Posts tagged instagram

photojojo:

Still unsure of “phoneography” having a place in the professional sphere? On March 31, 2013, The New York Times used an Instagram shot for the front page cover story.

Granted, it was a professional photographer who took the photo, but it’s quite a statement nonetheless. Perhaps you really should sign up for those Photojojo University Phoneography 101 classes…

New York Times Uses Instagram Photo for Cover Story

Related: From the FJP archives, Photojournalism vs. Instagram.

UPDATE: Another interesting aspect about the New York Times’ use of this photo is that it isn’t from a recent shoot. Instead, it’s from last year. Nick Laham, the photographer, is based in Brooklyn. His personal site is here.

If Websites Were People

Here’s a video from Cracked.com that personifies popular websites.

Everyday Africa Takes over The New Yorker’s Instagram Feed Via The New Yorker: This week, the photo collective Everyday Africa, a project focussing on images of daily life in Africa, will be posting to The New Yorker’s Instagram feed. Nine photographers across the continent, from Mali to Kenya, are contributing. Here’s The New Yorker on Instagram. And here’s Everyday Africa on Tumblr. Image: A motorcycle taxi driver uses his feet to steer in Bamako, Mali on January 29, by Glenna Gordon

Everyday Africa Takes over The New Yorker’s Instagram Feed

Via The New Yorker:

This week, the photo collective Everyday Africa, a project focussing on images of daily life in Africa, will be posting to The New Yorker’s Instagram feed. Nine photographers across the continent, from Mali to Kenya, are contributing.

Here’s The New Yorker on Instagram.

And here’s Everyday Africa on Tumblr.

Image: A motorcycle taxi driver uses his feet to steer in Bamako, Mali on January 29, by Glenna Gordon

Dear Users:

You are not our customers, you are the cattle we drive to market and auction off to the highest bidder. Enjoy your feed and keep producing the milk.

Reginald Braithwaite, Translation from legalese and PR-speak to English of selected portions of another overfunded startup’s communications as they “monetize” their service.

The News, via CNET:

Instagram said today that it has the perpetual right to sell users’ photographs without payment or notification, a dramatic policy shift that quickly sparked a public outcry.

The new intellectual property policy, which takes effect on January 16, comes three months after Facebook completed its acquisition of the popular photo-sharing site. Unless Instagram users delete their accounts before the January deadline, they cannot opt out.

Under the new policy, Facebook claims the perpetual right to license all public Instagram photos to companies or any other organization, including for advertising purposes, which would effectively transform the Web site into the world’s largest stock photo agency. One irked Twitter user quipped that “Instagram is now the new iStockPhoto, except they won’t have to pay you anything to use your images.”

Read On: CNET, Instagram says it now has the right to sell your photos.

Instagramming Propaganda and the Speed of Experiencing War

One, via Michael Shaw:

[W]elcome to a media space in which we are consuming hostility and processing raw data and raw propaganda almost as quickly as the war correspondent, the fighter pilot, the governments, the diplomats and the antagonists themselves.

Two, via John Edwin Mason:

There’s always been more to war than bombs and bullets. Words and images are weapons, too. They’re the raw material of the propaganda that’s designed to strengthen friends and undermine enemies.

Propaganda has been a part of every war that history knows anything about, and creating and disseminating it has largely been the job of professionals — war doctors, priests, reporters, photographers, politicians, bureaucrats.

Social media and smart phones have let amateurs in on the action.

Three, via Stephen Mayes:

On trust and credibility, it is key to educate ourselves about what we are looking at. I triangulate. I read a bit of information here and there I try to find it elsewhere to validate it. As we saw with Syria, you can fall into a trap. You can read information on 10 blogs but it is all coming from one source. Unless you really dig, it is hard to validate. In the main I think we are all learning that right degree of belief and skepticism in how we treat text and image online. We may be fooled, we may make stupid decisions but we are educating ourselves about what to trust and what not to trust.

It’s not something you can teach.

Images: Selected images from Instagram gathered by searching Israel and Gaza hashtags by John Edwin Mason. Select to embiggen.

