How did you author (the photo or video) you recorded for upload to Instagram?
The video was captured on my Samsung s5 using the rear camera. I didn’t use the start-stop feature of the video because all my other video posts are captured using one continuous shot, and I wanted to maintain the same aesthetic and consistency in my videos. The audio is not muted because I wanted to leave the sound of the door closing as part of the video.
I changed the cover feature to a thumbnail that framed more of the door than there was in the default thumbnail. I made a conscious effort to change the cover image for this video post as I had forgotten to do so in week 11.
I previously had an obligatory train door closing video drafted for this week, but for some unknown reason, Instagram kept turning the video 90 degrees whenever I went to edit it. I thought that logging out and in again would fix the issue, but logging out caused me to lose the draft. So I had to record a new video instead.
How did you publish (the photo or video) you recorded for upload to Instagram?
I added the location of Sunshine Marketplace before uploading. When I captured the video, I edited it and saved it as a draft as I didn’t have net while I was out. I waited until I was at home so I could post the draft and add the location.
I didn’t put in a caption as I didn’t really know what to say about the car door, so I only captioned the tags.
How did you distribute (the photo or video) you published on Instagram to other social media services?
I shared this video onto Twitter and Tumblr by switching the respective toggles before publishing it to Instagram. Since I had to log out trying to fix the draft issue, I had to log into my accounts.
I ended up using the hashtags “#door”, #doors”, #sunshine”, and “#car”, but the car tag attracted an audience that was interested in racing so I edited the post and removed the tag.
How did you author (the photo or video) you recorded for upload to Instagram?
I used my Samsung s5’s rear camera to capture this image. Since the door was at the end of hallway-ish thing, it was a little difficult to get the right lighting to see the silhouette on the door. I discovered that by lowering myself closer to the ground, the lighting was better than if I had just stood up.
I raised the brightness and contrast, and reduced the saturation. I also used the Stinson filter at 26% again. As I am familiar with Photoshop and Snapseed, adjusting the brightness and contrast becomes an almost natural process when editing photos. As Instagram also presents itself as an image editing platform, I was aware and conscious of the fact that there was the option to edit the image, and it was easy to implement these features, despite the fact that I don’t usually use Instagram to edit photos.
Khoo et al. (2017, p. 5) propose that ‘specific pieces of software work to both enable and constrain creative practices’. This can be seen through Instagram, as the app may afford the editing of images, the features that the app hosts isn’t as detailed as software dedicated solely to editing photos–such as Photoshop; Instagram is inferior in that it doesn’t allow the editing of curves or levels like Photoshop or Snapseed does. The editing features are easy to access due to the user friendly interface, which promotes and encourages users to engage with the app so that the users also have the potential to become producers.
How did you publish (the photo or video) you recorded for upload to Instagram?
I ended up taking various photos through the Instagram app as I wanted to achieve optimal light so the figure could be seen on the door. The lighting was better when I lowered myself closer to the ground, and the figure became more prominent.
I didn’t put a location as part of the photo as I had taken the photo at home. The caption that I put on the post was “i know i need sleep when i can see the figure on the door. can anyone else see him?” which was just an observation. I think I’ve given up trying to be witty with my posts.
How did you distribute (the photo or video) you published on Instagram to other social media services?
To distribute this photo to other social media services, it was a simple process of switching the “Twitter” and “Tumblr” toggle so that it was blue. I had already logged in a couple of weeks before, so I didn’t need to log into my accounts again.
I tagged my photo with “#door”, “#doors”, “#networkedmedia”, and “#spoopy”. The hashtags that appeared on Twitter and Tumblr were the ones that I used in the Instagram’s post description. I used to comment the hashtags, but putting them in the description of the Instagram post allows for automatic tagging rather than manually putting the tags in myself.
References
E, Khoo, Hight, C, Torrens, R & Cowie, B 2017, Software Literacy: Education and Beyond, SpringerBriefs in Education, Singapore.
How did you author (the photo or video) you recorded for upload to Instagram?
