The Instagram Effect - Polarizing Photographers

Happy Trails
Originally uploaded by Ame Otoko

Most people have a strong opinion about Instagram and the dozens of other apps which quickly apply retro photo effects to an image and, perhaps more importantly, publish them instantly to the website of your choice.

Many purists despise Instagram as a gimmick that cheapens the art of either creating retro images the old-fashioned way, using Lomos, Polaroids or what have you, cross processing film, or partially exposing film to light. Those in the digital world often feel the same way, except that they feel a generic Instagram filter creates a generic retro effect.

The fact of the matter is many photographers love Instagram for its ability to take even a mundane image and make it palatable, at least at first glance.

Being neither a purist or an Instagram fan, I decided to take an analytical approach to the subject. Why do purists dislike tools like Instagram so much? And why do “Instagrammers” (for lack of a better word) love their app so much that they seem to apply it to nearly every image they shoot on their IPhones?

I believe the most basic argument against Instagram is the cheapening of the process. I hate to say it, but photographers can often be like magicians; we do not want the secrets of our trade known to everyman. There is a certain sense of pride we have in being able to create an image, and that pride is pummeled when some noob with a 99 cent app can approximate the same effect with a couple taps on his iPhone screen.

Instagrammers love their app for the basic reason that it gives them a quick and easy way to enhance a photo that quite simply wouldn’t be very interesting otherwise. How many pictures do we need to see of people’s lunches and sleeping dogs anyway? At least with Instagram, we can see their chicken caesar salad as an aging Polaroid.

In defense of Instagrammers, I know some very talented visual artists who actually take good pictures (by good, I mean well composed and thought out) and apply Instagram filters to them. If you look at Instagram from a purely technical standpoint, it is no less of a photography tool than Photoshop. Photoshop is obviously more powerful and customizable, but the results are basically the same: to change an image in a positive visual way. Those of us who use Photoshop and curse Instagram are being a bit hypocritical.

The Instagram effect has its positives as well. First and foremost, it pushes visual artists who have been resting on the laurels of retro-styled images to find a new form of art. Art is always about pushing envelopes and when the masses are now able to create retro images of what they see in their rear-view mirror, it is time for the true artists to move on. Second, and let’s face it, some of the retro styles that have become popular today are things that would have been tossed in the trash outside the darkroom 20 years ago. By accelerating the pace of adoption of retro images, Instagram also accelerates their demise. Good riddance.

Finally, it is important to remember that what a photographer can do with a one-click app is not the same as what he can do in Photoshop, nor the same as what he could do with a Polaroid SX-70 and a pack of expired Polaroid 600 film. To say that an Instagram image will be as good as the same image worked on carefully in Photoshop with multiple layers or shot analog with nature and chemistry having their say in the final image is like saying a Rolex watch is the same as the “Rolox” you bought in some back alley in Hong Kong.

What are your thoughts on the great Instagram debate? The iPhone Killer App? Fad de jour? Proof that Armageddon is near?

Shooting Fashion (Again)

Asia - Fashion Editorial Shoot
Originally uploaded by Ame Otoko

A little known fact about me is that when I was in college, one of my dreams was shooting fashion in New York. Looking back, I have no idea how I came up with this idea and how I intended to make it happen. I did, however, work at a portrait studio part time and shot for a high school yearbook photography studio after that, so I had access to the equipment I needed and put together a modest portfolio that was never going to get me to New York.

Fast-forward to today and I have realized that if there is money to be made in the portraiture business, you must also gain an edge in your presentation. And no style of photography is quite as edgy as fashion.

To me, fashion is about wardrobe, styling and location all coming together to create a theme. The best fashion photographers know instinctively what a model should wear, how a model should be made up and what location to shoot in. A mistake can be as tragic as wearing a polka dot tie with a striped suit.

Recently, I shot my first fashion shoot in, well, let’s just say a very long time. The model is a friend, so she was easy-going and generally went along with whatever I wanted to do. I had her pick wardrobe and she selected a very elegant gray dress.

I selected a location that would work with the elegant, classic style of the dress. At our local college, I found a couple of newer buildings which combine a modern architecture style while embracing the historic style of the rest of the college which was built in the late 1960’s. I picked specific locations with a lot of glass, concrete and steel, which I felt complimented the wardrobe style.

Finally, once I got the images home, I chose treatments that were cool (as in blue hued) with muted tones, that gave the pictures an even more retro-modern feel. A couple of the close-up images I decided to do in B&W as I felt the dress had a classic style that would work well in B&W.

Being able to shoot fashion is another tool a photographer can use to add to the style of images he/she can deliver to a client. As I found out, it takes practice and experimentation to come up with great fashion images, but in the end, it was a lot of fun and I’d like to be able to do more in the future.

Here are a few of the other images we captured on that day.

Shooting Fish

Shinn Pond - Morning Pier
Originally uploaded by Ame Otoko

No, not really. My sudden onset of unemployment has freed up a lot of my mornings though I spend many evenings browsing the career sites, writing cover letters and connecting with my network. But mornings are generally free, so I have taken some time to learn a new hobby, fishing.

