Dug up this image from my archive as I was thinking about some things I had recently discussed with a friend about the state of the photographic industry and new ‘fads’ like Instagram.  I use instagram to post happy snap pictures and sometimes occasionally an image that i really, really like. Check out my instagram feed here: instagrid.

After giving it some thought…I’ve come to recognize that Instagram, and the square format lend themselves to capturing and sharing quite moments. Quiet, evocative slices of life, or Vignettes sometimes giving insight into who we are, where we’ve come from, or who we photograph. Wether it be our lives or the lives of others, instagram’s format has made the still image social and instant.  The Associated Press’s use of #aponthetrail is a great example of news entities using instagram to share these vignettes.

But does the immediacy of the image take away from the longevity of the images impact?  Is Instagram destroying the industry, flooding the image market , and making the construction and process of image-making too easy and less intellectual?  Yeah, you can shoot it on hipstamatic with the John S lens and Ina’s69 film and it can be cool, hip, and artistic.  But, if your image doesn’t deliver information, or adds no insight or furthers understanding of the subject or the issue, then you’ve failed as a photojournalist. Plain and simple.

What’s your thoughts on instagram?