I’ve created an Instagram wishlist in the past and I don’t know how much has been addressed if any.  Looking for the quote below, a few items have been implemented! Boom.  I still would love the following:

Sometimes a photo in Instagram is just a small part to a bigger story. Much like with Twitter, we have the ability to include a link within the character restriction. I think many people would find it amazingly awesome to share a link to a bigger story.  At this point, I would embrace the ability within the comments.

I ask this without the full definition of a platform.  I guess I should look into that, but let’s go with my initial gut.

What would make Instagram a Platform?

My initial thoughts? I would imagine a platform helps one do more than just show a photo. What I’m getting at is the ability for users to connect followers outside of the app.  By this I mean having the ability to add links to their captions. Instagram has gotten press because of how it helps brands and retailers put images in front of others following them, but it stops there. Correct me if I’m totally off base though.

Right now the only link a user can implement is from within the bio. I’ve seen some users change up the link from time to time depending on events going on – Jack Hollingsworth changed his bio link to the CreativeLive Workshop he was teaching on iPhoneography.  This works but sure doesn’t work well.

A vital component to each platform I belong to is the ability to move followers outside of the app if desired.  You can add links to Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, and even Pinterest.  Like I mentioned before, it’s about a possible bigger story.  Kevin, Instagram CEO, talks about how Instagram is giving us the ability to see what’s going on in the world.  I love that we can connect globally with the imagery; however, these images do peak interest.

Pinterest is making waves right now because it’s exploding in usage and interest generation/connection. The explosion in usage is generating massive traffic to websites all around the ‘tubes.  Don’t believe me, read this post on it.   When a site like Pinterest is suddenly driving traffic in the numbers of millions to a blog that used to get a few hits, you take notice. I believe this turns it into a platform and not just a site that’s neat and pretty.  Nor does it leave the Pinterest iPhone app as something you browse, like, or repin only.

Right now, Instagram isn’t doing this for any of it’s users. Which is trouble.  Should I start sharing my iPhone photography directly inside of the Pinterest app? Interesting thought, no?  More personal friends have joined pintereset in the last few days than are on Instagram. No joke.

I’m blown away by the number of followers some people have on Instagram.  It’s amazing! Some people are getting 3000 likes on almost every photo they post – no matter what the image is.  Celebrities like Justin Bieber or Selena Gomez get 45K likes for a photo.  Many people see the images in the feed and don’t even hit the like button.  My point is for you to imagine the potential for these users to generate traffic outside of the Instagram App.  The traffic generation from a site like Pinterest is why it’s getting all of this attention and press right now.

What could be the downside of this?  People going crazy with links of course.

How to deal with crazy people? Perhaps Instagram developers add a field for the link that is much like adding the caption. This way a user is limited to only one link per image if they even add one at all.   I wouldn’t want to link add a link for every image I post – not at all.

The idea isn’t to be a spammy, dirty, annoying Instagrammer

Of course, with every new feature within Instagram you’re going to run into users that abuse or misuse it. Much like I find it troubling to see Pinterest users only pinning their own content. The benefit would be that you discover how people use the feature creatively.  I would seriously adore the ability mentioned above – one link field only.  I’m sure designer Tim Van Damme could integrate a minimalistic type link icon under the image or beside the like. Perhaps a triple tap could activate the link.

The point is that I believe Instagram has platform potential.  I believe that Instagram is part of the “interest graph.”

Give the People an Instagram Website

A platform needs a website and more than a blog.  Instagram is going a cool job related to it’s blog and content marketing; however they don’t seem to care if we do much else on the desktop.  In some ways, I start to wonder if Instagram is trying to create some special and unique startup story for themselves than anything else.  I understand the importance and desire to stay a small team and hire the best people in the galaxy, but maybe they should follow a 37 signals manta: Half Done is better than Half Assed.  That could be a quote or paraphrase…I’m too lazy to find the book this morning :P

“Half Done” get’s the platform rolling for Instagram on the Web instead of simply mobile. I’m actually very curious on the size of the Pinterest team now. Is it bigger or larger than Instagram?

I don’t ask or bring up these things lightly because I totally see similarities between Instagram and Pinterest (and Tumblr for that matter).

Conclusions

Instagram has massive platform potential. Maybe you even consider it a social platform today but I don’t – it’s not there for me.  Let users, business, and brands move users outside or within the Instagram ecosystem and maybe we’ll see viral discussion about how much traffic Instagram is generating for users to their sites, blogs, retail sites.  I’m really interested in seeing what Instagram is going to bring us soon.

Since Instagram dominates as one of the most popular photography apps, it gets a lot of 3rd party attention. Before it’s API was even public developers were trying to use it and launch websites.  I tried to keep up with the 3rd party vendors and developers with the Instagram Ecosystem post here, but it quickly became a job all unto it’s own.  I can only imagine the number of 3rd party sites using the Instagram API now for websites and product creation.  One such site will sell you your own iPhone photography (shared via instagram) on a t-shirt.  I didn’t know about this 3rd party service until I went to the iPhone Photography workshop at CreativeLive and Jack Hollingswoth asked if I went through “insta-tees” or whatever it’s called.  Instead of relying on one of these sites, I’d like to share how to make your own Instagram t-shirt! Or, at least share how I made some t-shirts with instagram photos for Ryan (follow Ryan on Twitter too) and for myself as well.

As great as sharing your iPhone photography on instagram can be, I love to bring photography out of the digital world and give it a new lease on life. We bring it to life in a tangible way.  Prints are great but wearing your own Instagram work is pretty cool.

On one side of my family, we decided that the Christmas gifts this year had to me handmade.  We draw names around October (Canadian Thanksgiving) and plan from there.  I got Ryan’s name and I was stumped for a while until Marika mentioned that I could make him T-Shirts.   What a great idea: Create a couple of t-shirts for Ryan using his own Instagram images.  I was still within the homemade gift rule but I didn’t want to impose my own photography on him and thought it would be more personal using his own that I liked a lot.

Anyways, here is what you’ll need, directions, steps, and all I did.

How to Make Your Own Instagram T-Shirt

Let’s first start off with the items you’ll need to create your own t-shirt:

Step #1: Choosing Your Instagram Image(s)

Step #1 might be the most difficult part for some of you.  In this step you’re selecting the Instagram photo that you’ll be printing out for transfer onto the tee.  You can find your own Instagram photo in a number of ways, but I prefer to look at them on a desktop and in a grid layout.  This allows me to see my Instagrams holistically and my favorites jump out.  With this tutorial, I was actually looking at Ryan’s Instagram feed to find a couple photos that popped out to me.  I used Extragram for this purpose!  Now, I would probably use Webstagram as I found it is a bit getter and links to the photo on Instagram.

I chose these 2 Instagram images by Ryan to create the T-shirts:

Step #2: Resizing and Printing and Prepping Your Instagram Photo(s)

In step #2, you’re essentially printing out your chosen Instagram image(s), but you might need to resize the image first – I did. You can use any program you’re comfortable with to resize an image.   The images posted to Instagram are 612×612 pixels and when I printed it out for the t-shirt, I found it a little too large.  I resized the image to 500×500 pixels and printed on 8.5″x11″ paper to test it out.  When it looked okay, I put in the iron-on transfer paper into the printer and printed it off.

If you can’t find the iron-on transfers locally, you can find good deals on Amazon for these too: HP Iron-On Transfers, 8.5 x 11 Inch, 12 Pack 

You’ll also need to prep your transfers now.  This means using the exacto knife to nicely remove the excess transfer paper from around the photo.

Step #3: Iron your blank T-Shirt

If you don’t know where to get blank t-shirts, you have a number of options. The easiest t-shirts to find are going to be white or black. Costco has really great deals on these black and white logo free t-shirts.  After Christmas, Old Navy had a big sale and I found colour shirts that were logo free and used these for the shirts I made myself before going to CreativeLive.  If you can’t find colour logo free shirts locally or for a decent price locally, you can always check out Amazon.

Crew Neck: American Apparel Unisex 50/50 Crew Neck

V Neck: American Made Apparel Short Sleeve Deep V-Neck Tee

Once you have the shirt, iron it out so that there are no wrinkles and creases. After this, put the ironing board away.  You won’t be using it to iron on your Instagram photo.  This is a key point I discovered on my own.   You’re going to want a hard surface to iron your photo onto the shirt.

Step #4: Set up the Transfer

On a hard surface – a table, floor, whatever – you’re going to lay the pillowcase down.  The pillowcase is pretty much to protect your underneath hard surface, but still have the ability to press your weight down on that surface. Next you’ll be following the instructions on your iron-on transfer paper, but it’s probably the same as what I did.  I turned on the iron and made sure the steam function was off.  I contacted my wife for insurance on this part.

Lay your t-shirt down over the pillowcase where you want the Instagram photo to be placed.  Next, I just had to peel off the iron-on transfer paper from the image and place it over where I wanted it on the shirt.  I didn’t have to place it backwards or anything. I just put it down how I wanted it and then placed the parchment paper over top.   The parchment paper is what’s used to transfer the heat and image to the shirt without ruining the entire thing :)

Step #5: Ironing on the Instagram Photo!

This is the fun part of the process and takes a minute or so.  You’ll place the hot iron on the parchment paper and put all your bodyweight onto it for about 20 seconds.  After the 20 seconds is up, you’ll lift the iron up and place it back down over another area of the transfer. You won’t iron it like you would have in step #1 to just get the wrinkles out.  You’ll do this until you’ve covered the image entirely.  Make sure to read the instructions of your iron-on transfer sheets as I get the feeling they might change a little depending on brand.

The parchment paper is translucent and allows you to see the Instagram image partically.

The parchment paper would curl up a bit after the image has been transfered to the t-shirt.  Just work with it and move on to the next portion of the image – your work is about to pay off :)

Step #6: Enjoy your Instagram DIY T-Shirt

You’re done! You now have 2 totally unique t-shirts that were created from your own iPhone photography and Instagram. I apologize for the semi-blurred photos – I wasn’t sure I was going to create this tutorial at the time.  I hope to get Ryan to wear them and snap a photo to update the post in the future.

What about washing that fancy new Instagram tee?