I fished fairly often as a child when my parents along with my extended family would go camping in the summer together. Our destination was nearly always somewhere in Northern California, near a lake. My cousins and I would spend hours catching little bluegill and bass, roasting ourselves to a ruddy brown in the summer sun. The rewards of fishing were, well, catching fish, and a tasty albeit bony dinner of whatever we caught that morning.

As I grew older, however, my patience for fishing disappeared and my desire to fish didn’t resurface again until our trip this past summer with my family to the Eastern Sierras. As we stood along the shore of beautiful Silver Lake, I noticed a family next to us relaxing in their beach chairs, poles in the water. In the water in front of them was a string of healthy sized trout that they had caught just sitting in that spot.

My feelings about fishing were confirmed when my mom came up to visit from Arizona, bearing gifts of new fishing rods for my two children. I thought we would go to the local lake, spend a couple hours catching a some fish and go home, disappointed but experienced.

Six hours later, we had not caught a single fish but I practically had to pry my kids away from the dock. They were so intent on catching something, I felt guilty for depriving them of the fishing experience for so long.

A couple weeks later we discovered Shinn Pond, where we met a local man who was friendly and helpful enough to help us catch some fish. Since then, I’ve been hooked, no pun intended.

On a morning I need a recharge, I head over to the pond, catch and release a few fish (they are too small to keep and eat), and enjoy the silence and solitude.

I can’t help but think in my previous life as an employed person, I would have seen fishing as a waste of time. Now I see it as it is: a time to think, relax, and gain some separation from the troubles of the world.

I’ve been using my wife’s four-thirds camera more and more often for casual outings. I love the 20mm f/1.7 pancake lens and the tremendous flexibility you can achieve through it. Fishing and taking pictures alone presents certain challenges, so a small camera is better for these circumstances.

But the theme of this blog entry is relaxing. If it has been a while since you’ve escaped the crazy world that is your life, try fishing. It could change your perspective.

Disneyland - World of Color

Disneyland - World of Color
Originally uploaded by Ame Otoko

Love it or hate it, Disneyland is full of interesting things to shoot, but the greatest things to shoot have to be after the lights go out. Disney California Adventure is a feast of carnival colors after dark, but what trumps everything is the new World of Color light and water show.

A combination of water fountains, misters, lasers and flamethrowers (yes I said flamethrowers), World of Color is so over the top it makes the Bellagio fountains look like your lawn sprinkler.

The majority of the show is based on various Disney movies and music. The movies are projected onto huge sheets of mist in such a way that they almost appear three dimensional. The fountains, bathed in colored lights, are choreographed with the familiar music of Disney blockbusters like The Little Mermaid. And the flamethrowers? Pirates of the Carribean, of course!

You can shoot wide and get an amazing view, but most of the thousands of people in attendance will get similar shots. To get something unique, you have to pick a moment and shoot it tight. I picked a climactic moment toward the end of the show where the music was rising toward a crescendo and the fountains were going off like little volcanoes. Zooming in to get a few silhouettes, I created a background of pure color that could only be Disney magic.

A word of warning - if you get in early and get your Fastpass to get the best views of the show, you will most definitely get wet, and most likely, soaked. We were back pretty far and got a bit of a spray from the mist during parts of the show. You’d be smart to stay back and keep your camera (and yourself) dry than to brave the front row and get yourself soaked. Unless you have a change of clothes, you’ll be in for a chilly rest of the evening.

Oakland Obon Festival Dancer

Oakland Obon Festival Dancer
Originally uploaded by Ame Otoko

Although I admit the Japanese Obon festival is not one of my favorites, it is one of my favorites to photograph. Why? There are many elements that come together that make it a great photo opportunity.

Obon, for those who are not familiar with Japanese tradition, is a festival which derived from a buddhist tradition of honoring the ancestors who have parted from this world. The spirits of these ancestors are said to return to visit the household altars which are prevalent through many Japanese homes. There is obviously a fine line between honoring your ancestors and worshiping them at an altar, and as a christian, it makes me a bit uncomfortable to even approach that line. Still, obon is largely a fun and celebratory festival, like a giant family reunion for many people. Although most obon festivals are held at buddhist temples, much of the religious connotations of the event have long been removed.

I think what makes obon such a great photo opportunity is the fact that many people who participate in obon come dressed for the part, in their colorful summer yukatas (a lighter form of the traditional kimono), and fancy fans. If you attend the spring Cherry Blossom festival in most cities, only a small fraction of attendees dress in traditional clothing.

The dance is the other obvious attraction. Obon dance is basically a giant line dance that circles around a center stage and pit of musicians. Photographing the dancers is as easy as sitting at a sushi boat restaurant; stand in once place long enough and the photo opportunities come to you.

Lastly, obon starts at dusk, which makes it somewhat challenging to shoot but with the effect of having dusk or golden hour lighting to work with. In Oakland, we had to deal with overcast skies and an unseasonably cold evening, so it wasn’t as great as other festivals I have attended. Still, the lights of the festival and the city behind made a great backdrop for the dancers as they passed by.