Polishing

  

Everyone loves Instagram don't they? It's just about one of the best bits of socialmediafun you can have. Bet lots of people have saids lots of stuff about it. Because it's ace. I love it.

If my memory serves me well (which it doesn't, often) it was in the John Carpenter directed, Stephen King film, The Car, that I first heard the term, "you can't polish turd". And, like the stain said substrance might leave (sorry), those words have stuck with me; way beyond any other memory of what was probably a pretty dodgy film. Perhaps it was great. I don't know. I can't remember. I can only remember those words. Four sticky words.

"Christine". Actually, the film was called "Christine" wasn't it? There, I can't even remember the name of the film, Google had to remind me. And I can't find any evidence to connect the film with that oh so useful phrase. But it fits: Mono-friended High School über-nerd restores car wreck only to be miraculously, and diabolically, transformed during the rebuild. The car, it turns out, has a dark heart and all sorts of nastiness follows. Why am I telling you all this?

Can't remember.  

Oh, I know. It's Instagram. It does what the unsupportive remark says can't be done. Because even though the idea of applying an instant filter to an image to make it look better would ordinarily be a fakery step too far really, in the context of a socialmediathing, it just works. And works really well. And takes a pretty dull or ordinary snap and adds an atmospheric, even magical quality. It's magic.

Comments

[Djlowry]

Can't remember which weblebrity (apparently you're one, btw, according to Janice) said it, but "Instagram: a great way to ruin a fairly poor quality photo."

Notwithstanding, it's a great entry path into the concept of photoblogging and as always signal vs. noise helps refine the interestingness of any particular source.

My goal for 2011: take a picture of something interesting before Weston gets to it!!

[Richard]

That's a good description, although it's a double negative. Does that make it a positive? Can't remember that bit of maths either.

[spedwig]

In "Christine," a police officer, confronting the somewhat unhinged protagonist (and owner of the titular car)over how incredibly perfect said car looked so short a time after having been smashed up by some "toughs"--the officer says, "They defecated on your dashboard." (or some such thing) The protagonist's response: "Shit wipes."

That's the only thing I recall that relates...

[Richard]

I feel that it was earlier - when he first gets the car. But of course there's also a very good chance it's not in the film at all.

[Daniel]

I still don't get the appeal of Instagram. The problem is that some of those pictures up there aren't turds, but they've been treated and filtered and bordered as if they were. What you've done there is polish a perfectly good bit of stuff with a rag covered in turd residue.

Our grandchildren will look back at our generation's photographs and wonder what the hell we were playing at.

[Daniel]

Oh, and Christine is brilliant, especially for the very-clearly-in-his-forties school bully.

[Richard]

Harsh Daniel. Instagram, like The Twitter, is just actually loads of fun and if you can get over the horror of applying "cheat" filters you'll probably enjoy it. Sharing what you're seeing is kind of cool. So right now in my Instafeed I'm seeing Luke's Bonnie Tyler album, the kid sitting opposite Mike on the train, Nico's daffodil, what Mike saw out of his bedroom window first thing, The Kaiser's daily photo of Otto, the signage Takete passed earlier, Bangkok, Toronto, London, Venice. That's pretty amazing really.

[colin]

Go ahead and apply a filter to an image. i've no problem with that.. digital photography and editing is fine and has been around for years.

try to make me to look at every cr*p photo you've taken, and hope i won't notice you've forced me to visit the same - ugly - and useless website just so i can see it.. and i've had it. NO. please stop.

worst of all, with Twitter for mac you can't block tweets that contain a specific link. But that's not the program's fault.. it's the people who use instagram.

wish they would just keep it to themselves. if you like the aesthetic of the filter then great, either buy a Holga or present your filtered photos in a custom photo blog of some kind.

ugh. enough. thanks for letting me vent. :)

[Richard]

Er…no problem Colin…happy to oblige. Vent away.

[Daniel]

Hmm. Okay. Slightly more convinced now. I think the mention of Bonnie Tyler did it for me. But how is it different from just posting your pics straight onto twitter? I'm just cautious of having yet another network in my pocket.

It's not at the top of my list of "web 2.0ish photo bloggy things to moan about". That spot is reserved for the increasingly cumbersome Flickr.

[Richard]

OK, so I don't use my iPod to take photos normally - I don't have a feel for how easy it is to take one and send it to Twitter. Instagram is, well, instant. It's an integral, though not essential, part of how it works. Snap and share.

[Luke Tonge]

Now I'm glad I posted Bonnie :)

I can see both sides of the argu..debate. Richard, I'm with you in that I love how diverse and contained the idea of a photo-sharing platform is that requires nothing other than my phone – and I hope it stays that way.

Colin, I can see why everyone exclaiming to the world on twitter they've uploaded yet anooother picture is frustrating. Most of us don't do that with Instagram. Maybe don't click on those links?

Daniel, Its different from posting pictures to twitter because its such a simplified and self-contained process.

Before Instagram I rarely used my iPhone camera, certainly never shared images I took on it – its added an element of fun and maybe even purpose to it for me.

[colin]

hehe yeah believe me, i'm trying not to click them.. but sometimes i just get caught out.

it's always disappointing when i do.

nice discussion peoples !

[Wedding Photography Lancashire]

love the retro feel to these images. Reminds me of experimentation I did with Type 59 Polaroid Sheet film on my MPP. I got similar peachy/magenta colour casts along with the haze that some of these images display. Great work! I love topographical photography like this.