I’m an Android user. I see no reason to spend several hundred dollars on an iPhone that will be replaced in 8 months and most of the apps that I use are available cross platform.
When I first heard about Instagram I had the reaction that I think most photographers had: “Oh boy, an app that lets your shitty camera-phone take your shitty camera phone pictures and put a less than shitty filter on it.” I admit, I was on the train of “This app is ruining photography” for a brief period and the millions of users annoyed me to no end with their “artistic” photos of their food and coffee and every day household items. But then Instagram came out on Android 2 weeks ago.

And I *LOVE* it.

To me it harkens back to when I discovered photography for the first time. I was using a point and shoot, and the camera would do all the work for. I would simply push the shutter button and get the photos developed. Easy.
It all came with this sense of wonder, of not knowing and the excitement of seeing those images for the first time was palpable.
These days with all of my digital equipment, computers and photoshop taking that snapshot isn’t as simple as a task as it once was. Part of that is me, wanting to put out a polished finished photo is part of who am, it’s what makes me “professional.” So when I want to upload some photos I took to facebook it’s a bit of a pain. I plug in the card to the card reader, download to the computer, open in photoshop, process, downsize and export and then finally upload them to facebook. With Instagram I point, shoot, select a filter and I’m done. It goes to my followers primarily, but it can share them on Facebook and twitter if I want. And it’s so easy and fun.

If you are simply interested in sharing your day to day life with your friends in photographs, I would highly recommend Instagram. No need to lug around big cameras and laptops, all you need is a smartphone. It came out just in time for my big trip to the Salton Sea last week and I shot the road trip, the locations and the shoot days and they were promptly shared.

You can follow me if you like, my user name is what_an_ahtist. I think my favorite filter is either Hudson or Sierra. I have yet to take a photo of a meal, but I have taken a picture of my morning coffee.