A decidedly average Hipstamatic photo I took last week
Although it appears that not a week goes by without a story of another film stock or photo paper being discontinued, analog photography is undergoing something of a revival at the moment… online… and more specifically on screen, courtesy of the Hipstamatic application. As far as I understand it the point of Hipstamatic is to try and emulate—or at least suggest—the elusive qualities of a print on the backlit screens that we are now all glued to 24/7. I have already had a rant about the lack of clothes on the Emperor that is iPhoneography, so I won’t do the same here. This isn’t a rant about Hipstamatic actually, I think it makes crappy camera phone images taken on the fly look a little better. Also it is giving thousands of users the joy of discovering the beauty of square format and reminds them that once upon a time there was this thing called film. Some photographers even seem to be able to make good pictures with it (as anyone who is friends with Aya Takada on Facebook will know). With the exception of photojournalists using it to casually photograph US soldiers in Afghanistan, I see it as a bit of harmless fun.
No, this rant is about the increasingly popular idea of making actual real-life prints from Hipstamatic images. The Guardian ran a piece this week on a London gallery which is holding an exhibition of Hipstamatic prints. My first thought on reading this was whether prints of Hipstamatic images could be anything but terrible. And a Sunday-afternoon walk through the Marais gave me an answer as I happened upon a gallery with a Hipstamatic print in the window. I may have been influenced by the exquisite Bruce Wrighton prints that I saw just a day earlier at Les Douches gallery, but this print was bad enough to feel like an insult, particularly as they had gone to the trouble of making a pigment print on some fancy paper in a limited edition of 3 priced at over $200 in all its grossly-pixelized glory. This image would never look any good at anything larger than the palm of your hand on the low resolution of a screen. And here it was, a sad piece of hyper-colour mutton (totally over-)dressed as lamb. Can’t we please just let these Hipstamatic images go about their business of passing the time for us on the internet, or on our smart phones where they belong?
9 Comments
I think it depends on the eye and personal vision of the photographer. For me it goes beyond the cheaply won artyness effects of the Hipstamatic. It has boosted my creativity enormously but I still se images as I used to, just more and more often. Sometimes I get put off by the impossible contrasts and don’t use that particular image. But overall it’s liberating not to deal with technically perfect depicting of reality. A minimum of post-enhancement at that. Just see and make image. Get nostalgia or what you will call it, defects and reduction to create a distance and that takes you closer. In fact I’m planning an exhibition of Hipstamatic prints. I hope 7″ to 10″ will work. More abstract motives for enlargement in full fuzzy view. The square format is wonderful to compose in. After this honeymoon I will get back to ordinary photography, the Lumix LX5 that I’ll buy can be set to square format! Right, this has made me long for testing out some real old analog photography. Large format cameras, that would be something!
Hi. I want to share a essay that was published first in the newspaper i work, La Nacion. But i like more the slideshow that i uploaded in youtube. Here is the link of some comments i did about the Hipstamatic actions i used to retouch de photos and the link of the slideshow. About print this kind of photos depend if was made with a iphone or other camera. I did the photos with a DSRL but the plugin shortened the size to 20 to 20 cm. Saludos
http://hernanzenteno.wordpress.com/2011/01/19/translations/
i am a big fan of the hipstamatic but like any tool (camera, paint brush, pencil, etc.) it can’t make art out of crap. the art is in the person wielding the tool not the tool itself. what i do love about hispstamatic is i get to make beloved Holga-esque images without worrying how and whether or not the film got exposed at all and without the expense. what i don’t love is that it is a phone application, after all. what would be cool is if the manufacturers were to come up with a digital Holga!
as far as image size are you aware that you can set it for larger size images up to 8mb? obviously a serious enlargement this will not net you but at least those 4×6′s will be a little nicer.
Thanks for your comments. Interesting to hear that Hipstamatic can be configured for larger size images. So presumably this is not the last we hear of Hipstamatic exhibitions. Maybe we have Polaroid ceasing production of its legendary film to thank for the excitement about its digital replacement. I guess that in the first place, this rant came from the fact that there is so much interesting photography out there, and my frustration that what tends to galvanise interest is brands or Apple apps.
Oh and Nerak, you’re not the first to come up with the digital Holga idea, maybe if enough people get behind it…
Thanks for this text Marc.
I will be curious to know how larger size images can be configured ?
Hipstamatic: It works for many people, but I’m not feeling it (yet). If it gives you personal pleasure, go for it and have fun. But for art purpose, my guts say ‘no’. Because it’s the software that makes the photo, not the photographer – nor the camera. And it’s not even using a proper camera – you use a mobile phone. Worth reading what Tom Hunter says about creating “magic” in photography: “When you work with chemistry, you get chemistry”. Here’s the article I wrote: http://www.sojournposse.com/?p=5241
Thanks for a great post btw.
http://www.bigbobsbigblog.com/2011/02/no-hipstamatic-here.html
If you follow this link you will find a solution to some of this.
Robert
I just printed some 12×12 that turned out gorgeous. I did use genuine fractals to up the resolution, to 300 dpi. Oh and these were shot with a 3GS. I imagine an iPhone 4 would enlarge even more easily.
Hey, some of us out here actually still do shoot with film
It’s not really dead, but its very sick at the moment
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