As I mentioned, I made a number of shirt before going to CreativeLive.  I have since washed the t-shirts a number of times and the image is still great. I actually look forward to them wearing a bit and getting that worn in vintage type look.  I’m super impressed with the shirts of mine after washing, but I’ll probably do a follow up post soon enough with images of mine.

Are You Going to Make Your Own Instagram T-Shirt?

Hashtags are words or phrases prefixed with the symbol #,^[1][2] a form of metadata tag. Short messages on microblogging social networking services such as Twitter, identi.ca orGoogle+ may be tagged by including one or more with multiple words concatenated, such as those in:

#Wikipedia is my favorite kind of #encyclopedia

Instagram Hashtags Are Important

I know that some Instagram users love to hashtag it up and there became a need to limit the number you can use with each image.  I believe you should hashtag each image but not over tag it or it seems spam-like.   I ask you to please not go overboard with the hashtags but be smart about it.  Being smart about it could lead to why I am such an advocate and why I’m creating this post.

Each week, Instagram’s official blog puts out an update about the events of the week and some images from their users.  At first you might think they find these images from users based on the popular feed but I can tell you that is not the case.  You don’t need to hit the Instagram Popular feed for your photo to be featured on their blog because the image I had featured did not have many likes ( not near enough to hit popular ).  What I did do that benefitted me was make use of the #architecture hashtag.

Adding a related hashtag (or keyword) to your photo puts it on radar. When I use hashtags, I’m not trying to get the attention of anyone in particular, let alone the Instagram team.  That was a wicked surprise and bonus.  The biggest reason that I add a hashtag is because it helps to connect with people that are sharing or into that type of imagery as well.  I often scroll through the #architecture hashtag to find interesting images and people to follow.  If I’m doing this, I know that there are others doing the same.

Use the hashtag to connect and share alike.

You never know who is watching or looking to curate. I know for a fact that my architectural instagram would not have been on any radar without that #architecture hashtag – as much as I love it.

What have hashtags on Instagram done for you? Do you have a cool story? We’d love to hear it!

Here are 10 reasons why I believe celebrity instagram users have been increasing:

Reaching Out to Fans

Fans are pretty demanding, especially at the level of some of these celebrities. Twitter is great because it’s fast but limited to the 140 characters and seeing an image requires a click.  I love when I hear about a celebrity trying something new in the tech space.  I know some of you may find this to be more annoying than anything: “Who are they to think they know anything about technology or social media!” Don’t be like that.  There are countless articles written everyday on blogs about getting more followers on such and such platform.  Just like you, a celebrity is trying to find more and more ways (easier ways at that) to connect with people that want to connect to them.

Control Release of Images to the Public

I recall hearing about celebrities in Europe speaking out about the insanity of the paparatzi. The imposing actions of these photographers upon the life of the celebrity is of control and often images are released with no context.  Celebrity instagram users are able to release their own images with the app and attach a caption.  Hearing and seeing it from the source is far superior to paparatzi and tabloid journalists.  The ability to build on your own personal brand from the palm of your hand is powerful. Check out this post on Drake using Instagram.

Celebrities Are Not A One Trick Pony

No one is doing just one thing anymore, a celebrity personality especially. We see a musician release albums, collaborations, clothing lines, doing commercials for other industries, creating their own fragrances, and more.  So much work goes into each of their ventures and they all provide opportunities for visual narrative. That’s exactly it. With an iPhone in their hands, they are able to share their life’s narrative on a deeper level.  A celebrity isn’t just a personality but is involved in everything they put their name on.  They may not have the time to write long blog posts, but a quick image with an iPhone can say a lot.

Behind the Scenes of the Workday

This is pretty cool because you get to see how celebrities are in constant contact with other celebrities.  Take a look at Ryan Seacrest’s instagram feed sometime and you’ll see exactly what I mean. On the other hand, you may see the grind the celebrity goes through if they show a lot of travel photos, photos leading up to a big release or launch, or competition.  A number of celebrities on Instagram are from the music industry and perhaps you’ll see their marketing managers see the response level of Instagram vs Twitter vs Facebook in the future. Plus Instagram is a perfect medium to tease upcoming album covers or options for them.  ( much like Tim Ferriss did with Google Adwords in the past for book covers).  Not that all the other categories don’t relate to the President Obama team being on Instagram now, but I think behind the scenes visuals on Instagram is one of the ways Obama is trying to build connectivity with voters.

To Show the Ever day Life of a Celebrity is Much like Yours

Behind every celebrity on Instagram is a real person. Celebrity Instagram users are just like you and I.  They love their pets, are annoyed when stuck in traffic, like taking self portraits, and daydream in the beauty of imagery around us.  For all the reasons you’re loving Instagram, they are loving it for the same.   It doesn’t matter who you are, we all have the desire to explore our creative urges and document our journey through life. Photography helps us with both and iPhone photography couldn’t make it easier.

Celebrity Instagram Users give Exclusivity for Super Fans

Celebrity Instagram users provide exclusive looks into their realm for the super fan instagram followers.  Sometimes the celebrity will share the instagram photo into their twitter feed or facebook page, but it’s often pretty exclusive right now.  Eventually I see major news outlets going right to the celebrities instagram feed but for now, everything is pretty exclusive. Also, Superfans don’t have to get their content via 3rd party news! Using photography, iPhone photography and Instagram at that, a celebrity is creating a deeper relationship with fans. They’re creating a much more connected relationship on a personal level – something unseen ever before.  (expand on this for your friends).