I used my Samsung s5 rear camera to record this video. I recorded this video various times, trying to get the framing right so the locks wouldn’t get cut off–especially the overhead bolt. I ended up recording it four times before I decided on the fourth attempt. I did it in one-take, similar to the video that I took in week 9. I left the audio because I wanted to keep the sounds of the locks.
I had forgot to change the cover of the video as I had forgotten that it was a feature; I usually don’t use Instagram to upload videos so I wasn’t used to it being an option. Since I can’t go back to edit the video itself after it’s published, I left cover image as it was instead of changing it.
How did you publish (the photo or video) you recorded for upload to Instagram?
I put the caption “security matters when you live in Sunshine”. In the tutorial, Nash spoke about our accounts needing a theme or a “brand” that we wanted to “sell”. I guess what I want to explore is the various ways that doors–some falling in their usual way, and others in different ways. As the video was recorded at home, I didn’t tag the location but the caption does state that I reside somewhere in Sunshine.
How did you distribute (the photo or video) you published on Instagram to other social media services?
To distribute this video, I toggled the button to allow Instagram to post to Twitter and Tumblr for me. Since the tags were in the caption instead of a comment, the video appeared in the tags on Twitter. As for Tumblr, the tags were automatically added to the tags section of the post, which was a little surprising since I had to manually input the tags for the photo.
How did you author (the photo or video) you recorded for upload to Instagram?
I used my Samsung s5 rear camera to capture this picture, through the Instagram app. Because of the square format, I wasn’t sure how far or close I wanted to be to the door. I wanted the viewer to be able to see the plate of pipe cleaners and googly eyes on the door, but I didn’t want to get too close, because it would compromise the image of the door itself.
I ended up publishing this image twice before I was happy with it. The first time around, I had lowered the warmth to make the image look more white. While it did work, it didn’t match my other two posts, which I had mistakenly edited as a little too warm for the white, clean, high contrast look I was going for. So I took down the first post and raised the warmth to give it a more orange-yellow hue.
I raised the brightness, lowered the contrast, tried to get rid of some of the shadows, sharpened it, lowered the saturation by a little, and used the the Stinson filter set at 26 (again).
When I usually edit a photo, I have the ability to choose a marker on the image that should be white, and my editing app will automate the white balance. Since Instagram’s editor doesn’t have the ability to do that, I had to adjust it myself, which lead to my whole theme being too warm because I had my blue light filter on while I edited my first picture.
Manovich (2016, p. 99) distinguishes a designed photography as ‘coordinating them to achieve a distinct look, and being consistent’. Designed photos also consist of high contrast and brightness, negative space, and white backgrounds (Manovich 2016).
Since Manovich (2016, p. 103) emphasises that ‘the single most important strategy for creating a popular gallery of designed images is the consistent use of a strong visual style‘, I decided to edit this week’s photo and video to adhere to the same style as week 9, rather than try to white balance this photo. It’s also why I am using the same filter, set to the same percentage every week.
How did you publish (the photo or video) you recorded for upload to Instagram?
When taking the image, I had forgotten that I was supposed to use the app to capture the picture. I started by using my phone’s default camera, but the picture wasn’t angled in that way that I wanted. I took 5 consecutive shaky pictures (I had just walked up 3 flights of stairs) before I remembered that I was supposed to use Instagram. When I switched to Instagram, I used the camera to take a picture of the door, and when I pressed ‘Next’ in the top right corner, the preview of it had a much better angle and wasn’t as shaky.
I put the caption ‘i don’t really understand why someone put a plate of googly eyes on a door but i’m glad i found it.’ which was just my observation rather than a witty or punny one–mostly because I couldn’t think of anything despite my efforts. I added the location in after I had uploaded it.
How did you distribute (the photo or video) you published on Instagram to other social media services?
To publish this to Twitter and Tumblr, I realised that there was an option to toggle the sliders to share it automatically rather than manually. So I used that method instead. Since I didn’t put any hashtags in the description (I commented them instead), the tweet didn’t use any hashtags, and Twitter doesn’t afford editing a tweet.
