Instead of posting a blog about a contemporary artist, I thought it would be interesting to talk about Instagram. And I am sure everyone is familiar with Instagram, a photo-sharing program. It is very popular where people share their digitally filtered photos with their friends (I use this too!) Recently, Facebook acquired Instagram for $1 billion! This shows that Instagram is just as popular as Facebook! I thought Instagram would be an interesting topic to discuss in this blog because it is photography-based program. However, this program uses filtering program like Photoshop, but creates ‘vintage’ touch for a nice quality touch. As I was taking this class, it reminded me of Alfred Stieglitz’s photographs.
As we have already discussed in class and museum, Stieglitz’s filtered photographs are cropped images with ambience with painterly aesthetics. His photographs fall into the Pictorialism movement by manipulating the photo. Now, in the 21st century, with the advanced technology and Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger, the founders of Instagram, everyone can create personalized Pictorialism photo.
When I use one photo from my iPhone to create an Instagram phto, there is one process where the users ‘move and scale’ the image, which is relevant to cropping the image. This simple process is reminiscient of cropping the image we have discussed in class.
To me, I have mixed feelings about Instagram. Since anybody with smart phone can create a pictorialism photo, the value of Stieglitz’s work goes down and people would not be able to appreciate Pictorialism photographs. And now, Instagram creates a
It is really interesting that you made connection with Stieglitz's work and Istagram. Definitely we can crop and control the photographs. Also we can make photographs look like painters with Intagram by using iphone. I can imagine iphone's photography can me an art form.
ReplyDeletelol
It is really interesting that Jackie Cho made connection between Stieglitz's pictorialism photographs and Instagram. Definitely we can crop and change images by using Instagram application with smart phone. We can change photographs to various ways with diverse techniques. I think it make artists be more creative. I can imagine the photo from smartphone could be an art forms sometimes.
ReplyDeleteI found a show in London made through an accumulation of Instagram pictures:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/instagram-powered_art_show_to_open_in_london.php
"My World Shared captures the concept of Instagram," the group says, "to record in images our world around us, our lives, our outlook, our views, and share that view with the rest of the world. It is an individual view, but one that others can relate to, like postcards from a friend."
I'm interested in how Instagram is elevating the view of the common person and their perspective on what is important and worth photographing in what is often seen as mundane.