More Media Attention for Celebrities and Instagram

As a celebrity adopts social media platforms that are breaking massive ground, the celebrity also receives media attention 10 fold. This cycle promotes more and more adoption of the social platform.  I believe that once a celebrity starts making use of Instagram, the easy of use and visual nature wins them over other social media platforms. Interestingly enough, the use of instagram could increase their usage into other platforms as well.  With the simple sharing of iPhoneography into Twitter, Facebook, and Tumblr, the celeb may be advised to try out a Tumblr account as well.  There are fans and fanatics everywhere. People have their preferred platforms and channels of communication, anyway to reach them is important.

Who Celebrites are following on Instagram lets you a bit into the life of their most important friends too.  It’s interesting to see whom certain celebrities are following on instagram.  I’m not sure Bob Harper ( Personal Trainer from Biggest Loser ) is following a bunch of friends, clients he’s helped, or other trainers.  I did notice he’s following the winner of The Biggest Loser – Olivia.  It’s awesome to see those connections outside of the television screen.

Insight into the Industry of the Celebrity

Depending on the celebrity, the use of Instagram provides a unique insight into that particular industry.  Imagine a Michael Phelps sharing his morning meals, training times, quick shots of his locker and USA type imagery to pump other Americans up for the Olympics.  Someone that dreams of doing what Phelps does in the pool would follow everything related to him.  This is a bit different than the behind the scenes of their Workday but all of these reasons for the celebrity increase on Instagram blend together.

Busy Celebrities Always Have their iPhone On Them

Think of how you can’t go anywhere without your iPhone.  Now think about how important being connected would be for a celebrity like Justin Bieber, Snoop Dogg, or  Taylor Swift.  Next, connect the celebrities with the addictive nature of sharing photos and the immediate response of fans.   Some celebrities are seriously increasing their usage within the Instagram platform and it’s a clear indication that their iPhone is always with them.   Soon enough we begin to ask if the celebrity has their phone on them to be connected for important business or for the valuable interactions with the 3 f’s – Family, Friends, and Fans.

Celebrity Instagram Users follow other Celebrities

Justin Bieber is on Instagram and it’s no surprise that Selena Gomez is one of his Instagram followers.  I’m certain Drake and Beiber are friends – they are Instagram. It’s no surprise that there is a snowball effect happening with famous people hitting the Instagram scene.  Most, if not all, are already on Twitter and Instagram will send these images right into the celebrities Twitter feed as well.  Even if a celebrity isn’t in the loop of what’s happening on social media, their agents and publicists are probably looking out for what other actors, musicians, and stars are getting press with today.

Go look at who a celebrity follows on Instagram or who follows them. You’ll be able to hop from celebrity to celebrity and I believe this is a great way for them ( the celebrities) to continually perpetuate more followers and fans.

There are more than 10 reasons…

PS. Have you found any unique celebrity Instagram users that most people don’t know about yet? 

Jack Hollingsworth Loves iPhone Photography

Is iPhoneography contagious or is it Jack’s love for iPhone photography that’s contagious? I don’t know but I could feel the intensity of Jack’s love for the topic and for the breakout art form and method of photography.   Jack is one of those multiplier type people.  What I mean is that he makes you feel energized one the subject and leaves you feeling like you are capable of going out and creating amazing work.

Since the class, I’ve been thinking so much about life in photography. Jack is a perfect example that following what you love will not do you wrong.  In fact, his love of photography has lead him to a fascination with a mobile phone as a camera.  Most professionals with 30 years experience won’t accept this tech with such embrace.  Embracing change or first exploring this changing field has set him on such a prosperous path that is now paying dividends.

I could never even question Jack’s love for iPhone photography.   This was such a highlight for me on Day 1.  Instead of learning from a jaded photography veteran, we were learning from the iPhoneography Love Doctor.  When his iPhoneography products are readily available, I say scoop them up.

iPhone Photography is Not An Attack on the DSLR

This class wasn’t set out to get us all to sell our DSLR units and join an iPhoneography cult.  Traditional photography is not something we see being killed by the iPhone, but we were optimistically looking at where mobile photography is going in our lives as photographers or in general. I can’t help but to be left with the same feeling you’d get if you looked back to early 2000′s with Digital vs Film.  Earlier digital adopters dealt with less than optimal image quality and the same has happened with mobile photography in the last few years.  Learning how many images were taken with a smartphone in 2011 lends to say something big will happen in 2012.

If you have the downloads, you’ll actually get to see that Jack practices what he preaches too.  We were witness to some video clips during the class that showed Jack out shooting with his iPhone 4 and DSLR.  I have a feeling most of you photographers can relate to this if you’ve got an iPhone.  Perhaps many photographers shot film and digital much the same in the past too – I wonder how many actually developed the film if they started capturing images with both mediums.