As for Tumblr, I edited the post and added the tags “doors”, “door”, “rmit”, and “networkedmedia” into the tags section as they were the same hashtags that I used on Instagram.
Since this was the first time that I used the “share to other platforms” method, I had to sign into my Twitter and Tumblr accounts through Instagram and give the app permission to post on my behalf.
References
Manovich, L 2016, Instagram and the Contemporary Image, University of San Diego.
How did you author (the photo or video) you recorded for upload to Instagram?
I used my Samsung s5’s rear camera, which has 16 megapixels. I used the camera in a portrait orientation, as I didn’t think the orientation mattered as Instagram prefers the square format. To record this, I had to physically lower the phone and angle my arms in a slightly awkward way to get the camera closer to the doorknob rather than face level.
To edit the video, I used the same Stinson filter and also lowered it to 26. Instagram doesn’t allow numerous editing features like it does for images, so using the filter was all I could do to try to maintain a level of consistency with my feed.
Even though the video has an option to play audio, it is barely audible unless the volume is turned up. I ended up taking three of the same videos before deciding on my latest. I played around with the positioning of my phone, as well as how I opened and closed the door. I had to force myself to angle my phone towards the door when I closed it, as the first video wasn’t focused on the door so it missed the closing of it.
In terms of my normal practice of videography—I usually don’t record videos. The only time I do is when I want to keep a memory; my most recent one was when I was in Vietnam at the start of this year, and I had went to the zoo with my cousins. Even then, I ended up capturing mostly images rather than videos. As Brodovitch (cited in Manovitch 2016) says, ‘the trend in today’s photography is … toward the more spontaneous and sincere way of seeing.’ Even though Brodovitch talks about photography, this can still be applied to videography itself, as my video recordings are usually my perspective of the world.
For the cover frame, I chose a shot of the door where it was light, instead of the default dark one. I chose it mostly because it would match the image that I already had from my previous post, as well as the obvious image of the door.
2. How did you publish (the photo or video) you recorded for upload to Instagram?
I ended up re-recording me opening and closing the door three times before I decided on the third one. As mentioned above, I wasn’t always conscious of the way that I positioned the camera, which meant that I had to hold it in a slightly unnatural way (unnatural, in that I wasn’t used to it) to get the final video.
I didn’t add a location to the image as, mentioned in my previous blog post, I took the video at home so I don’t want to share my address. The caption is a simple ‘open / close’. The act of me opening and closing the door was enough to evoke Rowling’s quote of “I open at the close”, and while I was tempted to use it, I decided not to because the video had nothing to do with the franchise.
3. How did you distribute (the photo or video) you published on Instagram to other social media services?
I published this video to Twitter and Tumblr. When publishing to Twitter, I only wrote the caption and hashtags, and then linked to Instagram instead of publishing the video itself.
When posting to Tumblr, I added the video as a new video post and hyperlinked the same caption to the Instagram post. Tumblr doesn’t afford selecting a cover frame, so I had to stick to the default one that was also given to me on Instagram.
I used the same hashtags of #doors and #door. With Twitter, the hashtags are incorporated within the tweet itself, but with Tumblr, the tags has their own section under the post so it doesn’t compromise aesthetics the post.
In this sense, Tumblr is more similar to Instagram as, like Manovich (2016, p.18) says, the site ‘combines many activities together in a single structure’. Tumblr allows for posting of numerous types of post—images and photos, and contains the social aspect of liking, reblogging, commenting. However, Tumblr isn’t made specifically for photography or videography, so the website doesn’t have an image editing component.
Twitter also affords users to upload photos and videos. But, like Tumblr, it doesn’t afford editing. Even though Twitter has the option to upload videos and images into the tweet, I didn’t—mostly because I chose to share from Instagram, which generated the tweet for me so all I had to do was edit the caption and press “tweet”.
