Over the past year, Rachael & I have experienced an incredible amount of change… On New Years I planned a proposal, moved to Austin where I slept on a friends couch during a fairly short engagement until our wedding in May, worked hard to establish myself as an Austin wedding photographer, renovated and opened our first studio downtown, started a second business (Don’t be a Square Booth), and nearly all of this happened in the midst of a very busy wedding season! Business is good, and we are thankful for each and every one of our clients, giving God the glory for a fruitful first year! If you know me at all, you know that I typically thrive in fast-paced environments, comfortable with the unknown and would be considered a bit of a ‘risk-taker’. (Myers Briggs personality test: my results were spot on!) I’m learning quickly that sometimes it’s best to say ‘no’ to things, and avoid feeling overwhelmed, where I can have enough time to enjoy life with my friends and family.
As business continues to pick up, something I wasn’t quite prepared for was the possibility that I might fall behind enough that it would lead to ‘burn out’. I had been warned by several photographers in this industry, whom are wiser and much more experienced than I, advising me to protect my schedule to avoid burning myself out, and leave room for creativity and inspiration. Before I let things get too far out of hand, I discovered a great solution in an iPhone application called Instagram. This application was released in 2010, and has quickly become one of the most popular iPhone applications on the market!
Not sure when I first created an account, only using it to post images I wanted to share with my twitter followers for the longest time. About 3-4 months ago, I began to notice that one of my friends Keegan (@keeg), a fellow Austin creative, was using his Instagram on his iPhone to create some pretty impressive photos! He’s a designer by trade, but he could have fooled anyone into believing that he made his living as an professional iPhone photographer! When I asked if he used anything other than his iPhone4 to take any of the photos he posted, he told me about the camera application Camera+, basically a supercharger for your iPhone camera, also allowing you to edit in-camera/phone. I mistakingly downloaded the wrong application at first when I downloaded Pro Camera, a similar application with a few key differences, and the ability to re-allign my consistently crooked images.
After observing how several creatives were using Instagram, focusing on creativity and storytelling with limited gear (no dSLR Camera Body’s or Photoshop CS5), I stopped filling my feed with random and pointless images and was inspired to look for new ways to capture still frames thru the art of iPhone photography. Sometimes I have the same kind of feelings of inspiration, as I did when I first picked up a camera and realized how much I loved it! This has become a fun challenge for me throughout the day, as I try to find new ways to think outside the box. The more comfortable I am using my iPhone as a camera, the less frustrated I get with myself in situations, wishing I would have brought my 5D mark ii, and the plethora of lenses in my camera bag! My ability to create artistic images with nothing more than a phone has inspired me and greatly influenced the way that I approach a typical photo shoot, or even a wedding. (I still have my fingers crossed that a bride will ask me to shoot her entire wedding on my iPhone!)
Now days, one can get lost trying to sort through the many social media platforms out there. Front runners such Twitter, Facebook and Google+ change their look, direction and seemingly their purpose every other week. Trying to keep up with it all can give me a head ache. I have been using most of these less and less as as my schedule fills up, and I began questioning my purpose for using social media in the first place? If you do a google search, you’ll probably find an endless amount of articles discussing what some think to be the purpose, strategies & ideas behind it all. A few weeks ago when we were on the way to watch a UT football game, my wife asked, “When will it be common for students to earn a degree in Social Media at College or University?” I don’t know? This might already be an option somewhere?
The more and more I analyze this idea, the more it worries me. At the end of the day when we check our Facebook notifications, or update our twitter status, our feeling of self worth is too easily effected based upon the number of comments we’ve received or how many new followers we’ve gained? If this is the case, social media becomes nothing more than a complicated popularity contest. I hope you’re not reading this thinking that I am judging anyone for having a Twitter or Facebook account, as I am just as guilty as the next. And yes, I am aware that many positive things can/have come out of this era of social media, giving us the ability to stay connected with friends and family, or catching up on current events around the world, and it has also become an excellent method of advertisement for businesses.
The answer might be different for all of us when we question our motives behind social media. Our society offers promises of better results, faster service and more freedom than ever before. But in the end, it appears that what is happening is just the opposite. With that said, I want to encourage you to ask yourself some of these tough questions, in hopes to find a healthy balance in a time of change. -G
Below are some of my favorite images, that can be found on my Instagram feed: gramfeed.com- @geoffduncan
Another recommended feed that my friends started: gramfeed.com- @where2next
