I finally joined Instagram. OMG.

Some initial thoughts on this whole Instagram thing...

Yep, I am on the cutting edge here, way ahead of my time!  :-)  Only took me a few years to join up!  Or as my friend Mike Murphy said: "Well it's about time".

Do YOU Instagram?  You can find me here, if interested: http://instagram.com/jimnix

Let’s link up there, and if you have any great feeds I should follow, please share!  I am always looking for more photo inspiration and beautiful shots to look at!

If you have spent any time on this site, you have already figured out that I love to shoot with my iPhone.  It’s convenient, capable, and it’s always handy.  Plus, throw in a few cool apps and you can create art on the go, any time of day, anywhere in the world.  I love that aspect of mobile photography.  It’s just so...accessible.

So one would assume that with my love of iPhoneography that I would have joined Instagram ages ago and that I would have a huge amount of photos that I have shared out there.  That I would be active and engaged there.  That I would be present and accounted for.  Nope, not so much.   

Curiosity killed the cat...but for a while, I was a suspect.  :-)

You see, I have been sharing my iPhone pics here on the blog, on my FB page and in this set on Flickr for some time now, but never got around to joining Instagram.  From the outside looking in, my initial opinion of Instagram prior to joining was that I didn’t like the filters very much, so I figured why bother?  It’s not like I don’t already have plenty of other choices when it comes to social media.

But a couple of weeks ago, I decided to give it a try.  Everyone was sharing their “Best of 2013” Instagram thing across Facebook, and I saw a couple of articles online about the best folks to follow and all that.  I got interested. 

Curiosity won out.  I just had to see what all the fuss is about.  There’s no harm in a trial run, is there?

So, what do I think?  

It’s not bad.  I kinda like it.

I know that doesn’t sound like a glowing review, but I will say that I am positive towards the platform and the filters at this point.  I’ve even started liking the square crop a little bit.  And unbelievably, now I find myself looking at things that I shoot with my iPhone in terms of how they would look with a square crop.

Ah, how quickly we change!

So I guess that means Instagram is having an effect on me.  I assume it’s a positive one.  At least I hope so.  Time will tell.  But, I am changing.  It’s a New Year - it’s a good time to change.  Right?

I still plan to share my iPhone pics in all the usual places though, including adding select favorites to my iPhone gallery here on the site.  I don’t like having everything in one place (because I don't want to be too dependent on one outlet), and I am so invested in the other platforms now that I can’t leave.  Plus, I don’t want to leave.  I happen to like the other platforms, too.  There's safety in diversity.

BTW, I only share iPhone photos there.  IMO, that’s what the site is for.  I see many folks sharing photos taken with their DSLR and while that doesn’t bother me and I have nothing against it (I just like to see great pictures, regardless of what device was used), it just seems odd.  I thought it was a site for mobile photography.  But, I digress.

And this is a VERY small thing, but I like that when I post to Instagram, it saves a copy of the photo in an Instagram folder on my iPhone.  Not a big deal, but nice to have.  That gives me the option of then creating an Instagram set on Flickr and sharing them there, too...though I don't want to be too redundant.

 But also, since I have so few photos on Instagram at the moment, I can quickly scan that iPhone album and make sure the pic I am about to share hasn't already been posted there.  That's handy at this stage of the game.

Anyways, just thought I would share this breaking news with the world.  :-)

Thanks for stopping by, and see you out there (virtually)!