Dronestagram: The Drone’s Eye View At the FJP, we’re always fascinated by projects that colonize the new booming platforms and go totally native; adapting the story to survive in a new environment.  Dronestagram posts a satellite view to Instagram showing the location of drone strikes before the attack. By focusing on getting the drone story working well on Instagram, the story automatically gets to mobiles, Facebook, twitter and tumblr easily and elegantly. The inventor and publisher, James Bridle, writes he’s “making these locations just a little bit more visible, a little closer. A little more real.” James Bridle’s CV extends way beyond journalism; as well as his column for the UK-based Observer newspaper, he’s presented at TED and SXSW, and his Iraq War Historiography, a twelve volume encyclopedia of changes to politically contentious wikipedia pages about the second gulf war, has been exhibited in galleries in the US, Europe and Asia. The Bureau of Investigative Journalism provides Bridle with details of the strikes across Pakistan, Yemen, and Somalia. He then researches across “original media reports, wikipedia, local government and media sites” to get the best location and satellite view. This isn’t the first time creative technologists have tried to tell the drone story in creative ways on digital platforms; back in August we posted about Apple rejecting an iPhone application that showed an alert each time a drone strike was reported. But this one has actually reached the public, and is already growing its audience. There’s more on the project The Verge, and you can follow Dronestagram on twitter, tumblr or Instagram, of course.

Dronestagram: The Drone’s Eye View

At the FJP, we’re always fascinated by projects that colonize the new booming platforms and go totally native; adapting the story to survive in a new environment. 

Dronestagram posts a satellite view to Instagram showing the location of drone strikes before the attack. By focusing on getting the drone story working well on Instagram, the story automatically gets to mobiles, Facebook, twitter and tumblr easily and elegantly.

The inventor and publisher, James Bridle, writes he’s “making these locations just a little bit more visible, a little closer. A little more real.”

James Bridle’s CV extends way beyond journalism; as well as his column for the UK-based Observer newspaper, he’s presented at TED and SXSW, and his Iraq War Historiography, a twelve volume encyclopedia of changes to politically contentious wikipedia pages about the second gulf war, has been exhibited in galleries in the US, Europe and Asia.

The Bureau of Investigative Journalism provides Bridle with details of the strikes across Pakistan, Yemen, and Somalia. He then researches across “original media reports, wikipedia, local government and media sites” to get the best location and satellite view.

This isn’t the first time creative technologists have tried to tell the drone story in creative ways on digital platforms; back in August we posted about Apple rejecting an iPhone application that showed an alert each time a drone strike was reported. But this one has actually reached the public, and is already growing its audience.

There’s more on the project The Verge, and you can follow Dronestagram on twitter, tumblr or Instagram, of course.

We just thought this is going to be the fastest way we can cover this and it’s the most dirct route. It’s wasn’t like, ‘Oh, this is a trend, let’s assign this on Instagram.’ It was about how quickly can we get pictures to our readers.

Kira Pollack, director of photography, TIME, to Jeff Bercovici, Forbes. Why Time Magazine Used Instagram To Cover Hurricane Sandy.

TIME gave five photographers access to its Instagram account as they covered Sandy. Many of the images can be seen on TIME’s Lightbox blog.

The cover for the northeast edition of this week’s edition uses one of the Benjamin Lowy’s photos. His work can be seen on his Tumblr.

Bonus: How do Instagram-type apps affect photojournalism? There’s a debate about that. 

Photojournalists Need Their Kicks Too Disclosure: Thems the color of my shoes. — Michael Image: Footwear from Christopher Morris of VII and Charlie Dharapak of AP at the RNC. Via Somophoto.

Photojournalists Need Their Kicks Too

Disclosure: Thems the color of my shoes. — Michael

Image: Footwear from Christopher Morris of VII and Charlie Dharapak of AP at the RNC. Via Somophoto.

Premature Ignition July 4th fireworks in San Diego Bay were cancelled last night after they all pretty much simultaneously exploded on three of the four barges they were to launch from. Garden State Fireworks, the company that was producing the show, released the following statement: “The Garden State Fireworks team will be working throughout the night to determine what technical problem caused the entire show to be launched in about 15 seconds. “We apologize for the brevity of the show and the technical difficulties. More information will be posted when available.” Takeaway: Mistakes can lead to pretty pictures. Image: Instagram of what happens when all your fireworks explode at once. Via benballer.

Premature Ignition

July 4th fireworks in San Diego Bay were cancelled last night after they all pretty much simultaneously exploded on three of the four barges they were to launch from.

Garden State Fireworks, the company that was producing the show, released the following statement:

“The Garden State Fireworks team will be working throughout the night to determine what technical problem caused the entire show to be launched in about 15 seconds.

“We apologize for the brevity of the show and the technical difficulties. More information will be posted when available.”

Takeaway: Mistakes can lead to pretty pictures.

Image: Instagram of what happens when all your fireworks explode at once. Via benballer.

