I’ve been having way too much fun with instagram lately. On its face, it’s an iPhone app that applies all sorts of filters to make bad photos look worse (including an imitation of the lomography look, and including several others that seem intended to negate any progress in camera construction since 1890), in square format, and at an embarrassingly low resolution. (Who needs that 5MP camera in the new iPhone any sort of color fidelity anyway…)
But under the surface, it’s a huge encouragement to really play with image composition, to try extreme colors and contrasts, and to try finding the beauty and interest in the bleak and underexposed. The ancient steel mill in Völklingen turns into a picture with few, if any hints, of being recent. The lights of the neighboring village, reflected in the Mosel river on an entirely too early and entirely too bleak evening, turn into something that almost looks like a painting. If anything, I’ll keep playing, and I’ll probably start playing much more with some of the Lightroom options I haven’t yet started using, for the “real” photos. If you’ve got an iPhone, give it a try!
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