When Jessica brought up the ShakeItPhoto iPhone ap again yesterday, I really did not feel it was worth revisiting. I do, however, enjoy making fun of the photos - which led me to idea of doing a legitimate, critical, and objective critique of the photos.
This will give me the opportunity to discuss some of the underlying concepts of the tools and express my feelings about the aesthetics in a (hopefully somewhat) academic manner.
She plans to retort in the comments. I look forward to that.
This photo demonstrates many of the great aspects of SIP. The border, tight crop, and square format add drama to the scene- putting the mundane futon and pillow in a context outside itself. These visual tactics help give the audience the feeling of the scene having significance, though that significane may not be implicity clear. The color saturation gives the photo depth.
As you can see, there are some compositions that the ap just cannot help. However, this photo is probably still more visually appealing than its not-filtered counterpart. At least on the surface. The visual tactics mentioned above also evoke a feeling of nostalgia. The color, composition, and format give the image the illusion of being aged. The audience then attaches a feeling of nostalgia to an event that just occured moments ago. Is that what we really want to do? Create nostalgia? I am anti-nostalgia. Live in the now.
Its like when you look back at old photos and wonder - what was I wearing? or what is with my hair?
How do you decide when to use and when not to? Then some photos take on more significance than others.
Our responsiblity as creators is not to accept these things that water down what we do. Are we complacent with this, or should we be figuring out new, better ways to communicate visually?
The End of The Professional
On the other hand it puts tools into the hands of amatuers. It gives anyone who wants to an opportunity to create something that is potentially more powerful than something she could do on her own. Without having to put in any more effort.
The concept of citizens being able to perform tasks previously reserved for professionals is the one in which I am most interested. Because this can translate to a lot of other situations.
Like the automotive industry. Or business. And especially design.
In the end, it is just a filter. An action. A macro. A program. Are those of you who support the use of these filters suggesting, then, that the machine is better at creation than we?
This is still a bad photo.
So is this one.
Ok I actually like this one.
Beautiful.
Making the family proud.
I realized I was wearing all red. At least I wasn’t wearing all blue.
Good photos are not about gimmicks. They reflect the way one looks at the world. Become a better photographer by re-examining your reality version. LifeFuck.
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