DOYOUTRAVEL

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

@DoYouTravel, also known as Jack Morris, is an Instagram practitioner who posts travel related photos and videos onto his account. With 2.7 million followers, Morris began his career on Instagram in his early twenties and is still pursuing his dream at the age of 28. Like Sjana Elise, Morris travels the world and promotes the location, accommodation or certain products. He also sells presets for Lightroom which users can now purchase to use for their own photos. Since gaining much success, Morris is able to travel with his own money and showcase it for his followers to see. He has since started a YouTube channel which he uses to post video blogs of his adventures; using his Instagram account to regularly advertise this content.

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

Again, Instagram doesn’t have a ‘title’ feature within the application, yet the caption provides for an alternative, his reading: “Taking some time to chill at the #AmexPlatinum House before heading to the festival! With plenty of snacks, drinks and even massages by #EQXBodyLab, its the perfect spot to start the day! #AmexAmbassador #AmexLife”

Link: https://www.instagram.com/p/BwP0BfoB2_v/

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

This video was published onto Morris’ Instagram account on the 15th of April, 2019. However, due to the video featuring many effects which would have taken time to achieve, it is assumed to users that this video wasn’t produced on the same day. Morris is constantly on the move, traveling from country to country in a matter of days. He also commonly shares archives from past trips, so it can be hard to know when the content he takes is produced. Nevertheless, this video was taken in Palm Springs for Coachella weekend one, which began on April 12th and finished on the 14th. The video would have been taken during this time.

How was the photo or video authored?

Due to being shot at a birds-eye angle, a video-camera drone would have been used. Morris prefers to use the DJI Mavic Pro & Air when shooting with drones, the Air particularly when traveling as it is so compact. In terms of editing, the software used is unknown. However, due to Morris being an avid user of the program Lightroom, it is assumed that he would have colour graded his footage with his own presets. Like most Instagrammers, Morris sticks to a certain aesthetic on his profile, claiming: “I edit all my photos in the same kind of style with my own Lightroom presets so I guess they all look some what similar because of that. I also look at the grid and try to plan the next image to make sure it works well with the rest of my recent feed” (Morris, 2017.) Furthermore, Morris claims to sometimes use the Instagram editor if his content looks too dark or contrasty. In terms of what equipment the practitioner uses for shooting video content generally for his Instagram, Morris has taken a liking to the Canon 1DX MK2.

How was the photo or video published?

This video was published onto Morris’ Instagram account on April 15th. In response to a question asking about how he uploads high quality content onto an app for a mobile device, Morris replied: “All my images are exported in the highest quality possible. Once exported from Lightroom I airdrop to my phone then post” (Morris, 2017.) This makes sense as Instagram doesn’t have an option for posting content using your computer. As a user, you have to take the next step to using a third-party application to do so. In this day and age, air-dropping takes seconds, and this way Morris is able to save his content into his phone’s photo library.

How was the photo or video distributed?

As this post is a sponsored one, it is clear to viewers the intentions behind it’s distribution. In the geo-tag section of the post, Instagram now lets user’s be able to communicate that the post is linked to a paid-sponsorship. In this case with Morris, his video was created to promote the Amex (American Express) Platinum House which he stayed in during his time at Coachella. Morris has taken the extra step to geo-tag the location also, that being Palm Springs, California. Here, his content gets distributed within the location tag, so users can scroll through when searching ‘Palm Springs’ and find this video. Morris has also tagged @americanexpress in the video, as well as himself, meaning the video would come up in both account’s “tagged” section. Similar to Sjana once again, Morris takes advantage of the ‘highlights’ option and since being an ambassador for Amex, he has created a mini-story in order to create further promotion. This then links his video to the rest of his sponsored content, distributing it further for those interested in his collaboration with the company. This goes above and beyond how distributing content used to be in the past.

REFERENCES:

Morris, J 2017, Do You Travel, Doyoutravel.com, viewed on the 30 April 2019, https://www.doyoutravel.com/