Insta Addict on Instagram – Our Newest Addiction (Part 2 of 2).

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This is the second post on ‘Our Newest Addiction’ series. If you missed our first installment you can read it here: Discovering The World Through Pinterest.

The other social network we’ve recently joined is Instagram.

Channeling Edward Hopper - Scenes from a Hospital Room

If you’re not familiar with Instagram I’ve outlined a simple equation to show you how Instagram works:

Instagram = Insta Addict

It really is that simple.

I’m not sure what was wrong with me but about a year ago I tried using Instagram and I HATED it. I didn’t see the point of the app and I found that the photos taken in Instagram were pretty crappy. I couldn’t understand why everyone was shooting with it and instead I found a happy little home in Hipstamatic, which is still one of my favorite Iphone apps.

But about 7 weeks ago something changed. This was during the time period when my dad was in the hospital and for weeks on end my regular work life was severely interrupted. I spent most of my days with him which meant I wasn’t editing photos or writing that much. Although I always took my regular camera with me to the hospital, a lot of times it was just too intrusive and large to use regularly. At the same time Randy had purchased the new Iphone 4s and the camera on the 4s is out of this world. It’s REALLY, REALLY good. I couldn’t believe the change in quality from the old Iphone 3 to this one. The above photo was one of the first few photos I shot with it and the difference in quality, clarity, color and sharpness is pretty remarkable. I was stunned and hooked! Unfortunately for Randy, I started shooting non stop with it using it whenever I could.

Scenes From a Hospital – Me & Dad, Details from his room, Dad in his wheelchair (For comparison the left & right BW photos in this set were taken with an Ipod – you can tell they are just not as sharp as the one in the middle or the color photos below which were taken with the 4s. :

Views from dad’s hospital room – Broken Homes & Blue Skies Ahead.

One day sitting around in the waiting room I decided to take a gander and check out Instagram again and see why everyone was so into it. Suddenly Instagram mania started to make sense – I could discover new instant photos & photographers from around the world, play voyeur on total strangers a world away and also see what other people I actually knew were up to. Instagram had become like Facebook but with images of daily life around the world instead of wordy updates. As a visual person – it was like a dream come true!

A couple other reasons that Instagram hooked me:

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1. It Helps Me Find New Photo Apps – Instagram saves me research time because I am able to see new apps tested out in other photographers photo streams if they left a comment stating what app they used. This led me on a massive photo app buying spree. Fish eye, multiple exposure, vintage, HDR – you name it and there’s a photo app for it.

2. Celebrity Entertainment – I don’t normally follow any celebrities on Facebook or Twitter and I’m not that interested in celebrity lifestyles but it is kind of interesting on Instagram. I discovered that Snoop Dogg & Mike Tyson are Instagram addicts and I couldn’t resist following them. I learned that Snoop thinks mostly about himself and well, you guessed it – weed. He continually posts photos of himself doing really mundane daily routine things like riding in a car, meeting with other famous people, hanging out with his wife or looking at his shoes. Mike Tyson is another one that only posts photos of himself, tattoos & muscles – not surprising. Their photos were pretty boring so I stopped following them and I started following Jimmy Fallon instead which proved to be a much more entertaining choice.

3. More Time To Create Photos & Less Time Dealing With Upload Hassles – Instagram makes sharing your photos easy as pie. Not only does it instantly share images with your Instagram followers but in less than a second you can share your photo on Facebook & Twitter simultaneously (along with other apps too). Wow! If you don’t work online you may not realize what a bonus this really is. Before Instagram I had to upload photos individually to FB and Twitter – it was annoying. I had continual issues with images not uploading properly and as a result I just didn’t share as many. Instagram has now become a tool in our blogger kit that I would never travel without. It lets me share &  keep up with our all our social networks with the click of ONE button. Sharing photos had suddenly become fun & EASY. I really, really like that.

4. Share Better Quality Photos Easily – Instagram still doesn’t have the best photo taking capabilities. Yes, the filters are better than I remember them but the photo taking quality is, in my opinion, sub-par to a lot of the other Iphone photo apps on the market. However I discovered I could shoot in other applications like HDR Pro and then transfer the photos into Instagram to share them which is fantastic!

The simple truth is that Instagram has changed – more people are using it thus making it more fun, the in-app photo filters are a lot better (a lot of times I will still use an Instagram filter on a photo that I transferred into Instagram from another app) and it has sparked my creativity in new ways. In the hospital it became a great way to relieve stress, document what was happening in my life and take my mind off things. Every 5 minutes I could refresh the feed and find a ton of amazing new photos to scour though. It was the perfect distraction and it was exactly what I needed.

Shooting with the Iphone has now become an entirely new force to reckon with in the world of photography and with all these little gems of photo fun coming from one app, it’s no wonder that by the end of the first day I was officially hooked on Instagram.

Yves St. Laurent’s Garden in Marrakech, Chicken Wings Drying on the Line in Tangier, Morocco & Venice (all taken with old Iphone 3):

If you aren’t on Instagram, now is a great time to check it out!

It’s more fun than ever before and there are a lot of inspiring photographers creating some amazing work!

Our photos on Instagram are a mix of travel & personal work and they are usually very different from the ones I put on Beers & Beans. I’ve kind of used it as my little hub for creating mini-portfolios – Down the Rabbit Hole, In The Rabbit Hole, Wampanoag Trails & On The Road. I’ve also been importing some old Iphone photos of our trip through Europe to the new phone so I can edit them and share them on Instagram.

We’ll also be using Instagram for live updates on our upcoming Maui press trip! I’m really excited to take a lot of In-The-Moment Maui Iphone photos while we’re there. It’s going to be a blast so be sure to follow along!

We’ll be posting more and more of our Iphone travel photos on Beers & Beans as time goes on but if you want to see more of our personal images or if you want to live in the moment with us on our travels…

Please find us on Instagram!

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That’s where all our the newest Iphotos will be. We would also love to hang out with you on Instagram and watch your world unfold through photos. Please find us under the username – BeersandBeans. There is no way to direct you online to our Instagram account so you’ll have to log in through your phone and search for us.

If it’s easier, you can also leave us your Instagram username in the comments below. We’ll log into our account to find and follow you. Then you can easily follow us back that way. See you on there!

Some more of our Instagram photos: A Drop In The Bucket, In The Rabbit Hole #2, Sachem’s Sunset, Somewhere In Time, Wampanagog Trails & The Crossroads

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*Please remember all photos on this website, unless otherwise noted, are copyrighted and property of Beers and Beans Travel Website, Nariko’ s Nest Weddings & Bethany Salvon. Please do not use them without my permission. If you do want to use one of them please contact me first because I do love to share and I would be flattered. Thanks!