The question I have relates to convergence. When, or will, we ever opt to not bother with the bigger and bulkier DSLR… When do we full cross the line, if there is a line.  For professional photographers, commercial work is usually were the line exists and I loved (yea, I mean LOVED) that Jack brought discussion around “low barrier to consumer entry but high barrier to commercial success.”

Watching a few short videos of Jack shooting iPhone photography with a model was brutally inspiring to me.  I can’t even begin to scratch the surface on my thoughts here.  This is very cool, very real, and very possible, and something I’m going to explore when the time is right.  I believe there is opportunity to explore this with clients open to creative expression.

LUNCH

CreativeLive treats you well. When watching live, you don’t realize that there is some serious good eats happening off camera.  Lunch for the first day was Thai food and it was awesome.  We ate and talked about how Star has more followers on Google+ than there are people in my city of London Ontario.  We have something like 350, 000 people in London…mmmhmmm…. Not even Chase has the follower count of Star Rush! BOOM!

Special Guests

Looking back at Day 1, I seriously didn’t realize how much actually did go on.  I have a healthy love for mobile photography, but I am still hugely clueless to everything that’s going on out in the world with respects to iPhone Photography, iPhoneography and the likes.  My eyes were opened to a whole culture of sites, people, and things going on.

I had no idea about The Mobile Photo Awards. Did you? Clearly thousands of people did because there were that many submissions of mobile photography! I learned about this website and project at the workshop and then from the creator of the project: Daniel Burman.  Once you’re done reading this go check out the Mobile Photo Awards site!

The Winners had already been announced for the contest but it was amazing to hear about the response to the call for entries, Dans story, and to later see the winning entries.  The highlight came in knowing that other people are using mobile photography ( mainly iPhone photography) in massively artistic ways.  Dan talked about his 25 hours of “apping” to create an outstanding work of art.  I had not heard this term before, but I instantly related it to any other art form today – ie painting, sculpting, ect.

Now that the MPA blog site is up, I am sure to visit it everyday.  Why? Even though the winners have already been announced, everyday Dan is sharing one submission each day on the blog.  If you want to up your game in iPhone photography, keep going back to the MPA blog.

The skype interview was pretty funny and worth it if you’re considering the downloads!

iPhone Mini Shoot

I almost forgot the coolest part where we actually created some iPhoneography. That’s not a criticism at all either. We shoot constantly with our iPhones.  While it would have been awesome to have a day to full shooting and engagement in practicing the art, it wasn’t something possible with the setup.  I think this would be more geared towards an off camera type workshop.  Hmmm!

Anyways, we spend a few minutes outside CreativeLive taking pictures of Mackenzie ( I hope I spelled that right) and then it turned into a weird free for all.  By the way this was probably the only sunny day in Seattle for days.  Here are some of the shots from my iPhone of our good looking model:

Next we see everyone go a little weird:

Bullish for iPhone Photography and Creativity

Think I went back for Day 2?

Oh hell ya :)

Apparently, Drake’s been known to toot the BlackBerry horn. He loved it, needed it, craved it for writing his rap. There were articles back in 2010 about how much Drake loves his Blackberry and how integral it is to his writing.  In an article on this, his friends said:

“All his raps are written on a BlackBerry, if we don’t have a BlackBerry we gotta borrow one or find one somewhere!”

And Drake even said this:

“The BlackBerry keys…my thumbs were made for touching them!”

So what’s up? Are there more need for our Canadian Rap Artist than just being able to write on the BlackBerry? Drake is consistently posting to Instagram, an application that’s only available on iOS at this point.  Has he ditched the old BlackBerry for an iPhone? Or is he using an iPad? I highly doubt that Drake is using an iPad and Instagram, but we could look at the exif data if needed.  The iPhone is the ultimate for creative output and I’m certain someone like Drake can enjoy so much more interaction with people using an iPhone.

With Instagram being an iPhone only platform, are celebrities, like Drake, ditching their old ways to connect with fans because of the emotional reward it generates? I would love to talk to Drake about this but I’ll probably have to leave it to Entertainment Tonight on the red carpet or leave it to Ellen.

It’s no surprise that Instagram keeps gaining celebrities and that we find it so much more interesting than a famous person joining Twitter.  We’re visual people by nature and love to have this voyeur look into the life of a celebrity.  When it comes to Drake, Instagram might have been the deciding factor.  Go take a look at his following list and you might see why he didn’t want to feel left out of all the fun.

As I mentioned, Drake didn’t join Instagram tonight but he might have influenced you to sign up or to ditch your BlackBerry and join in the Instagram photo sharing addiction.  I’m interested in what the celebrities are sharing on Instagram too.  I love seeing how active Drake and Bieber are within the IG community already.  They must be finding something very unique about it or they’re just as into the ability to easily photograph the world around them as you are.

I can’t wait to hear some news that confirms Drakes movement away from BlackBerry. Not that I have anything against BlackBerry, but I do believe that Instagram is a platform pulling people to the iPhone.

Drake Instagram Photos:

Here are a few of Drake’s Instagram photos from his feed.  Remember you can also follow him on Instagram under the name of Champagnepapi.  I assume his name will change eventually as Justin Bieber changed his name away from ‘swagisme’ to ‘justinbeiber.’

If you know someone that’s into the work of Drake, make sure you share this with them. Shoot off a tweet, like, stumble, or +1. Whatever gets this out to them.

