put good quality cameras in the pockets and purses of over 20 million people, the majority of whom would not be carrying one otherwise. Yeah, phones have featured cameras for a while, but the quality of the iPhone 4′s has just reached the point where it is sufficient to replace the digicams of amateur photographers. Why would you need to carry around some clunky (haha) Sony digicam when you’ve got one in your phone that works just as well?
The obvious symptom of this phenomenon has been a frenzy of picture taking. Anything slightly funny, kinda pretty or at all worth remembering has become worthy of documentation. (And then there’s the people like me who compulsively photograph their food for no practical reason… but we’ll save that for another day.) And, of course, if people are taking pictures, they are going to want to show them off. That’s where Instagram comes in.
If you haven’t heard, Instagram is a social picture sharing app that is most easily described as Twitter, but with a pictures instead of words. Users take or upload a photo, crop it, choose between a variety of filters, write a caption and optionally “geotag” their location, then post it for all of their follows to “like” or comment on. Of course, much of Instagram is simply the usual mundane details about people’s lives that we find on Twitter… just visually. The difference though, is that it’s inherently artistic. Whether users’ photography is good or bad, the point is that it exists…and lots of it. With over 10 million users, Instagram brings photography into the everyday lives of a whole lot of people who normally wouldn’t think about art much at all.
This brings up many questions, though. Is Instagram degrading photography by making people think that it’s as simple as putting a picture of their cat through a cool filter? Does the fact that a picture was taken with an iPhone make it less legitimate as art? Can real art actually be generated by the masses, or does it inherently belong to an elite few?
I had a Holga when I was in high school. (I admit it.) One of those plastic cameras that is part of the “Lomography” movement where photography is supposed to be about exploring coincidence… or something like that. I was really into it, though, and got really excited about all my double exposures with light leaks and colored flash effects and all that jazz. So, when the Hipstamatic app came out, before Instagram was popular, my first reaction was to refuse to use it because it was essentially designed to allow people to make pictures that they took on their iPhone look like they were taken on a Holga. I saw it as an insult to the lomographic art form.
Image credit: Appadvice.com
The truth is, though, that professional film is expensive, and so are prints, and the labs that develop professional film are becoming increasingly few and far between. So, I realized that I could be stubborn and pass up those moments when I didn’t have my film camera with me, or I could give in and start taking pics with my phone. Once I let down my elitest guard, I realized that I didn’t have to choose between the two.
There is nothing comparable to the anticipation and excitement you feel when you’re walking to the photo lab after school to pick up your prints. But the ease and convenience of apps like Hipstamatic and Instagram offer an opportunity to see your day-to-day life through an artistic lens, when normally you just wouldn’t have the time. Although I was highly skeptical at first, I’ve come to embrace iPhone photography and appreciate it for what it has to offer.
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You’re correct, taking a photo with an iPhone and putting it through these app filters doesn’t make it art.