https://www.instagram.com/deadenddoor/

Instagram Photo 3

How did you author the photo you recorded for upload to Instagram?

As with my other photos and videos, I used an iPhone 6s to take this photo. Whilst the apparatus to record images and videos has been the same, I find this to be the case for most people who post to Instagram. For phones, it makes sense to use the phone you carry on a daily basis. For a professional camera, the lens may be changed but the camera remains the same. The equipment adds to the aesthetic of the Instagram. Whilst my Instagram is focused on media produced by a phone, I see many Instagrams with other focuses. For example, many people have Instagram accounts dedicated to film photography (@matt.took.this) or polaroids (@sandy.skene). It all depends on the preference of the author and who they want their content to appeal to.

When taking this photo, I had ample room in the laneway to stand at a distance from the garage door that would allow me to capture the top of nearby buildings. Because it was an overcast day, I think that the photo came out well balanced. Because of this, I didn’t edit the photo. I simply ran it through the Square Fit app so that I could obtain the white bars above and below the image.

Prior to Instagram allowing photos and videos to be dimensions other than a square, I used this app. I have continued to use it as now my decision is based purely on aesthetics. The ‘white bar’ aesthetic is widely seen on Instagram. It is used by both photographers (@dayzedandconfused) and celebrities/people who are simply sharing their life (@w_n_r00). This shows that particular styles seen on Instagram aren’t reserved for particular content. In order for someone to challenge the affordances of Instagram, people are taking inspiration from existing capabilities and adding their own perspective in order to set themselves apart from the rest.

How did you publish the photo you recorded for upload to Instagram?

Publishing was quite simple this week. I walked around some laneways, saw what caught my eye and then proceeded to take a few photos. I really took my time observing the space prior to pulling out my phone because I wanted to have the image in my head first. Then, I took my time setting up the shot to ensure it matched what I saw in my head. After that, I took a few photos to ensure that I had the photo. As for publishing within Instagram, there are a few options that allow for the image to be visible in many places within Instagram. Before deciding that, I thought about the caption. I think that captions are often very important as they make the post more personal. Sometimes however, an image or video can speak for itself. In this case, I kept my caption short. The caption reads ‘Stop sign. Some doors are made only for some people to access.’ The ‘stop sign’ refers to the title of the photograph. Due to the red brick and the dead end nature of my work, I find ‘stop sign’ to be a suitable title. Furthermore, the caption adds a bit of explanation to what I see in the photo. I prefer keeping my captions quite open-ended as I want the viewer to form their own opinion. Then, I had the option of adding a location, hashtags, tags in the caption and tags on the photo. I chose only to add hashtags as over the past few weeks, I have found them to be most useful. It would be interesting to test out the effects tagging accounts would have with engagement but I am unsure of which accounts receive most engagement within the realm of door instagrams.

How did you distribute the photo you published on Instagram to other social media services?

As with the previous weeks, I distributed my photo on Twitter and Tumblr. I’ve yet to see any real engagement with my posts as so far the only engagement has come from bots. Whilst it is simple to tick an option that distributes an Instagram post to other social media, it is difficult for it to be successful if I am not actively engaging with the app that it is on. What this means is that if I were to engage with the hashtags as much as I were on Instagram, then maybe I’d direct more traffic to my Twitter and Tumblr accounts. Furthermore, the only content on my Twitter and Tumblr accounts are foreign Instagram posts. Therefore, it may be wise to also create content specifically for the other social media accounts to demonstrate my interest in them too.