Is it Hip anyMore?

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I love my iPhone (did I say that before?). I just saw a post on another forum questioning whether the Hipstamatic look is relevant any more. Has its extreme popularity diluted it’s value as art? It was a pretty good argument. One side led by my good friend Pat Downs argued that it’s style, similar to the Diana (a cheap plastic camera), has become so prevasive and overused that there is so much trash being posted/published by the Histamatic app. that its now becoming boring (my words). Then Pat added a great analogy that the popularity is similar to certain forms of music (techno to name one) that had their day and then people gravitated back to “normal” sounds.

Will people with cell phones start shooting “normal” photos again? It is a good argument but I think it comes down to the argument about digital photography in general. There is a lot out there, but it’s not all boring. It a great way for a lazy person to make a photo or a creative person to just play and stimulate their senses when they hit on a good one. As someone famous once said, “I’m not an artist but I know art when I see it”. I think the “hip” look is here to stay till the next great app shows up. The crowd in general is trendy……… follow the leader.

btw, I use Hipstamatic…… Thanks to Kevin Lock and Patrick Downs for the inspiration for this post.

my other blog: http://poppaz.wordpress.com, website: www.zwink.com (no there’s no iPhones photos there)

It just won’t go Away

THE AZTEC WARRIOR

     Sometimes, if you’re lucky, during your career you’ll make images that will stay with you the rest of your life.  Images you enjoy, images that strangers will know.  You know, the image you may see on a poster or a wall print that someone comments “that’s nice…..”  Then you get to proudly say, yes I took it.

     I’ve been lucky to take a few of these during my shooting career.  The above image was taken for the Aztec Warrior Foundation after SDSU decided their mascot Monty Montezuma was not politically correct anymore in the eyes of the school administration.  After a fallout of public outrage and the efforts of the Aztec Warrior Foundation, Monty was reintroduced to the school and fans.

     But, I digress some.  What I also wanted to point out is that these situations can often profoundly affect your life.  I met Monty, aka Carlos Gutierrez, while we were both on the sidelines during the Aztec games.  We became (and still are) close friends, had a few excellent adventures and I became his unofficial photographer.  His passion to promote and support SDSU and it’s athletic program genuinely rubbed off on me.  I have friends that cover baseball and other sports that have also developed lasting friendships from their photography exploits so I’m not the exception.  It’s a reality, embrace your passion and your subjects.  It will affect your life.

More of my work can be seen at:  www.zwink.com  My archived work which includes Monty is at www.bigstudioz.com