An Insolent Southern Man

A couple of weekends ago, I did my first backpacking trip since last year’s broken leg. At first, Marcus and I were going to go to the Smokies, but the recent rise in gas prices had us looking for somewhere closer. We ended up going to the Panther Creek trail, which is in the Chattahoochee National Forest in Habersham County, GA. I’ve walked this trail a couple of times from each end, but it has been at least a decade since my last trip here. (When I realized this, I suddenly realized how old I’m getting to be.)

In the quest to capture ideas when they happen, and share them with you whenever possible, I recently downloaded an app for my iPhone called BloggerPlus. I like the idea if being able to post and share on the go. This is my first post using it, and I just wanted to see how well it worked. I'm sure that later on, I'll be writing up a review and posting it here as well.

BTW - I already use the WordPress mobile app for my studio blog, but I've never actually posted anything with it. I've just used it to moderate comments. This being a Blogger blog, that app obviously wouldn't work.

Why not just take notes and remember things and write the post later? If you really need my answer to that, then go back and read my first post.

--Posted from my iPhone

I have to admit it, I play with the Hipstamatic app on my iPhone. I know, I know... all the cool photographers hate it. You now what? I don't give a $#!+. In fact, I'm sick of all the elitist attitude. I liked photography a whole lot more when I was having fun and it was less of a job. I used to get out and ride around, looking for old houses, barns, and other rural southern scenes to shoot. After I started doing portraits, I lost interest in scenes almost altogether. Sure, I like looking at other people's work, but I didn't care to get out and shoot stuff myself.

Now, before we go any further, let's get something straight. Not every post I do here is going to be photography related. This is just what happens to be on my mind today. Since this is a Blogger blog site, it's a whole lot easier for me to just use Picasa to upload and host my images. Sure, I could use Flickr, but I don't want to post everything over there just so I can use it here. I've got all of my hiking and backpacking photos over there, and I'd like to keep it that way. Last night I installed the Picasa App on my laptop, and it scanned though my libraries, and I happened to come across my iPhone photos from back in the summer. That's what led me to thinking about Hipstamatic.

I've got a load of photos on there that I really, really like on there. Like this one:



I love this photo! What I love even more was that I all I did was choose a few settings, point the thing , and shoot. A few seconds later and "POOF!" - Instant cool photo.

So why do most photographers I know hate this app? I actually think they hate it because of a few reasons: 1.) They see a little too much of it coming from people. 2.) It takes better photos than the ones they spend hours in Photoshop trying to make themselves. 3.) Perhaps it's because it allows common users to make photos that are more interesting than the ones they invested time and energy into making. Either way, it's a shortcut that anyone can use to make retro-looking photos.

That being said, it's not an end all means. There's still looks you can't do with it. There will always be the art form of carefully crafting an image. So my advice to the naysayers is to get off your high horses and let it be. If you're being shown up by a Hipstamatic photo, then perhaps you need to step up your game instead of hating the app.

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