Manovich (2016, p. 18) describes the ability to access everything on one application (Instagram) as being ‘systematically connected’, it’s also reflected in the way that I was able to easily share the individual Instagram posts with a click of a button. The connectivity of these different apps and platforms affords the ease and convenience of sharing—so long as the user has an account with all of the apps.
References
Manovich, L 2016, Instagram and the Contemporary Image, University of San Diego.
How did you author (the photo or video) you recorded for upload to Instagram?
I used a the rear camera of my Samsung s5, which has 16 mega-pixels. I also have the HDR setting switched on, though I’m not sure if those same settings applied to the Instagram app. I found myself walking back and forth in my room to find the right distance from the door itself. I did try using the flash, but found that it made my image too flat, so I ended up discarded that version, among many versions where I wasn’t happy with the way that the image turned out. Because I was unused to taking an image within the Instagram app itself (I upload to Instagram), I took numerous copies because I wasn’t happy with the default zoom. It was only when I was editing the image did I realise that I could zoom out.
The square format forced me to consider what I wanted to be seen within the square frame, and also how I would compose the image and the negative space around it. I ended up disregarding my preference for extreme negative space as it would have compromised the amount of clothes seen hanging from the door.
I brightened the image and lowered the contrast. I also lowered the saturation, made the image less warm as the light in my room gave an orange/warm hue, and I also nudged the sharpen setting a little bit. I used the Stinson filter and lowered it down to 26 as I’m not really a fan of Instagram’s filters (hence why I usually edit through VSCO) but I wanted to maintain a level of consistency in my feed. I guess it’s because, as Acta Acta (cited in Manovich 2016) claims, ‘your feed is not a collection of photos, but a painting of an abstract artist’. I want my feed to cohere, and the easiest way to do so is to establish a colour scheme and palette.
In terms of the differences I experienced when using Instagram, I felt like the camera wasn’t behaving as I would have liked it, and I was sure that Instagram was compromising my camera’s quality. However, it turns out I had a Bluelight filter on, and the image kept zooming in.
How did you publish (the photo or video) you recorded for upload to Instagram?
I took multiple shots, mostly because I was unhappy with the quality of the image. When I was happy with the image displayed through the viewfinder, pressing next would show me a zoomed up version of the image, and it took me an embarrassingly long time to remember and realise that I could adjust the image through the editor itself. Again, I usually don’t use Instagram as an editor—only a sharing platform.
Manovich (2016, p. 11) says that ‘different elements of photo culture … now have been combined in a simple platform.’ It’s incredibly useful—people have access of all features from a single device, and even more specifically, a single application. Despite this convenience, I feel like the quality of processor and the editor is compromised by all the features that it contains–it doesn’t have nearly as much features as purely editing apps, and the editing features on for videos is lacking.
How did you distribute (the photo or video) you published on Instagram to other social media services?
I put “when is a door not a door? when it’s a closet, apparently” as a witty caption. When I published it to Twitter, I used the same caption and tag, and also put a link to the Instagram post. When I posted to Tumblr, I posted the image itself, along with a caption that hyperlinked to the Instagram post. As this image was captured from home, I didn’t geotag for obvious privacy reasons.
References
Manovich, L 2016, Instagram and the Contemporary Image, University of San Diego.
In Lydia Belanger’s interview with Ryle for Entrepreneur (2017), Ryle said that she used to be a ‘marketing director for a toy company’ and had to ‘appl[y] all of those skills to [her]self as the product’ (Belanger 2017, question 1 para. 3).
What is the title of the photo or video you have chosen to analyse (can you provide a link?)
The video is called Happy Reading. It is a stop-animated visual poem that celebrates literary works and underscores the joy of reading printed books.
With the photo or video you are examining when was it produced (date)?
This video was published on the 9th of August, 2018.
How was the photo or video authored?
Ryle uses an iPhone to capture each drawn frame, that is edited into the video format. In an interview with Lizzie Marton for Mamamia (2016), Ryle states that she had no ‘formal education in illustration or animation, [so she] decided to take an artistic approach at utilising Instagram’s video feature when they launched in 2013’ (Marton 2016, para. 6). While each video is short–most of which are anywhere between 15 to 30 seconds–Ryle says that ‘each single animation takes her a total of 15 to 20 hours to create (from the concept to the final editing stage.)’ (Marton 2016, para. 8).
