What would Instagram sound like?
Instagram has changed the way I look at photography, from taking single images of beautiful found ephemera to sharing sequences of images as an event or moment unfolds. These moments become a journey through your life, one that is both shared and intimate (as @malbonster mentions in his recent blog post; Making sense of life through photography).
This made me think about the way that photography has evolved and integrated into our lives. It also made me wonder how literal photographic journeys could evolve. How could the day of a social group be documented though more than just a camera lens? To capture more than just one media (or sense)?
This led to an experiment: could the 'development' of a photographic journey be through the addition of sound bites? What would the experience become, would sound enhance or disrupt the imagery?
A bank holiday at the seaside seemed like the perfect opportunity to test the idea, and using a combination of Instagram and voice memo, I documented the day. I matched the Instagrams with the sound bites and rendered it as an almost Pummelvisionesque video.
I wasn't sure exactly what I'd make of the final video, on the day it seemed slightly ridiculous, I think mainly because when you're actually in the moment, you forget you'll forget. But, what I found looking back was that the photos seemed to take on a new dimension, they come to life, allowing you to remember and relive as if you were there, which the alternative, video, can sometimes overcomplicate. It's the halfway point that allows you to document the best bits with the pro's of each medium. Whether the journey works as an idea, I'm not sure, but as an addition to individual images, it could be interesting?
10 comments
Nice piece of mucking about.
It worked better for me on the second viewing, when I just let sound and pictures wash over me.
I was concentrating too hard on the sounds first time round. And I think it’s the number of sound cuts that makes it more difficult to enjoy as a subconscious experience.
I strongly suspect that this will turn into at least a mini-meme.
Nice work. I like where you’re going with this.
Though I agree with Phil that the cuts are slightly distracting from the actual photo/sound combinations.
I tried something similar when flickr first introduced video, albeit with a single photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/meltingman/3424986626/
But you’re right, of course – instagram is changing everything and it feels like a lot of the stuff we’ve taken for granted about photography is up for grabs. Keep experimenting!
Reminds me of the early days of podcasting when I’d do a walk and talk about what I could see and hear and then post a flickr set to accompany it.
try http://media.libsyn.com/media/perfectpath/podwalk014.mp3 with http://www.flickr.com/photos/lloyd-davis/sets/505098
Beautiful. Really beautiful. Takes me back to this… http://hughgarry.typepad.com/hugh_garry/2008/08/telling-stories.html
This is beautiful, great work Alex!
I love this. Was thinking of something similar recently but with individual photos and moments. I experimented with taking a single image and capturing about 10 seconds of sound while I was in Morocco to try and remember specific moments better. Haven’t put them together yet but will show you when I do.
Sounds and music are more personal than images. Would be interesting to see different people’s perspectives and experiences of a single event or a place a la Rashomon!
That’s really lovely. It reminded me of this radiolab piece: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jNVPalNZD_I
What an awesome and inspiring blog post Alex! Really loved this experiment. As you know I’ve been playing with Soundtracking – which is a great idea but a clumsy way of trying to do this – in fact there’s no ambient option, and most people seem to use cover art, which misses the point?
Lovely stuff.
T
I’ve recently seen the latest movie by Jean Luc Godard : Film Socialisme, which, apart from having the best trailer ever made ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oLuWoz9OpqU it’s actually the whole movie, fast-forwarded ) really made me think of your blogpost.
It’s mostly a very abstract film, I didn’t even try to understand anything of it, kind of combination of video moments inspired by cut-up technique. Very inspiring, I’m sure you’ll like it.