https://www.instagram.com/p/CAHHFqnpE3g/

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

I took this photo on my Google Pixel 2 of my Sansui AU-2900 amplifier. I took the photo of my amplifier as for me it represents good design as it seamlessly compliments my room, in visual aesthetic, function and audio terms. It doesn’t look out of place on my desk and has amazing BIC America speakers connected to it that have great soundscape qualities, making you feel as if the musician is actually in the room with you. Its function is extremely simple yet has quite a few useful features. Although an analogue amplifier from 1976, I have an aux cord connected to it which affords connection to modern devices like my phone or laptop. It also has dials that allow for finer bass, treble and balance adjustment that many modern bluetooth speakers don’t afford.

I took the photo in the camera app on my phone as for some reason when I took the photo on the Instagram app it cropped out half of my amplifier even thought in the viewfinder it was aligned correctly. This may be an android bug as most apps tend to develop for iPhone first. I took the photo in landscape orientation whilst sitting on my desk chair with my elbow propped up by my knee meaning I could get the photo straight. I didn’t use flash however once uploaded to Instagram I moved the contrast up to 52 and the brightness up to 19. I did this to make the photo a overall brighter without losing the darker qualities.

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

I took three photos of the amplifier but spent a bit of time lining up each shot similarly to how Henri Cartier-Bresson spend a lot of time lining up his shots. Out of the three photos I chose this one as it was most inline with the desk. I added the caption “Sansui AU-2900 amplifier” along with the hashtags #amplifier and #audiophile. I decided not to tag anybody and didn’t include a location.

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

The hashtags #amplifier and #audiophile help with distribution as when people are to search for those hashtags they would find my image. If I did include a location tag this would also help with distribution. After the photo was edited I did decide to go back and tag @sansuiworld in the hopes that they would see the image then reupload, spreading my image to other users who follow @sansuiworld. This would help get recognition as the users who follow @sansuiworld would likely also be interested in their products giving them an incentive like the photo and potentially follow my page. I also uplaoded the image to Reddit and Twitter. On Reddit I uploaded the image to the r/audiophile subreddit with the caption “Sansui AU-2900 connected to BIC America speakers”. However the post was hidden from other redditors as I violated rule 4 of the subreddit which is “image posts must show functioning/connected gear, and be accompanied by impressions or a review that adds value to the post. The impressions or review do not need to be exhaustive, but they should strive to explain how you feel about the product(s) and why”. I don’t really use Reddit, so this extra level of code of conduct beyond the usual “no violence or nudity” that is expected with most other social media sites was quite different to what I was used to. I believe this makes reddit the least accessible social media network to be apart of. Compare this experience to Twitter, where I encountered no hurdles to jump over before posting which made uploading there very easy.