So by now you’re all no doubt familiar with iPhone social photography app Instagram (which Alex recently “>reviewed) and if you’ve spent any time working with it you likely noticed a somewhat important omission: a web component. There is no official web interface for Instagram profiles; a user must explicitly “share” a photo and even then only that single image is viewable. There are no galleries or user profiles which makes it difficult to share your profile outside the spiked, aluminum-lined garden of iPhone land.
But now Japanese developer Joe Mio has create this missing web interface in Webstagram. The Webstagram site allows access to most of Instagram’s viewing features without the need for an iPhone or even Instagram itself. I’m wondering what Instagram think of all this. Webstagram apparently works by accessing the Instagram API, which would lead me to believe this behavior is sanctioned, at least tacitly. I wasn’t about to enter my Instagram user/pass to try out the logged in state of Webstagram, so I’ll leave it to someone a little more brave to figure out whether you can favorite things (apparently you can comment directly from Webstagram).
While useful and convenient, aesthetically, Webstagram disappoints. The Instagram experience is very branded and consistent. On the contrary, Webstagram sports a bare-bones interface that detracts from the overall cohesiveness and flow of browsing a feed. Here’s to hoping the Instagram guys whip up their own proper web interface with a little richer feature set and a cleaner design.
Edit: There is an alternative web interface here, although I am not sure that you can reference a user’s feed directly via a url. Thanks Bramus for the link.
Back to the Future is a fascinating project by Irina Werning. She has convinced friends and family to recreate their old photos — in some cases, the resemblance is absolutely uncanny. Of course the location, person, clothes etc are all the exact same, but she’s also done a wonderful job of matching the look and feel of the original photograph. That is way harder than it looks. Matching the lighting must have taken forever!
I want to do this. Off to find some old photos of myself…
Many of you may be familiar with the very talented Folkert Gorter. Not only has he brought us Cargo Collective, but he’s also half of the mysterious and wonderful butdoesitfloat. I was recently browsing his portfolio and found this excellent photography. Make sure to click the images to see the larger sizes, some really nice grain hiding in there.
Perched on a sea cliff in Phuket, Villa Amanzi is making me wish I was anywhere but home right now. The “luxury villa” hotel built in 2008 by architects Original Vision, is a spacious 2,644sm. I was going to throw this into the category of “stuff I can’t have” but then I looked at the rates/reservations page. If you go at the right time you can get the place for $2000/night, and it sleeps 12 people. That’s $166 / night each; not so crazy really. Now I just have to get back down to Thailand. Speaking of which, I was lucky enough to visit there once, I took some pictures.
I’ve been hearing a lot lately about this Vivian Maier person, a street photographer operating during the 60’s and 70’s in New York and Chicago. The work is great, but the story behind the discovery of her work is equally fascinating. Maier passed away a couple years ago and a guy named John Maloof ended up purchasing around 100,000 negatives of her work — 20,000 of which were still in undeveloped rolls — from a furniture store (the store had acquired the work through a storage space non-payment auction). Maloof has been developing the work and posting at VIVIAN MAIER – HER DISCOVERED WORK.
While it’s sad way that Maier never lived to see her work appreciated on a large scale (well, who knows if she even wanted that) but I do find it pretty lucky that her work finally fell into the hands of someone with the interest and skills to bring her body of work to light.
Scott Schumann, also know as the Sartorialist, is the subject of this short and sweet documentary by Intel. It’s very well done and shows some cool behind-the-scenes of Scott’s process. I always wondered how he approaches people on the street! When I was in Japan, I saw some extremely cool fashion walking around, but was usually too nervous to ask people for a photograph (though I will say, asking in Japanese was 100% successful because they were usually laughing at me). Anyway, this documentary is terrific, and short enough that even the most ADD of you can probably make it through.
You know you never know what it is, what that the thing is that draws you to that person, but you just let it happen. It seems odd, but it’s almost like going out there and letting yourself fall in love everyday. – Scott Schumann
Well I have a new toy. No it’s not a $3500 underwater housing for my 5D (though that would be awesome). I’ve been shooting with a little Canon Powershot D10 for the last week and it’s been a lot of fun. If you are considering a trip to anywhere water-lush, I suggest giving the D10 a shot. It’s not perfect, but it sure beats spending a boat load for an SLR underwater housing if you’re strapped for cash.
First, the D10 is waterproof and shockproof. I tested it thoroughly (trust me, I break point-n-shoot cameras regularly). I carried it around in my swimming suit pocket and sat on it, swam with it, dropped it out of moving golf carts and threw it to friends when we didn’t have a ball. The thing is solid. I didn’t have a strap and this was a crucial error. If you are going to parade around with one, definitely invest in some kind of way to connect it to your person.
Next, it’s massively fun to have an amphibious camera that can fit in your pocket. I underestimated how much fun it would be and spent a very long time on various bizarre photo missions (#43. Try to take a photo with the lead singer from Kings of Leon, underwater. *Unsuccessful, but close). Even if you are just in a pool, the camera is worth trying.
The photos above are a few of the cooler ones I got. Dolphins are kind of a cheating way to make a photo look cool, but still, the colors and clarity are nice, especially for a wee little camera. These photos were shot with sand everywhere, all over the lens, and my complete lack of concern for the camera’s well-being. Pretty cool I’d say — it’s nice to not have to treat your camera like a fragile little hamster (5D).
On the negative side, it’s very bulky for a point-n-shoot. If you are in water, who cares, but if you are looking for a one stop shop that you can also bring out with you at night, this isn’t it. Putting it in your pants pocket renders that leg odd looking as it protrudes rather unfortunately. Personally, I also find it ugly, but I gravitate towards all black cameras, so take that with a grain of sea salt. The camera definitely looks more like a toy than a Bell & Ross.
This post certainly cements my affinity for underwater photos (Asako Narahashi will always reign supreme). I have a bunch more, but most are of my friends and I floating in the water, and we isn’t Facebook friends!