So, how did it all go? Well, I got to the airport and I went into the wrong line – Instantly. Luckily, I wasn’t the only one and an airport employee spotted 2 of us holding carry-on bags and big bags that needed checking. We were in a line to do the security check and hadn’t bothered to check our backs / check-in yet. This lovely employee pointed us to go up the escalator. The other guy mentioned that this was his first time traveling on his own too and we laughed up the escalator as the employee trailed us – with my passport.

That’s right, I somehow dropped my passport while standing confused in that line earlier. I was off to an amazing start and the entire experience could have been terrible. Thank goodness that someone was doing their job that morning in the Detroit Airport as it was final call when I finally got to my gate.  The attendants were sure to rebroadcast the message as I stood there trying to take a few iPhone photography shots.  I almost missed the flight and if I did, I would have missed the Seattle Instameet too.

Flying Delta to Seattle

I don’t have issues flying at all. I find it pretty cool but I seriously wonder how anyone could handle a long flight – ie across the world. The flight was actually better than usual because I was in the emergency exit which means that I had way more leg room than everyone else. I didn’t even feel like I was on an airplane (compare this with the flight back).

Since I was in the emergency exit area and I had the window seat, I could snap iPhone photography continuously. I probably looked like that person that was on their first flight, but that’s okay because it was my first time flying alone.  The image I’m sharing below is where I noticed the really cool industrial material that makes up the wing / jet engine.  I discussed this in a recent photoblog post showing the space age building material of the Experience Music Project.

Shooting out the window of a plane might  not seem like anything interesting to some of you but I don’t think there is a better device for it than the iPhone or your mobile phone.  I was given the opportunity to easily shoot a bunch of wing/jet shots and try different ways of releasing the shutter of my iPhone camera.  One of the ways to release the shutter that I wanted to use was with the headphones volume up button.  I was shooting almost blind and pressing that volume up button for the capture. This way of shooting allowed me to sit back and not fully block out the view if another person in my row was looking over.  If you haven’t tried shooting iPhone photography this way, give it a go as it’s like having a cable release.

iPhone Photography Instameet Time

We landed in Seattle and it was rainbows and sunshine pouring rain! My immediate thought was to go to the hotel and sleep because there was no way the Instameet / Photowalk would be going on.  There was a problem though: I got to the hotel at around noon and I couldn’t check-in until 3pm.  The manager offered to hold my bags and let me use an umbrella to walk around.  I said sure thing and as I did that another guy walked up and said I’ll need one of those too.

Who was this guy? Did he want to go for a walk with me or what?  I turn and see the guy is none other than Jack Hollingsworth in the flesh! I can’t even say enough awesome things about Jack.  Instantly he made me feel at home and said the Instameet is still on and we went over to CreativeLive as it is right across the street.

There is something super amazing about seeing a location like CreativeLive in many of their broadcasts and then to be in that space.  The set was pretty much up and the Instagram prints from Canvas Pop were being unpacked.  I was happy to see the quality of the canvas prints (12×12) and will 100% get some in the future.  Soon enough Kenna and Kate showed up and it was amazing to meet them finally too.  The location of the Instameet changed and my iPhone was finally charged to about 50% as we left.

What I found great about the Instameet was the general excitement – honest excitement – about iPhone Photography.  First off, this is fueled highly by Jack’s highly positive excitement around it.  When he says he LOVES iPhone photography, he really really does.  His passion for this form of mobile photography just pours out.

There we were, a group of 18 or so people with an iPhone 3Gs to an iPhone 4S.  After some discussion and a group photo in front of the pig, we ventured into the Pikes Place Market and explored with our iPhones.  Jack was giving advice on using Camera+ to control exposure and help with the capturing of images.  I was pretty much wandering and taking it all in.   We discussed color, the improvement of the iPhone 4S camera, trying to get the awesome bokeh effect that you can easily get with a DSLR and more.   There was a point where we saw someone in the Market taking a photo with a large tablet (not an iPad).  It was amusing.

The market was a great place to do the Instameet as it had all kinds of interesting things, shops, and people around. It lasted a couple of hours.  I was left with a desire to try and have some meets like this back in London, Ontario.  If you remember, our London Instameet didn’t get off too hoppin’ but 1 or 2 people is more than enough to have a good time :)

Even though it was raining, I was super impressed and happy that I got into Seattle the day before the iPhone Photography Workshop.  It was amazing to go out and get a little shooting in with Jack and Seattle iPhoneography Junkies :)  Jack and I were amazed that ANYONE showed up given how much it was raining.  Goes to show you how cool of a city Seattle is, right?

I urge you to go check out the hashtag #instameetseattle to see a lot of the shots from our Pikes Place Instameet.  I don’t know if Jack has shared any of his images yet but I look forward to seeing some.   I’ll leave you with a few more of my iPhoneography from this meet!

Look for what I thought of Day 1 of Jack Hollingsworth’s iPhone Photography Class at CreativeLive. Even at $79 now, I still believe this is a wicked value and the downloads are invaluable to you if you’re into iPhoneography!

