Say No to Instagram

Today Melbourne looks like this. In April! Without Instagram!

Do you even remember what real colour looks like?

So facebook bought instagram for one billion dollars and everyone had a field day with that titbit. I think the instagram backlash has been creeping up for a while. People making sneaky snarky comments about how anyone can make anything look awesome and indie cool with instagram etc. But all of the instagram photos look the same. They must.

I'm not against instagram really. I have it on my phone but have never made the effort to set it up. I'm good like that.

But what gets me is that sometimes what you are looking at is actually pretty good already. Do we need snazzy-jazzy camera effects to make life look any better? Apparently we do and it is worth one billion to get it happening. 

Don DeLilo wrote a book called White Noise that I studied in my arts undergard days and something in it stayed with me.

When characters Murray and Jack travel to see The Most Photographed Barn in America, Murray stands and watches everyone taking photos. Thousands of photos. Then they leave.

"No one sees the barn" Murray says.

"We're not here to capture an image, we're here to maintain one. Every photograph reinforces the aura...being here is a kind of spiritual surrender. We only see what others see....we've agreed to be a part of a collective perception. It literally colours our vision. 

A religious experince in a way, like all tourism"

 

I think instagram creates this collective perspective of how life should look when we're having fun or having a moment or whatever. Instragram literally colours our vision. Instagram blurs the actual colours and create a false nostalgic image based on photographs styled on the 70s. I'm guessing most people who use instagram were not around in the 70s so for them, this is their 70s photo moment. Which is pretty strange if you think about it.

Sometimes, maybe say no to instagram and take a photo anyway. With all the instagram fans out there it might almost look retro agin.