According to my oldest posted photo, I’ve been an active user for ~7 months. It started off as a nice distraction from Flickr and a fun way to interact with other photographers while on the go. I’d share images on Instagram from various sources: native camera-phone, camera-phone app, or 21-megapixel full frame DSLR. I quickly noticed that the images shot using a DSLR were quite popular! Lots of comments and lots of “Likes.” They looked crisp and sharp, and had a retro/film quality that was new and different. But something about those shots felt too easy to me.
I added:
I have absolutely no qualms with people using iPhones & Apps to produce “interesting” shots and instantly share them with the world.
On the other hand, what I don’t want happening is the use of filters becoming known as “photography”. To real photogs, (SLR or NOT) it takes years of practice, trial and error and a commitment of always trying to get “the shot”. The fact that something that’s interesting enough to be retweeted simply because of a filter is becoming on par with what a 25 year veteran with a 5D produced is just a bit sickening.
I don’t believe The iPhone from 2007-2011 replaced the $10K camera rig but everyone likes to pretend it has and that bothers me.
I still don’t own an SLR. I went from Kodak P&S to Canon G9 through G11 then S95 and LUMIX LX5. Now I run an Olympus Micro – Four Thirds & Canon AE-1. It’s the pursuit of photography that I love and I feel cheated when a shot using Hipstamatic is gracing the NY Times home page and not one from professionals. Maybe I’m just jealous 