As Ryle doesn’t have an formal education in her art, it’s interesting to note that Berry (2018, p. 12) says that ‘an amateur includes being someone who pursues a passion for personal, rather than professional, pleasure; someone who lacks either the knowledge or means to produce professional–quality work; or someone who labours without expecting to be paid’. Ryle sits on the line of what’s considered amateur and professional. She didn’t learn how to become an animator. In fact, in her interview with Belanger, Ryle says she ‘quit [her] day job, call[ed her]self an animator’ (Belanger 2017, question 1 para. 2). However, Ryle also does paid work if the opportunity presents itself; while her animations are mostly her passion projects, she also has been paid to make animations for movie trailers (Belanger 2017).
How was the photo or video published?
The video was published online onto Instagram. This allows for Ryle to expand and engage with her audience–in the caption of the post, she thanks ‘everyone [that] voted for this animation to be made in [her] Story’. This shows that Ryle is utilising the tools that Instagram provides (in this case, the voting feature on Instagram Stories) to create content that her followers want to see. Using the #HarryPotter tag in the caption allows her to gain more attention and extra views from fans of the franchise and that could be discovering her for the first time.
How was the photo or video distributed?
This video is distributed through Instagram. As mentioned above, she also uses hashtags which also allows her to expand her audience and get more views.
‘One of Instagram’s latest features of being able to like comments — give people a heart back and let them know that I read their comment — has been really helpful. It’s just another way of me saying “thank you” for their time that they’ve taken to comment about my pieces. And outside of my work, I definitely scroll through the people I follow and even people I don’t follow and like their stuff and comment, just because it’s the affirmation that we all need to inspire us to keep creating.’ (Belanger 2017, question 6 para. 2)
I found this particularly interesting because Ryle is talking about one of the affordances of Instagram, which allows her to connect with and appreciate her fans. Throughout the interview, Ryle also mentions being involved with the community of artists on Instagram.
Henry Jenkins, as cited in Berry (2018, p. 17), says ‘a participatory culture is one which not only lowers the barriers to participation but also creates strong social incentives to produce and share when one produces with others’. However, Berry (2018, p. 17) says that ‘in some ways, today we are less likely to reproduce these overly optimistic observations, in a time when the reality of participation looks a lot more like surveillance than freedom.’ Written in 2018, Berry takes a more pessimistic stance on online communities and claims that this pessimism a prevalent attitude nowadays, and yet, Belanger’s interview with Ryle took place in 2017.
References
Belanger, L 2017, ‘This Former Marketing Director Quit Her Job After 7 Weeks of Posting Amazing Animations on Instagram’, Entrepreneur – Start, run and grow your business, 30 August, viewed 13 September 2018, <https://www.entrepreneur.com/slideshow/299374>
Berry, TB 2018, ‘Situating Videoblogging’, Videoblogging Before YouTube, no. 27, Institute of Network Cultures, Amsterdam, pp. 9-22.
Marton, L 2016, ‘We’re in love with Rachel Ryle’s quirky Instagram videos.’, Mamamia – What women are talking about, 31 January, viewed 13 September 2018, <https://www.mamamia.com.au/rachel-ryle-interview/>
Who is the practitioner (what is their name?) and when were they practicing?
Jonpaul Douglass (jonpauldouglass on Instagram) is a photographer and director from Los Angeles. He has been practising for twelve years and likes to experiment with his style. In Tammi Heneveld’s interview with Douglass for The Great Discontent, Douglass states that he only started using Instagram in 2013, which was when he moved to LA with his wife (Heneveld 2016).
What is the title of the photo or video you have chosen to analyse (can you provide a link?)
