Instagram isn’t really suited for the photographer.
And how VSCO will change that.
It’s been said, ad nauseum, that the best camera is the one that’s with you. Case in point: the iPhone is the most popular digital camera on Flickr and, let’s be realistic, the world. Instagram, with 100 million users, has become a brilliant showcase of photography that has been created with that thing in your pocket.
Instagram, as fantastic as it is, came with restraint. And, for the sake of argument, the not-good-kinds of restraint.
The interface
Instagram was never meant to focus on the photographer. It’s a social network that works on a timeline, just like Facebook or Twitter. My qualms aren’t with the service itself; it’s with the interface and the way photos are viewed.
You scroll through your Instagram feed, you like photos, maybe comment, and rinse and repeat. Rarely do you pay attention to the person who took the photo. There’s a *tiny* avatar and username above the photo, which will take you to their complete body of work, but I’m willing to bet hardly anyone takes the time to enjoy this person’s work.
Now, I understand that not everyone is thinking about Instagram in the same manner I am. Hell, I may be a minutia of a fraction of people that believe this. Still, I’m on my soapbox.
Instagram is for squares
This may be an argument that has had it’s time in the sun, but I still, and always will, feel discomfort with a strict 1:1 crop ratio. Of course, some folks have gotten around that restriction by adding a white border above and below their 4:3 image, but therein lies losing image quality.
Instagram is a great place to put photos, but I don’t compose my images with a square in mind. I’ve been using VSCO’s VSCO Cam since the day it was released to shoot and edit my photos. Afterwards, when it’s time to put these photos on the internet, I’m faced with a problem:
• Should I save the original un-cropped photo to my camera roll, square it up in Instagram, then share that original un-cropped photo to my website or Tumblr?
• Do I add those weird white borders and sacrifice image quality on Instagram?
• Wait, maybe I should just shoot in square format.
Holy crap. There are so many ways to screw this up and I’ve done all of them.
I’m a bit afraid to admit this, but I’ve even sketched out, on paper, workflows that could be better and I alway end at an impasse.
Ultimately, the thing keeping me from feeling satisfied is the square format and, being the son of two accountants, the lack of uniformity.
Introducing VSCO Grid
This afternoon, VSCO announced their new platform, appropriately named VSCO Grids.
YOU GUYS. IT SOLVES EVERYTHING I’VE BEEN COMPLAINING ABOUT (in this article, at least).
It’s about the photographers
Once the new and highly-anticipated version of VSCO Cam is available, you’ll be able to reserve your username for VSCO Grid. You have your own branding and it’s focused 110% on your own work. You can’t follow anyone, no comments; just a perfect and gorgeous display of those photos you take.
Sure, it’s just like having your own website. But, as someone who takes a lot of photos on their phone knows, having one easy place to put them makes all the difference in the world. Bonus points if it looks kick ass.
No image restraints
I don’t need to go into too much detail here. You can upload whatever ratio you want. Go crazy with portrait or landscape photos. Make something awesome with 16x9. This is killer and ‘nuff said.
If you’re still with me, a few more things. The folks at VSCO, whom I don’t know personally, but would buy them a round of beers in a heartbeat, have been making tools for photographers for a few years now. I own all of their VSCO Film packs and VSCO Cam (sorry, VSCO, I haven’t bought VSCO Keys, yet).
I don’t think they’ve built tools to make your life as a photographer easier; they’ve changed everything. And I’m saying this without having touched the new version of VSCO Cam or VSCO Grid. Shit, this probably sounds cliché, but the city of mobile photography was reconstructed with walls of steel by the VSCO team.
I don’t think it’s possible to own the rights to a form of art, but these guys should at least own the key to the city.