Feel free to connect on Instagram too – My Instagram Profile or search “Scott Webb”

 The Theme Foundry Collection

Since recently looking at the Theme Foundry themes, I thought there were a few themes to share here.  The WordPress themes by the Theme Foundry are clean and definitely help photography stand out. I don’t know how long term responsive design is, but I think it’s one of the most important aspects of a site today so that your viewers can see your site properly on any device or screen resolution.  Theme Foundry has seemingly focused on responsive themes lately and a few of the ones here are just that.

Anthem WordPress Theme

A responsive and minimalist tumblog style theme for photographers, artists, and creatives.

Duet WordPress Theme

A dashing responsive two-column newspaper-style theme designed to highlight long-format writing and full width photos. Very clean and minimal.

Linen WordPress Theme

A clean and flexible magazine style theme. Features custom typography options, custom background support, and a featured post slider.

React WordPress Theme

A simple and elegant WordPress theme for business. Features a clean and responsive layout that looks great on mobile devices and tablets. Photographers would definitely be able to use a theme like this one from Theme Foundry.

Photography WordPress Theme

A theme built for photographers. Includes easy to use galleries, integrated Flickr support, and two gorgeous color schemes.

Conclusions

Disclosure: I work with WooThemes and personally prefer the themes from Woo (I’m actually in LOVE with one in development currently.  LOVE. I plan to use it for my architecture photography site once available).  There are so many reasons that I say that – I’d say it even if I didn’t work for WooThemes.  That’ said, this website is intending to help the creative democratized photographers today and WordPress is the democratization of publishing.  I want to show photographers that there are options out there for their WordPress website and that they can elegantly show off their photography.

Instead of asking forward-facing questions like, “What do I want to do with my life?”, we dream backward and ask, “What have I done in my life that I’ve loved?” And the answer we get is not a bottomless, faceless list of options that could apply to anyone. It’s a personal, small, uniquely tailored to our hearts and our souls, handful of life experiences that made us feel alive.

And finding those—dreaming backward—gives you everything you really need to move forward.

Looking back at your shared instagram photographs will trigger a lot of feelings, thoughts, and maybe even tingles. This is true with most photography but iPhone photography, or mobile photography in general, is a new breed of reflection.  When did I seem most inspired to photograph? What did I photograph often? How was I feeling most of the time I shot my iPhone off?  What is missing? Where did I feel most alive over the past year and do the images correspond with that?

This reflecting or dreaming backward helps to show me where I should go for 2012. This year I’m not openly discussing exactly what I’m planning to do as I mentioned in a previous photography resolutions post this week.  But I do want to share my Top 50 Instagram Photos from 2011 using a cool video created with Animoto.

Unfortunately, going over so many images and trying to pick 50, I missed a few I would have loved to include. I was going thought Instagram and tagging the 50 images I included and wondered how I missed these few. They are architectural instagrams.  I really noticed my desire to shoot architecture iPhoneography and professional architectural photography this 2011. While the images created with my DSLR are clearly higher quality, I found it very inspiring to first shoot with my iPhone or explore with my iPhone as a tool to study everything.  With an iPhone 4S, who knows where or when that line of quality actually doesn’t exist anymore. Here are the honorable mentions that I somehow skipped over:

I am not a celebrity Instagram user or someone that’s built a following giving me hundreds or thousands of likes on the platform.  I’m more than okay with the great people that do like or comment on my images though.  Even if I never get another liked Instagram photo, I’m not going to stop sharing images nor am I going to stop taking the images.  If I were someone to stop because of a lack of engagement via likes or comments, this blog would be long long gone.  I know that not everyone is comfortable commenting and I am the same way.  I still benefit from inspiring images that come from the people that I follow and don’t comment on.  It doesn’t mean I don’t appreciate their great work.  That said, I did get a really awesome comment this year from Chris Stern (@chris_stern on Instagram) and it may have been some unexpected fuel.  So if you feel inclined to say something, do so because you never know where it could take someone.  Here is what Chris said ( it was regarding the last image above too ):

Your architecture shots reminds of what I love shooting. Want to to try minimalistic shots like Aquatic series. Thanks for the inspiration.

I am really grateful for the comment, Chris.  I believe it was around this time that I really started to notice that I adore architectural shots and giving my images a bit more thought.  I started to look for more graphic, textural, and pattern imagery within the architecture and city. I notice how easily I could get lost in photography at ANY moment of time because of carrying my iPhone.  And if I have my iPhone on in camera mode, I know that I’m in a creation mode of living – I feel more in touch with who God made me to be.  I can feel this way with my DSLR camera too, but it’s not always with me.  If in a funk, I can easily switch on the iPhone with a double tap and snag a shot.  Traffic jam? So what.  Slow checkout at a cash register? So what.  Stuck at a red light FOREVER? So What.  There are little to no boring moments around us and Instagram is continually proving this every day.

Take a look back through your Instagram photos from 2011.  What were your best? Don’t worry if you have to create  a blog post 3 weeks into 2012. You’re still allowed to post about 2011 once the year is officially history.