In Daniel Palmer’s book, ‘Mobile Media Photography’, Palmer (2014, p. 253) states that while ‘photography can and does continue to perform its traditional role as a memory aide … it clearly … does much more.’ To relate this to Douglass’s practice, he has said that he would ‘like people to look at [his] work and think, “This guy was passionate about making things and he never stopped.” Maybe people will look at it and be inspired or influenced in some way’ (Heneveld 2016, final para.). Douglass intends his practice of photography to do more than serve as a “memory aide”—he wishes to inspire people with his own passion.
How was the photo or video published?
He published this image to Instagram, using the hashtag that he created for this specific series of images. While Douglass is known for his Pizza in the Wild series, he has said that he prefers to be identified for more than his work in this series, as claims there is more to his work than pizza (Heneveld 2016). His images are also available on his website, but a comparison between his Instagram account and his website shows that his Instagram is updated more frequently. I assume this allows for a greater degree of interaction and exposure to his works, as Instagram affords commenting and liking images, whereas the website serves as a digital portfolio.
How was the photo or video distributed?
This photo is distributed online on his Instagram account and his website. He uses the hashtag in the caption of the Instagram upload as this image is part of the ‘Pizza in the Wild’ series, and because he is the creator of this eccentric series.
Who is the practitioner (what is their name?) and when were they practising?
Nam June Paik. He was practising video art between the 1960s until his last piece of work in 2005 and was known as the founder of video art.
What is the title of the photo or video you have chosen to analyse (can you provide a link?)
TV Buddha. This is a recording of someone experiencing the artwork in person.
With the photo or video you are examining when was it produced (date)?
1974.
How was the photo or video authored?
Paik used a short circuit camera to capture the live video of the Buddha statue and transmit the image to a small screen placed in front of the statue.
As Paik was best known for his contribution to video art, he injected his own knowledge and connection to Buddhism into his works. In Kate Horsfield’s article, ‘Busting the Tube: A Brief History of Video Art’ she connects the birth of video art to the counterculture that rose during the 1960s (Horsfield, 2006). She (2006, p. 1), claims that aside from using video for sociopolitical purposes, video art was also utilised to promote ‘using drugs, free love, music, and mastering Eastern philosophical and disciplinary practices, such as yoga and meditation’ to ‘change his or her personal consciousness’. With this in mind, it can be understood that Paik contributed to this movement as well, by conflating Eastern and Western thought and technology.
How was the photo or video published?
This artwork can only be accessed via gallery exhibitions during certain periods of times, for example, the Art Gallery NSW recently displayed this piece between 2014 and 2016. When this piece first came out in 1974, it was viewed in-person in gallery spaces. This would promote a personal understanding and experience of the piece, as viewers are in the same room as the work, forced to interact and watch the Buddha statue watch itself.
How was the photo or video distributed?
As a live video, it is available only through galleries. However, a search through Google images will show an image of the room, like the photo embedded above, and there are also recordings of various people interacting with and observing the artwork uploaded through Youtube. As these recordings are second-hand experiences of the work, it might not provide the same understanding of it.
The image was printed using the gelatin silver print, which is mostly used for black and white images and printing paper. To me, this makes sense—not the process, because I’ve never heard of the gelatin silver print until now—but the fact that the image is printed in black and white as it is suitable for the era that the image was published in.
How was the photo or video distributed?
The image was published to LIFE magazine multiple times, first as part of an article on Gandhi, and later as a tribute after his assassination. The first article was about Gandhi’s stance on natural cures of sicknesses, which was published a few months after the image was taken. LIFE often publishes writings about prolific people, and the article and accompanying image of Gandhi are tied to their style.
In regards to how this photo is distributed now, it’s readily available online through a quick Google search. Time.com provides a gallery of this series of work, and there are various re-uploads through non-official sites that can be found by switching to Google images.
‘[P]hotography does not merely represent life but also participates in its active cutting and shaping’ (Zylinska 2016, p. 11). Bourke-White’s images can be seen as a representation of life, as she was a photojournalist that documented various iconic moments and individuals. Her works can be seen as a way of shaping different thoughts on people and events.
