Smart phones and Instagram: revolutionising the photography world

When digital cameras were invented, it allowed photography to become widely accessible to consumers - there was no film to buy or develop and there was no cost overhead. Smart phones have similarly changed the photography landscape by further reducing the barriers to entry and they've also brought something completely new to the table - social media sharing. Let's call it "Social mobileography".

I'm a hobbyist photographer in my spare time and I have some really good equipment that I dare not calculate the cost. Heaven forbid my wife find out that number either. So does with a camera phone count as a photographer? Sure does!

Cameras are simply a tool to capture a scene and store it. Some tools just take a better quality picture than others, but the end result is that it should tell a story of some kind.

Social mobileography takes the concept of photography in a new and exciting direction and leading the charge is Instagram. It takes the social aspects of Facebook and Twitter and brings it to the world of camera enabled smart phones. You take a shot, apply some funky filters, tag it, upload it to the Instragram community and share it to various other social networks at the same time. In seconds your photo is beamed to a potential audience of millions without any fancy gear - just your phone.

Is it just a fad for smart phone obsessed teens? Well as I mentioned earlier I have some pretty cool camera gear. I was walking around Sydney the other day doing the touristy thing with my whizz bang Canon 5D MK III slung over my shoulder. I took about 5 photos on my pride and joy, but oddly enough found myself having more fun and taking more pictures with Instragram on my iPhone 4S, snapping and sharing as I was walking around the city sights. People were liking my pictures within seconds of me uploading them, which encouraged me to take even more shots!

Social mobileography is here, it's huge, it's fun, it's creatively engaging and it's changing the world of photography and even photo journalism. Just last week Time magazine used Instagram to distrubute hurricane Sandy photos, proving the reach of such technology.

If you're using Instagram or are planning to, feel free to follow some of the Captovate crew – our usernames are: tunapuff, lauracostelloe and mattysoccio.