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Social Photography

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posted on December 29, 2011

Yesterday I finished my edits for the paperback edition of Content Rules (coming out in the spring) and while I didn’t have that many major additions, the one I knew in my heart I had to add was to the chapter on photography to add in what we called Social Photography.

The overall concept is that we all have a camera in our pocket when we leave the house with a smart phone.

As you can see in the photo, I use several different camera applications to take, post process and share when out and about. This instant sharing is where the power of social photography comes in to play and I firmly believe that it is changing the world of photography.

You only need to take one look at the growth of Instagram to see how popular this trend is. I remember when The Best Camera from Chase Jarvis was first released. I loved being able to share little snapshots with the world, but it was missing the community that Instagram gave me. I expect there to be a lot more apps for all platforms in the coming year. It is too popular not to happen. Plus, don’t forget that every social network has the ability to upload and share photos while on the go.

At several recent events, I’ve giggled as I watched someone take a photo with a traditional camera and then take a photo with their phone of the preview on the back of the camera to share it online. How far are we away from more cameras having built in WiFi so that they can upload directly? I recently received (but haven’t used yet) an EyeFi card that does this. What I’m really hoping for is that more traditional cameras will add in GPS to them. That is what I REALLY want.

But, the more the world of photography changes, the more many of us cling to the past.

The book in the photo is a collection of my photos that I took and posted to Instagram in 2011. Snapshots of my life that I wanted to have a hard copy of. Instead of ordering a bunch of individual prints (which I haven’t actually seen available now that I think about it) I ordered a hard cover book from Blurb. I’ve had it in my hand only a couple of hours and already it is a cherished possession full of memories.

While I love moment sharing, I know that those moments pass far to quickly and I want to be able to share them with more people and thus need more ways to capture those moments in the long term. The printed book or the CanvasPop print I recently ordered are two great examples of this.

The world of photography is changing at a rapid pace right now and I’m excited to see where it goes next.

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Categories: Photography
  • Anonymous

    For two years, I’ve been at the point of pulling the trigger on a prosumer collection of camera equipment for both work and pleasure. I see folks like you and Steve Garfield and Adam Weiss wandering around with the duplicate devices, but know – as you alluded – that once you lock in Wifi functionality and GPS into the better device, you won’t need to choose between the two based on sharing. It will just come down to the photo quality you feel like sharing.

    To that end, I got a couple little gifts this holiday that are adding complexity to my camera conundrum. I got a macro/wide-angle lens for the iPhone and also a telephoto. They bring crazy functionality to the phone and ALMOST render the carting around of a DSLR moot.

    Trouble for me is my persnickety nature and OCD about keeping a case on my phone. To properly use both of these add-on lenses, I need to remove my case and go au natural for one and slap on a separate case (with a threaded adapter) for the telephoto.

    So, I’m back at square one, wondering if it’s worth the effort to cart around more equipment just to capture a visual. Are they really worth 1000 words? Or now that we have so many ways to share them and so many apps, devices and destinations, are they as common as a blink of the eye…errrr shutter.

    • http://vubui.com Vu Bui

      I realize this may not sound streamlined, but I have used the little camera connection kit that is always in my Chrome bag and popped my SD card in and shared photos that way before. It’s not QUITE there yet in terms of ease of use, but the benefit is that editing images on iPad is quite a nice experience.

  • http://twitter.com/GraydonSmith Graydon Smith

    The GPS chip in a point and shoot is here.  My niece got a camera for Christmas that has it.  Think it was a cannon, but not sure.

    • http://vubui.com Vu Bui

      Yes, some of the Canon P&S have this already, I bought my dad one for Christmas. Then after seeing that he was still organizing images using folders on his PC, I made him install Picasa so now the GPS metadata actually does something for him. :P

  • Ray C. Loyd

    Love this post. Social photography has undoubtedly blown up. Haven’t had a chance to get an Eye-fi myself yet, but imagining cameras truly becoming social with sharing, GPS, and more digital integrations (like in-camera editing and syndication) is truly exciting. Do you think social video can follow in 2012? Or is video just over the technical curve for the everyday user?

  • http://vubui.com Vu Bui

    My favorite part of the “social photography” phenomenon? Now I don’t look like a weirdo holding my camera/phone up all the time, everywhere, in the least likely photogenic spots. No one is looking at me do this… because they are all taking photos too.

    But don’t do it with an SLR. Then you’re a terrorist. ;)

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  • Sarah

    Hipstamatic?

    • http://www.cc-chapman.com/ C.C. Chapman

      Great app, but not one I personally use that often.