The sale of Instagram brings a harsh reality into focus, the realization that the secret rooms or private spaces online where we can share, chit-chat and hang out with our friends are fading. The few safe havens that do exist are quickly being encroached upon or are next on the shopping list for a company like Google, Apple or Facebook. The few proposed alternatives are still in their infancy… And it is clear that our personal data and online interactions are so valuable that they are powering the Web’s future.

Jenna Wortham uses the sale of Instagram to raise the question, is there anywhere on the internet where we can just hang out with our friends and enjoy our privacy?

Read more: Digital Diary: Instagram and the Internet’s ‘Secret’ Places - NYTimes.com (via onaissues)

FJP: If you’re concerned about how Facebook might use all the data that Instagram collected from you (checkins, geolocation, etc.), The Next Web has an article showing you how to export your account and all that’s in it before deleting it in its entirety.

Facebook Buys Instagram for a Reported $1 Billion That’s billion, with a ‘b’, in cash and stock. Via Mark Zuckerberg: [I]n order to do this well, we need to be mindful about keeping and building on Instagram’s strengths and features rather than just trying to integrate everything into Facebook. That’s why we’re committed to building and growing Instagram independently. Millions of people around the world love the Instagram app and the brand associated with it, and our goal is to help spread this app and brand to even more people. Glad to see they’ll keep it independent. — Michael

Facebook Buys Instagram for a Reported $1 Billion

That’s billion, with a ‘b’, in cash and stock.

Via Mark Zuckerberg:

[I]n order to do this well, we need to be mindful about keeping and building on Instagram’s strengths and features rather than just trying to integrate everything into Facebook.

That’s why we’re committed to building and growing Instagram independently. Millions of people around the world love the Instagram app and the brand associated with it, and our goal is to help spread this app and brand to even more people.

Glad to see they’ll keep it independent. — Michael

Photojournalism v. Instagram, The Battle Continues? A few weeks ago, photographer Nick Stern expressed his grievances against Instagram, chiding its inauthenticity for eroding the value of professional photojournalism: Every time a news organization uses a Hipstamatic or Instagram-style picture in a news report, they are cheating us all. It’s not the photographer who has communicated the emotion into the images. It’s not the pain, the suffering or the horror that is showing through. It’s the work of an app designer in Palo Alto who decided that a nice shallow focus and dark faded border would bring out the best in the image. Yesterday, Heather Murphy, Slate’s Photo Editor, produced a rebuttal in which she pointed out the journalistic value app-driven photography actually creates: Instagram is not a threat to photojournalism. The real threat is that photojournalism professionals are refusing to engage with the platform. If they spent a bit more time with it, they’d see that Instagram is about much more than these faux-vintage-filters. It’s a community of millions of photo addicts, eager to embrace their work, journalistic standards and all.  The FJP: The app-photography v. photojournalism debate is not a new one and you can get the full breadth of Stern and Murphy’s arguments at the links above. At minimum, Murphy agrees with Stern that Instagram should not be a substitute for more formal outlets of presenting photographs. We agree too. Well, Michael did, back in October: The results produce very interesting documentation but I don’t think you can call it photojournalism. There’s just too much fabrication going on. But perhaps the debate sheds light on a more interesting trend. In that same post, Michael wrote of the iphone-as-camera as a tool. Nothing less, nothing more. And in the future-of-journalism light, tools are often fascinating means of creating new communication cultures. Murphy addresses this well. Not only does Instagram “help novice photographers get their feet wet,” but it creates an environment to aid transparency for journalism at large, much in the way that other social media outlets (like Twitter, Tumblr, and Facebook) do for news outlets, individual journalists, and writers. Murphy writes, Reporters like Parker are learning about photography while sharing behind-the-scenes tidbits. Campaigns, we all know by now, are big charades; little deconstructed moments like the directional tape on the floor help make them more interesting, accessible, and real. I can experience photos from photojournalists I admire (the handful who are on the platform), just a few seconds after they took them. I can leave them a question in the comments—and they might answer. They might even like my photos back. So, if we stray a bit from the need to defend the integrity of photojournalism, we can re-locate the debate hashed by Stern and Murphy in a larger conversation on the tools that allow journalism, particularly the process of journalism, to become more transparent, interesting, and accessible to its audience.  -Jihii (photo via Slate)

Photojournalism v. Instagram, The Battle Continues?

A few weeks ago, photographer Nick Stern expressed his grievances against Instagram, chiding its inauthenticity for eroding the value of professional photojournalism:

Every time a news organization uses a Hipstamatic or Instagram-style picture in a news report, they are cheating us all. It’s not the photographer who has communicated the emotion into the images. It’s not the pain, the suffering or the horror that is showing through. It’s the work of an app designer in Palo Alto who decided that a nice shallow focus and dark faded border would bring out the best in the image.

