Saturday 31 December 2011

#bo2011, Instagram and @anglo

The amazing 'Best 2011 of Grids' posted on Instagram under the hashtag #bo2011 (1500 to date) started with our very own @Anglo. Here's her first grid, posted on December 28th, and how the meme took off in her own words: 

Click to enlarge and open a slide show of images on this blog

I was hoping for five or maybe 10 people to join in.

I made up the tag #bestofAnglo2011, wandered back through my stream and tagged my favourite shots with it. I stopped tagging when I had made an IG-friendly square of images. Turns out that you need 16 shots to do make a square, 4x4, who'd have thought? I shared the grid and invited people to explore my personal 'best of' tag, like wrapping paper the blur was designed to add an element of surprise when people clicked the tag to see my 16 images in their own mini stream. 

An End of Year Review is an obvious thing to do, but I also did this because I had a few images from early on in the year that I was really proud of and wanted to parade again. Equally, I knew I had missed lots of other people's best shots from the year (because I just can't be on IG that much), so I threw out the invite for others to make a grid. I did not include instructions, thinking it was obvious how to make the grid (I really got that wrong!)."

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Then ForwardTumble suggested using #bo2011 for the grid shots only, so they could be browsed all in one place. Go Tumble! 

Then a few friends, with much more influence than me, did one:

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And things started to pick up speed. When it got to about 50 grids, I lobbed some proper instructions into the #bo2011 tag, because many people were asking 'what app did you use' (you don't need an app!),  because some people were putting individual shots in with the grids (grrrr) and because the part ForwardTumble and I had played in creating the meme was getting lost in the stampede. 

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And in a few days a little idea I expected to be taken up by me and a handful of followers went from 50 grids by the end of day one, to 750 by the start of New Year's Eve to 1400 by the end of New Year's Day. 

So a huge thank you to everyone for doing it! I started off liking every image but there are now too many to do that, but in my heart I have. 

The #Bo2011 tag is the ultimate box of chocolates. It's the best of the best of Instagram. It shows just how stunning iPhone photography can be. It's also demonstrates the huge difference in creativity that people can achieve with the same tool. I've seen girds full of bright coloured skies, macro insects, soft sepia Earlybirds, hard black and white architecture, the same puppy getting bigger and just balloons. It's a fascinating gallery I'll keep coming back to.  

You can browse the tag here: #bo2011

Here are some screen shots of the many, many grids out there. I'm sure you'll agree they look glorious all together. 

HAPPY NEW YEAR !






If you like my photos, don't miss out on the next blog:


Friday 16 December 2011

big bright wheel




Original image taken on iPhone 4
Photograph by @Londonbird, taken at the Winter Wonderland 2011, Hyde Park 

"First 'Clarity' in Camera+ then Dynamic Light app, added a little 'dynamic light' not the full amount as it tends to go weird, then added Kelvin filter in Instagram."

If you enjoyed this, don't miss out on the next iPhone photo:



Tuesday 13 December 2011

bubblegum



"Bubblegum" taken by @Anglo on her iPhone 3GS

"Firstly I noticed how good she'd got at blowing bubbles so thought it was time to 'capture the moment'. I asked her to stand by a brightly lit window, and turn so the sun hit the side of her face. I only just managed to catch the bubble before it burst. I edited completely in Camera+, cropping closer and to a square, adding the vibrant filter to juice everything up, they using a vignette border to get rid of all evidence of the room. Really pleased with the light in the bubble."

Original photograph

If you enjoyed this, don't miss out on the next iPhone photo explained:

Monday 12 December 2011

merry go round



Original iPhone 4 image

Photograph by @Londonbird, taken at the Winter Wonderland 2011, Hyde Park 

"I resisted using colour (only just!) and took Paris photographers like Cartier Bresson as inspiration. I used Camera+ to add 'clarity' to bring out detail in faces, then to Noir to add black and white glow and Lomo-Fi filter in IG to add the border."

If you enjoyed this, don't miss out on the next iPhone photo:



@Londonbird, the Huffington Post and Annie Leibowitz!

Bloody hell! One of our featured Instagramers @Londonbird has hit the big time, having three of her iPhone photographs featured in this article in The Huffington Post.




You can read the full article, and watch the slideshow, here

Friday 2 December 2011

carnivale





original image

Shot at our local garden centre
I asked her to look at the ceiling lights
We did not buy the mask

Edited with Camera+
Flash > to brighten the face
Vibrancy > to make it even more PURPLE!
Crop and Vignette > to get rid of the garden centre

If you enjoyed this, don't miss out on the next iPhone photo:



Thursday 1 December 2011

end of days


iPhone photograph by my sister Louise. The building is The Shard, London.

You can find Louise on Instagram as Londonbird.

If you enjoyed this, don't miss out on the next iPhone photo: