So enter instagramers. Who are the instagramers  (or igers as the are known)?

“We’re an international community that share a common passion. You guessed it, Instagram. There are communities all over the globe and we’re looking to launch Instagramers SA with a bang. We have some internationally recognised Instagramers on board and we not only want to share our passion and create a larger local community, but we want to showcase our local talent to the international Instagramers community. It is also important to note that we have official support from the International Instagramers Community started by Phillipe Gonzalez, the international community looks to help countries and cities all over the world to build up their local Instagram communities. You can read up more about them on www.instagramers.com and also see their activity on @igers on Instagram”

I have seen this community growing over the last couple of years, and a couple of guys have come to the fore and created the South African Igers community (@igersSouthAfrica) which will compromise a number of cities around South Africa.

So, to celebrate the launch of Igers South Africa, the team have put together a number of exciting “instawalks” around the country over the weekend of the 25th – 27th Jan.
An instawalk is basically a walk around a pre-determined area, taking pics on your phone, editing them, and uploading them to instagram. There are also a couple of cool prizes (like an Olloclip or a framed image) for the best images taken over the weekend. All you need to do is tag your images with #igers[localcity] and #igersSouthAfrica.
Each city “ManIger” during the course of the following weekdays will feature 1 instagramer a day, which will result in 5 “featured” instagramers from each city. @igersSouthAfrica will then feature the top Instagramers from each city and then the top two winners will win the prizes

Tell us a bit more about the image. Where you took it, the story behind it and what apps you used to edit

I had the privilege of living and working in New York City for a few months which is one of the most amazing places for street- and urban landscape photography. In February on a Sunday afternoon I was wandering around with a friend taking pictures of the Brooklyn Bridge and surrounding scenery. We ended up chilling on the Brooklyn promenade which is one of my favourite spots to view the New York skyline. This photo is of the financial district of New York in othr words Wall Street and surrounds, the area mostly affected by hurricane Sandy. That day I took allot of photos with my dSLR camera but decided to take out my iPhone for a few quick snapshot swhich included the photo I entered. It is quite funny how these days you see someone with a Canon or Nikon around the neck with an iPhone in hand. This was exactly the case with this photo.

Was the image edited & posted straight away, or was there a bit of “Post-Processing”

The photo was quickly edited on the spot with Snapseed, one of my favourite apps after which I just posted it on Facebook for my friend to see. That was the last time I did any editing on that specific photo. It was a very clear and bright winter’s day and combined with Snapseed created this almost Gotham City look.

What are your favorite 5 iPhoneography apps ?

My favourite apps and the ones I use by far the most is Snapseed, Camera+ and Instagram. Then more recently I discovered VSCO Cam which has some great filters, but takes getting used to. A few of my personal favourite Instagrammers use VSCO Cam for some pics. Lastly I discovered Instafocus, which is a showcase of the better Instagram photos, because recently the Instagram popular page has very few good photos.

Any suggestions on how we could grow the iPhoneography community in SA ?

I think there are already a very big community out there, but it is not formalised. Exhibitions like the one we had are a brilliant start and platform to create awareness of this relatively new art form. I was truly amazed by some of the photos on display in Cape Town. Some that really stood out for me on the evening was “Ripples across the common” and “Naartjie” by Thoban Jappie, “Hipsta Beach” by Garth Manthe and then the portrait of a fisherman (not sure who the iPhoneographer was) which I thought was brilliant. Because of this exhibition, I have already connected with some of the other iPhoneographers which is great!

More people should join Instagram and tag their pics #iphoneographysa so we know it’s proudly South African. I also believe people should use Instagram as a virtual exhibition of their BEST pics rather than a photo version of twitter.
I personally follow some unbelievable Instagrammers who challenge me all the time by their unbelievable consistent quality in composition and editing. Look at what is possible with iPhones and let them challenge us achieve similar quality photos here in South Africa.

Have a look at these guys on Instagram and you will see what I mean: @r3mus, @chrisozer, @dirka, @hirozzzz, @marzenka, @koci, @puanindya, @nicolehunziker and my personal favourite, @mattfrench. I am passionate about landscape photography as you will see from the list above, but find high quality Instagrammers in a genre you love and let them challenge and inspire you.

What I do appreciate is the new series on the iPhoneography website whith practical tips on editing and using apps. Most important however is that you no longer have an excuse for not having a camera close by. Be more aware of your surroundings and try see beauty or a story in everything.

You can enter via www.facebook.com/FordSouthAfrica or www.fiestagram.co.za for South African residents.

Here is a bit more info about the campaign and what it is all about:

Ford has launched an online competition that will give photography fans from across South Africa a chance to win weekly prizes and a grand prize of a new Ford Fiesta, one of Ford’s best-selling small cars.

 

Called the #Fiestagram Photo Competition, the contest challenges photography enthusiasts to upload photos in several categories inspired by the all-new technologies and features of the new Ford Fiesta which will be launched in South Africa in early 2013.

 

“Most of today’s modern mobile phones are capable of taking high-quality digital pictures,” explains Gavin Golightly, Ford Marketing Manager. “South Africa is a beautiful country, rich in culture that lends itself to beautiful photographic interpretation. Our cars are about freedom and expression, style and smart technology which are all core to today’s photographic enthusiast.”

 

In the coming weeks, contestants will be encouraged to capture and interpret a weekly theme as a photograph and enter it via Ford’s specially developed site and Facebook app on www.fiestagram.co.za. Contestants can also import photos from Instagram, the popular application that allows users to take fast, beautiful photos and easily share them with friends. Contestants not on Instagram can upload any photo and add a filter via the app.

 

Each week one winner will be selected by celebrity judges, Tamara Day (www.twitter.com/tamaraday), Liam Lynch (www.twitter.com/liamlynchphoto) and the collective behind ISeeADifferentYou (www.twitter.com/iseedifferent), Justice Mukheli, Innocent Mukheli  and Vuyo Mpantsha who are all social photography aficionados in their own right. 

 

“We wanted to run a competition which would resonate with our existing Facebook fans, the wider Instagram community and photography fans in general,” says Golightly.

 

The contest is divided into six categories inspired by the unique features and technologies that define the new Ford Fiesta including the efficient technology embraced in Ford’s acclaimed 1.0 EcoBoost petrol engine; smart technology like keyless entry and keyless-go and Ford’s applauded SYNC in-car connectivity system for mobile phones and music devices.

 

The exact themes will be revealed on Facebook and Twitter every Monday for the next six weeks and participants can interpret the categories in any way they wish. Entrants can make use of any of the filters and effects available on Instagram, a similar photo-editing app, or the Facebook app andwww.fiestagram.co.za to enhance the mood and feel of their images.

 

Weekly winners will receive a Lomo LC-A+ camera and go into the final that will see the six weekly winners participate in an Instawalk in February 2013. The photographs from the Instawalk will be showcased in a photographic exhibition at the end of February 2013 where the final winner of the new Ford Fiesta will be chosen.

 

The competition is currently running on the Ford South Africa Facebook page and mobi site at www.fiestagram.co.za.

Tell us a bit more about the image. Where you took it, the story behind it and what apps you used to edit

Last year Motribe started up Formal Friday so we could have one day each week, where we looked fancy for work. One of the devlopers, Charl, decided to go for a very different sort of formal, which he called LumberJack formal. I was taking staff photos of the team that day, so snapped one of Charl.
The photo was taken in the Motribe Offices and was edited using Camera+.

Was the image edited & posted straight away, or was there a bit of “Post-Processing”

It was edited and posted straight away

What are your favorite 5 iPhoneography apps ?

My favourite apps are Camera+ for editing (it’s incredible), Phonto for adding text and basic design, Instagram, and Pic Frame Pro (everyone loves collages). Occasionally I will use Pro HDR, but I’m not in love with it.

Any suggestions on how we could grow the iPhoneography community in SA ?

Organise iphoneography walks in each of the key cities.
Feature instagrammers on any digital properties.
Run themed competitions each month, where the winner walks off with cheers and perhaps a little iphoneographer badge.

This exact style works best with clear skies, well-lit buildings with shadows and unique shooting angles.

The Apps you will need to create this look are:

• Snapseed
• Dynamic Light
• Perfectly Clear
• Picfx
• LensLight

**The process to create this style is as follows:

1) Find the building etc that you want to shoot and choose an angle where there are some interesting shadows or where the light illuminates the building well and shoot with your native camera app.

2) Open up your photo in Snapseed, select “Details” and then increase your structure by 40-50 and increase the sharpness by 10-15.  Save image.

3) Open in Dynamic Light and drag the amount of dynamic light to 100 and open the Infrared (top right – first page) effect in the Fx options.  Save image.

4) Open the saved image in Perfectly Clear and turn off all the settings except for sharpness, exposure and noise removal.  Add 50% of sharpness and remove all noise (slider to top) and edit exposure if it comes out too bright. Save image.

We started setting up the venue on Monday morning, and because of the unique nature of the venue, we had specially designed hanging platforms created for the event. Our Curator, Inke, was a superstar in getting all the images hung up, and eventually on Tuesday afternoon, we were ready to roll !

They event was a HUGE success, and I estimate around 400-500 people came through the doors on the evening. We had 120 photos on display, and I overheard many conversations about how impressed everybody was with the exhibition  The vibe was great with a DJ and a guy playing the trumpet and the food was amazing. All in all, I can honestly say, that I am super proud with the way the whole event panned out.

The iPhoneography exhibitions this year, have FAR FAR exceeded my expectations with the both events producing amazing images & results.

It was also a tough job trying to choose all the winners in Cape Town, but eventually we managed to get our winners. In 3rd Place, Robyn Hobson with here image Formal Friday. In 2nd place Lionel Botha with his very cool looking image, Cosmos. And in First place was Kobus Dippenaar with his image called Concrete Jungle.

Some of the images will also be on display at the V&A Waterfront till Sunday afternoon, so if you in the area make sure you get down there !!

I really want to thank the iStore team for the support & sponsorship of the events. The whole team went out of their way to make this a great event, and I can’t wait to see what we can come with next year !

My goal going forward with iPhoneographySA is to try and grow the iPhoneography community in South Africa. We will be using this site & the iPhoneographySA Facebook page to grow the community, and organise events and keep up to date with the latest iPhoneography news in South Africa. Stay tuned !!

A couple of people have given some feedback about the event here -> Chris, Robyn &  Sean

Thank you to everyone who supported these events. Thank you !

I managed to grab Zeno to ask him a couple of questions about his winning image, and now seeing the context around the image, and the situation it was taken in, now proves what iPhoneography is all about. Capturing, editing & posting that image in the moment. A well deserved winner I think !

Here are some of the questions we asked Zeno about his winning image…

Tell us a bit more about the image. Where you took it, the story behind it and what apps you used to edit. 
I normally find taking pictures while I work . As a cinematographer I’m lucky enough to always shoot in different and strange locations . The winning picture I took while we were shooting at the art museum in rosebank. Like I said it was the right time and place. I was heading down to get coffee and my friend happen to be standing outside looking out towards the street with those cool shades on. Didn’t think much of it then but it just snapped it and walked away. I took that photo on one if not the favourite , hipstamatic app.

Was the image edited & posted straight away, or was there a bit of “Post-Processing”
I normal post my pics right away on Instagram (zenography ) because hipstamatic gives you that finished look , but this one I took into Snapseed and did a bit of editing on it . Snapseed just gives you such great tools and options which is so easy to use

What are your favorite 5 iPhoneography apps ?
My top five apps….. Hipstamatic , Snapseed , Instagram , pic frame , vintique.

Any suggestions on how we could grow the iPhoneography community in SA ?
The iPhone community is something special I think . You just don’t know about it and how big it is until you go to a iphoneography exhibition like the other night . I was so surprised . I’m happy to see so many talented people take it up and create such amazing pics. I would like to see more people on Instagram. I think we don’t know how many South Africans are out there using this tool . Maybe create a official group that we can join on Instagram and meet locals , same for Facebook . And twitter , will be cool to have a group on Facebook like that . With updates and news on events and maybe meet ups. And yes more exhibitions …

Tell us a bit more about the image. Where you took it, the story behind it and what apps you used to edit. 
I went on a weekend away with some of my friends who love Lomo and other classic forms of photography, they had a number of cameras with them.. all old school film cameras… I had my iPhone So one of the days we were sitting at a table and this camera was just sitting there, so I decided to take some photos to show off the “Hipstamatic’” app and I snapped a few photos with the different lenses and films, and this was one of them… I have always liked Black and White photography so the John S lens and Rock BW-11 Film are a great combination for me.

Was the image edited & posted straight away, or was there a bit of “Post-Processing”
This image was straight from Hipstamatic, no extra editing was done on this image

What are your favorite 5 iPhoneography apps ?
My 5 favourite iPhoneography apps are…
Hipstamatic, Snapseed, Noir Photo, Pixlromatic and Instagram

Any suggestions on how we could grow the iPhoneography community in SA ?
I think we could have a touring iPhoneography exhibition, or at least have it in big art galleries, also if that is not an option, maybe some more media can be used to show off iPhoneography or the Exhibit (for example maybe features in some magazines, blogs, web newsletters like iAfrica or entertainment africa… hopefully this would draw some new people to the iStore exhibit and show off the great photos and show people how the iPhone can take such great photos)

You can also follow Liezel on instagram at – @li3zel

Story behind the image
I was out visiting the informal settlement, Rhamaphoza on the East-Rand, while I was waiting to walk back to the car, I noticed the little girl.  It was rather chilly and when I looked down, I noticed she wasn’t wearing any shoes.  There are no roads in Rhamaphoza, just sand, stones, bricks, nails and broken glass and I was just stunned.  I took the picture of her feet and then showed it to her, she showed no emotion.  I then asked her if I could take a picture of her face, she nodded – and her portrait was one of my other images at the exhibition.  The poverty these children have to endure is just shocking and touched my heart and I think that photo captured the situation in one single frame.

App used for the image
Camera + (it is by far my favourite app on my iPhone)

I made a little tweak to the photo in Camera+ and posted it straight to my Facebook and Instagram on the ride back to the office that very same day.  And used exactly that photo when entering the iPhoneographySA competition.

I think a competition like iPhoneoraphySA is exactly what iPhone-photographers needed, wanted…. to take us serious.  I know just from my experience that everyone in my life was amazed to find out that the pictures on exhibition where all taken with iPhones.  To grow the iPhoneography community… I think it’s already happening – when people see what is possible with an iPhone, it inspires them to take better pictures and they will proudly become part of such a community.  Don’t just pick up your phone and snap, think about it for a little while, capture the emotion.  A photo always needs to show heart.

Using social media is the way this project will keep on growing and as long as Apple keep making the iPhone, I’ll keep on taking pictures.

We setup the event on Wed & Thur, and finally got down to choosing the winner for the event. After loads of back & forth debate, we eventually came up with the 3 winners.

In first place (top left) was Zeno Peterson with his image called Reflect, winning himself an iPad. In 2nd Place we chose Tristan Winslow’s image called “A Lomo Camera with a Lomo app” and finally Liezel Els’s image called “Her Feet tell a story” who both won iStore hampers.

The exhibition is up for the next 2 weeks at The iStore in Sandton Drive, get there if you can If you live in Cape Town be sure to join us on the 23rd Oct at Roodebloem Studios in Woodstock for the opening event, RSVP on the Facebook Event here !