With Resolutions, we tend to make a laundry list or give little to no thought. In the past, I’ve done month long reviews here and tried to map out my year. How did this work out? Well, I feel as if I ended up with a laundry list that was left in my pocket and run through the laundry. Yea, I made a great list with beautiful intentions but that’s where it was left off. In my mind, I created the perfect fluffy list of New Years Resolutions for my photography and life. I have a sinking feeling that you may have done the same – hopefully not with a 365 photography project that I warned you about.

What Exactly are Fluffy Photography Resolutions?

Giving Little to No Thought for Goals in 2012 and Beyond

One type of fluff, in my eyes, would be when someone gives little to no thought about what they want to achieve – related to photography – for the New Year.  The way to know if you’ve not given it any thought is to imagine someone asking you about your New Years Resolution for 2012.  How do you respond? When you’ve not given your photography resolutions any thought, you’re response will likely be flaky, one eye squinting and a response filled with um & uh, and never scratching the surface to take you where you really want to be.

Now, I don’t want to discount anyone’s photography resolutions for 2012 but I want to challenge you to go deeper.  I’m coming from a place that is feeling as if I didn’t go deep enough for 2011.  A lot has gone on for me in 2011 and I believe it’s a big reason for why I feel as if I finally have a higher calling with photography and moving forward.   Despite my dry humor of trying to get you to avoid a boring 52 week project or 365 project, I really just want you to look at what the 365 project will stand for or what the purpose behind it will truly be to you and others.  Give purpose to your photography and your photoblog.  Make a resolution deeper than taking more photographs for yourself this year.

If someone asks you about your resolutions, have a response that you’re proud of and confident in pitching :)

The Laundry List of Photography Resolutions

If you don’t fall into the first type of fluffy resolution issue, there is a giant chance you’re a classic case of photographer with great intentions. You have such great intentions that you over-commit to making 50 resolutions work out for the new year. These resolutions feel important but if you look at them objectively, I bet they’re just full of fluff.  There are many important things to get under control when it comes to photography, but they don’t need to be on your true list of resolutions.

This time I am going to list out a bunch of ideas that might be on a huge list of photography resolutions for you and for me.

1. Shoot more photography for myself
2. Get better at lighting
3. Lose weight (lol just had to)
4. Do a 365 photography project or 52 week project
5. Finally finish that other photography project idea
6. Shoot more food photography
7. Blog more about my photography
8. Update my portfolio and website this year
9. Organize my Lightroom Catalog better
10. Spend less time in front of the computer and more time shooting
11. Print more of my photography to hang
12. Read more photography books
13. Remove clutter from home to focus better on my photography
14. Get more clients
15. Shoot more Landscape Photography

The list could go on and on. Most people will tell you that listing these resolutions and ideas will help you become accountable to them but I feel it might be better for us to not talk about everything we want to do.  I mentioned on Twitter that we should sometimes consider not mentioning what we’re doing because it can be more exciting.  I wrote that when I was doing something that felt like it was just between myself and God.  I didn’t feel the need to tweet out something for once! Truly a new thing for me. :P

In response to my tweet, Jorge mentioned an article by Derek Sivers that advises us to Shut UP! Here is a quick blurb:

Four different tests of 63 people found that those who kept their intentions private were more likely to achieve them than those who made them public and were acknowledged by others.

Once you’ve told people of your intentions, it gives you a “premature sense of completeness.”

This advice and information isn’t just more fluff.  This advice is so true in my own life and probably your own.  I actually relate this information back to girls. I’m a pretty shy guy initially and I would lay in bed going over how I would talk to a girl in my class.  I would go over how I might ask them out.  I would plan out my intentions over and over and I was probably training my mind that it was already completed.  When I went to school, I would chicken out or find some way to avoid it.  Even though I didn’t tell others, I still relate this information to a psychological issue for not completing projects.

When you create a long laundry list of photography resolutions, I feel it’s just a list of things that would be nice to do.  I remember seeing a blog post in which a photographer’s resolution was to shoot more landscape photography but they ended up not shooting any!

I looked at my 2010 Annual Review posts and found so many problems. I didn’t list everything in one single post, but I essentially created a laundry list of resolutions.

Un-Fluff Your Photography Resolution for 2012

I hope you’re grasping what I’m trying to put in front of you right now.  I believe you can have the best year in photography during 2012! Solidify your photography resolutions as goals for 2012 and limit them to only a few.  Make this year about finishing something related to your photography or completing something that you have to show for a successful year.   Break those few resolutions down; it’s what I’m doing behind the scenes right now.

Feel free to publicly share your photography resolutions and photography goals for 2012 despite the advice from Derek Sivers to shut up.  Perhaps you’re someone that embraces the public display of what you’re out to achieve. There are benefits to both sides of this debate!  Take the article by Jon Acuff about resolutions: Don’t Overkill Your Resolutions and Dare You To Do this With Me - a very open approach and could be massively motivating.

Fluffy Resolutions, like listed above and like described if you don’t even think about them, really won’t get you too far.  I have spend the last half of the year with much more focus and I believe I’ve been preparing for 2012.  With 3 days until we enter 2012, possibly our last year on Earth, I still feel as if I need to sit down in a Cafe and zero in on this more.

Don’t be your own destroyer due to fluff.

Go after what you want in photography for 2012! 

###

top photo credit: eltman
middle photo credit: scott webb
bottom photo credit: charlyn w