Oct 20

Oct 20 life on Instagram

hi my dear reader, have i already told you how happy i am that you´re here, reading this?

so much appreciated ;)

the other day i received this wonderful book from Penguin Books, "Life on Instagram", a collection of over 800 Instagram pictures from around the world and after looking at them it got me thinking. Especially after taking the picture you just saw. My sister @_pommegranate took it for my contribution for DW, a very well known watch on the app.

So, here my thoughts about Instagram, real vs fake, photography, and so on:

somebody told me not long ago that i´m not a photographer. Well "i know" i said, but i have never pretended to be one, so, fair enough. Am i a real instagrammer? Well, that i am, yes, i know for sure. What makes you an instagrammer? The number of followers? Nope! Being engaged, posting all things pretty, socialize with the other users...
what exactly do i mean with all things pretty? Flowers and coffee, might some "friendly" people say. Yes, that too, but not only. I hate when people criticize girly posts. I´m not an all pink kinda girl (i was a tomboy as kid), but flowers are pretty, coffee is photogenic and food even more. Does that mean i don´t have as much merit as someone who photographs architecture? Wrong!!!! It doesn´t! We are all different, so are our styles. Architecture and landscape are very neutral, beautiful, but neutral. I appreciate people who can make landscape instagrammable, i find it rather challenging. Selfies? Well, selfies are also an art, if you think about it. And so on. But don´t judge! Does a selfie person make art? If the pictures are photogenic, why not?
besides, i like to keep my feed real and post more styles. I like architecture, city life scenes, food, flatlays, still life, strideby-s, hotel life, i like almost all styles of photography. Portraits are super hard to do, so i don´t really do that, although i´d love to learn. I take 99% of my pictures with my iphone 6 (i always write in the caption if it´s not an iphone one) and i like change. I know the secret of a "good" Instagram gallery is repetition and the same style, but i like so many things, i can´t just decide and post only one. Now that the weather is getting colder, i´m more into dark colores, before i was into white ;)
what about those who don´t really take their own pictures on Instagram, like bloggers..I´ve thought about this more often and since @me_and_mango have started our little #boomerangbangbang project, i´m in front of the camera. And being photographed is not that easy either. In our case is a teamwork. We look for the best angle, pose, place, etc. Of course i prefer when fashion bloggers combine both, being in front and behind the camera, but that´s only my opinion
and talking about bloggers (cuz i´m one too, hihi) do we sell our souls to..companies? Well nope! There is nothing unorthodox in advertising something you like. Some even make money out of it, well good for them!! Many of us would do the same if they had the opportunity. So less judging, ok? ;) I also get jealous when i see all the free stuff and trips and Chanel bags some girl get, but hey, they must be doing something right in order to have that, it seems easy, but most of the time it is more difficult than it looks
back to my picture for DW. Is it real or fake? Both, ha!!! you thought i was going to say fake? Why would i say that here, in front of thousands and thousands of readers (make it hundreds, lol) I know you all want some behind the scenes confessions, but i´m being really honest here ;) The picture is staged, because drinking tea in bed it is not as romantic as it looks. I´m very clumsy, so imagine that ;) Second, you don´t really wake up with a third person that will just take a picture of you. But it is also real. Most of my mornings with husband are even more beautiful than showed in this picture. There are so many meaningful moments you can´t really capture, like when we laugh and hug in the mornings, when Mango and Yellow play with us, when we drink our favorite Teastories tea or Nespresso coffee (nope, it is not sponsored, this whole blogpost is actually #notsponsored), and so on, i don´t like being cheesy. So the picture is not fake, is staged for the occassion, but it´s just a copy of other moments we´ve had like this
so, is Instagram fake or real? Depends on what kind of a person you are. I try to keep it as real as i can. My mom has always made us the most lovely breakfasts, dad always brought her flowers, so for me, arranging breakfast for a picture comes natural, somehow. Before Instagram, i always wanted to do it, but it takes time and pictures somehow make it more wort it ;)
and since @me_and_mango has Instagram (it´s one year already, wow) everything is twice as much fun as before. I love having this hobby together. Couples need that, common interests.
i also keep my Instagram feed real by my captions. I almost never use words like "amazing" "best day of my life", etc. Once in a while i have the best meal at a restaurant or find the best hotel in a favorite city, but hello, does that not happen to everybody?
i was about to posting my picture for DW and thinking about the caption i got inspired and started writing this. My thoughts and maybe an answer to all those who criticize Instagram. People, if there was something better, believe me, i would immediately start using it, but we are humans and everything we do is imperfect and so is Instagram. But i still love it, it challenges me to be creative, it inspires me and connects me really awesome people, so back off haters! Being all the time negative it only makes you...negative? ;)
i have so much to do, so i´ll end this here. There is so much to say about Instagram, but maybe i´ll write more soon (if you´re interested, please leave a comment ;)