SJANA ELISE 

Who is the practitioner (what is their name?) and when were they practicing?

Sjana Earp, better known as her instagram label “Sjana Elise,” is a photojournalist, yoga instructor and blogger. Producing her largest platform on Instagram with 1.6 million followers, Sjana has been posting photographs onto the app since she was a teenager. However, her career in photojournalism and lifestyle blogging took off in her early twenties. Since then, Sjana has been active on Instagram, gaining further success which led to her creation of a YouTube channel. Having struggled with bullying and severe mental health issues as a teenager, Sjana now focuses on wanting to help others who are currently facing the same difficulties. With yoga becoming a salvation for the 24 year old, she hopes her love and passion for the art will motivate others to try it through the use of her Instagram.

What is the title of the photo or video you have chosen to analyse (can you provide a link?) 

There is no title for this photograph as Instagram has no “title” feature, however the caption goes as follows: “Earth day should be all day, every day 💛🦋🌿💛🐢
@vitaminaswim @playaviva@regenerativeresorts #vitaminaswim#sustainabilityissexy
Pic: @eastonschirra”

Link: https://www.instagram.com/p/BwlDkXqHnO8/?hl=en

With the photo or video, you are examining when was it produced (date)?

This photo was published onto Instagram on the 23rd of April, 2019. It is unclear, however, when this photograph was taken as Sjana had posted similar photographs previous to this one with the same tags in the caption. Yet, digging deeper, this particular photo was taken during a trip to Mexico which only lasted a few days. Hence, the production of the photographs would have been conducted around the time of the trip which began on April 21st.

How was the photo or video authored?

Sjana is commonly found to use her iPhone camera when taking photographs. However, due to this photo being taken by someone else, we assume that not to be the case. Luckily the photographer was tagged: @eastonschirra. Being a professional photographer in this day and age, a majority of his work would be through the use of a digital camera. The photo is also seen to be edited due to the obvious colour grading to enhance the yellows.

How was the photo or video published?

This photo was published onto the social network Instagram, most likely off of Sjana’s iPhone device. Besides the editing, there would have been no hard work publishing this photograph, unlike in the cases of publishing film. Yet, there is a certain aesthetic which Sjana adheres to when publishing her content. Most of her photographs link together with a colour palette; recently they all resemble earthy tones. In the past, she was known for using highly saturated colours. This not only shows off her photographs in a satisfying manner, but produces the idea of creating a “collection” of photos, as an artist would for an exhibition.

How was the photo or video distributed?

The distribution of this photo can easily be detected through the use of Sjana’s tags. She has tagged the company/sponsor of the trip she is on (the swimwear brand), as well as the photographer and the resort she is staying at. Hence, if the companies were to re-upload her photograph, there would be a continuous cycle of links. For instance, in the ‘tagged’ option on her instagram account, you can find the photograph posted by other accounts.

In order for Sjana’s career to thrive, she has to rely on sponsored posts and trips.

Yet, she has come out in saying she only supports companies who support her ideals and values, such as caring for the earth. Sjana also makes use of the ‘highlights’ feature on Instagram, which is an affordance that lets users create mini Insta stories on their profile that don’t disappear. A collection of memories. In this we see a ‘behind the scenes‘ look on the photoshoot itself which produced this photograph. Seeing this Instagram story would have directed user traffic to her posts, as well as to the tagged accounts. What is important to address is that Sjana’s profile is quite clean-cut, meaning her first photographs posted have since been deleted, leaving a clean slate. However, her YouTube account was created after her rise in Insta fame. The traffic coming onto her account would simply be from the distribution of her work with brands and other famous Instagrammers. Sjana is constantly distributing content, posting nearly every single day. This a technique which adheres to the Instagram algorithm and allows her posts to constantly pop up on our feeds and explore page.

REFERENCES:

Earp, S 2019, Sjana , Sjana-Smyle, viewed on 28 april 2019, https://sjana.com.au/