Yesterday, Heather Murphy, Slate’s Photo Editor, produced a rebuttal in which she pointed out the journalistic value app-driven photography actually creates:

Instagram is not a threat to photojournalism. The real threat is that photojournalism professionals are refusing to engage with the platform. If they spent a bit more time with it, they’d see that Instagram is about much more than these faux-vintage-filters. It’s a community of millions of photo addicts, eager to embrace their work, journalistic standards and all. 

The FJP: The app-photography v. photojournalism debate is not a new one and you can get the full breadth of Stern and Murphy’s arguments at the links above. At minimum, Murphy agrees with Stern that Instagram should not be a substitute for more formal outlets of presenting photographs. We agree too. Well, Michael did, back in October:

The results produce very interesting documentation but I don’t think you can call it photojournalism. There’s just too much fabrication going on.

But perhaps the debate sheds light on a more interesting trend. In that same post, Michael wrote of the iphone-as-camera as a tool. Nothing less, nothing more. And in the future-of-journalism light, tools are often fascinating means of creating new communication cultures. Murphy addresses this well. Not only does Instagram “help novice photographers get their feet wet,” but it creates an environment to aid transparency for journalism at large, much in the way that other social media outlets (like Twitter, Tumblr, and Facebook) do for news outlets, individual journalists, and writers. Murphy writes,

Reporters like Parker are learning about photography while sharing behind-the-scenes tidbits. Campaigns, we all know by now, are big charades; little deconstructed moments like the directional tape on the floor help make them more interesting, accessible, and real.

I can experience photos from photojournalists I admire (the handful who are on the platform), just a few seconds after they took them. I can leave them a question in the comments—and they might answer. They might even like my photos back.

So, if we stray a bit from the need to defend the integrity of photojournalism, we can re-locate the debate hashed by Stern and Murphy in a larger conversation on the tools that allow journalism, particularly the process of journalism, to become more transparent, interesting, and accessible to its audience.  -Jihii

(photo via Slate)



The Glamorous Life of a Sports Photographer Nick Lahan had the opportunity to shoot portraits of the New York Yankees and did so using Instagram. The portraits have a not surprising old-timey feel to them. What is surprising is where he set up to shoot. Writes Lahan: “I joined the chain of photographers at 6am in the confines of the New York Yankees Spring Training facility in Tampa, and took what space I could get and worked with it.” 

The Glamorous Life of a Sports Photographer

Nick Lahan had the opportunity to shoot portraits of the New York Yankees and did so using Instagram. The portraits have a not surprising old-timey feel to them. What is surprising is where he set up to shoot.

Writes Lahan: “I joined the chain of photographers at 6am in the confines of the New York Yankees Spring Training facility in Tampa, and took what space I could get and worked with it.” 

life: LIFE.com asked Instagram users to submit photos taken during August 2011’s Hurricane Irene — and the response included pictures that ranged from dramatic and even chilling to simply and surprisingly beautiful. Here, a selection of our favorites.  These are wonderful images in and of themselves but they remind me of a post of ours about how faux-vintage services such as Instagram are feeding into a sense of nostalgia for the present.  At the time we quoted Nathan Jurgenson who wrote: Faux-vintage photography, while seemingly banal, helps illustrate larger trends about social media in general. The faux-vintage photo, while getting a lot of attention in this essay, is merely an illustrative example of a larger trend whereby social media increasingly force us to view our present as always a potential documented past. It’s also interesting that the documentary history of LIFE’s photography is just that, documentary without the filtered artifice that Instagram brings to our photos. That said, still digging this image. — Michael

life:

LIFE.com asked Instagram users to submit photos taken during August 2011’s Hurricane Irene — and the response included pictures that ranged from dramatic and even chilling to simply and surprisingly beautiful. Here, a selection of our favorites. 

These are wonderful images in and of themselves but they remind me of a post of ours about how faux-vintage services such as Instagram are feeding into a sense of nostalgia for the present. 

At the time we quoted Nathan Jurgenson who wrote:

Faux-vintage photography, while seemingly banal, helps illustrate larger trends about social media in general. The faux-vintage photo, while getting a lot of attention in this essay, is merely an illustrative example of a larger trend whereby social media increasingly force us to view our present as always a potential documented past.

It’s also interesting that the documentary history of LIFE’s photography is just that, documentary without the filtered artifice that Instagram brings to our photos.

That said, still digging this image. — Michael