Jenna Koopman, a sophomore Art History major, snaps a quick picture of the bookshelves inside the John T. Richardson Library before taking a seat to study. She takes a seat, opens up the VSCO Cam app, selects the seventh color scheme, and chooses the Valencia filter on Instagram before posting her final product. This procedure is a familiar one for Koopman, as she frequently posts pictures to impress her 350 followers on Instagram.
Koopman is one of the many smartphone users that have a growing interest in artistic photography. Have photography apps such as Instagram and Hipstamatic switched people’s interest from digital photography and back to film? Is photography moving backwards?
There is something about an older and aesthetically pleasing photograph that attracts viewers, and Instagram attempts to portray that style of art. With 18 different editing filters, the user can choose one and tweak the photograph until they feel it is ready to publish.
“I think older looking photographs seem more nostalgic and add this whole other artistic element,” said Koopman about Instagram filters.
Instagram, however, is not the only smartphone app that allows the user to create artistic photographs. One particular app, Hipstmatic, gives people more options to become a photographer. Users can choose different films, flashes and lenses before taking their photograph, giving them the option to create their own unique filter. The types of lenses, film and flashes resemble previous versions of cameras, giving the photograph an older feel.