My Instagram Journey
I started using Instagram in November 2011. It is quite a journey.
In November 2011, I opened an Instagram account. Independent company started something that became a trend and made a change in how people are using smartphones.
Remember today how it was fun and beautiful to look at pictures out of context and enjoy seeing the captured moment.
It was limited to the iOS platform (which is a good thing). As an iOS elitist, this was different than today. iOS was still young (if I remember correctly, I used iPhone 3s or something similar).
Scrolling through photographs limited to your subscriptions was a great experience — no commercials, no “shorts” (or however it is called on a different platform).
Why did I start in the first place? I deeply admire photography as an artistic expression. I was lucky to meet Marija Braut, a famous Croatian photographer, before she died in 2015, at 85 years old (or young, depending on your point of view). She had limitations. On the celluloid tape, she could only take twenty-four shots. Every photo she took had to be good, if not perfect.
Two years ago, I had an interview for some newspapers where the photographer was also present. She had super digital equipment to make four or five shots for a printed article. I asked him to send me all the pictures so I could choose the ones I liked.
- I cannot do that; sorry, it is too large to send to you.
- Oh, why is that so?
- I have around 500 photos.
- You made 500 photos in three hours?
- Yes, he said proudly.
If it could be possible to borrow a monkey from a local zoo and give him a camera, at least ten photos out of five hundred would be good. I bet on that.
Occasionally, I take a photo and publish it on Instagram. The preparation process is almost extreme. I decide what the subject will be, usually somewhere in my town. I go there and take only one shot. I do not have any digital cameras or something like that. I take a picture with my iPhone.
But today, I rarely open Instagram. It is full of crapy pictures (despite some excellent authors sticking to their way).
The first bullet to Instagram was opening it to the Android platform (for years, I used both iPhone and Pixel). The opening platform for Android was a bad move from the artistic point of view and very good money-wise. Suddenly I started seeing wedding pictures with sepia filters. No art in it. Kitch.
Not long after that, Facebook bought Instagram and destroyed its core values.
You know the rest.
I will continue taking photos. Occasionally. Despite the fact that Instagram is now only one marketing place full of scams and bullshit advertising (NLP trainer for 7 USD, really?).
Too bad. A great idea with great implementation can be destroyed when idiots take over.
Go to hell, Meta.
