DIY: How to Make Pinterest-Worthy Photos. Or Not...

My friends and I keep finding these cute friend pictures on Pinterest, and I will just admit it: we are really jealous. Sometimes we remind each other to try to be Pinterest-worthy, but like many things on Pinterest, we just can't seem to get it to look like the original. Who are these Pinterest People? And why do they take such good pictures? Do they have people following them around, just waiting to snap photos of their friendship? And if so, do they also have hair and makeup artists or their own personal shoppers? Why does one of us always have to close our eyes or look like we are squinting? Maybe we should just take pictures from the back... but in all seriousness, I really like the photo above. And unlike these Pinterest-People, I will give you a few tips to make a photo like the one above:*

• Bring people and cross-body purses.
• Go to the Stone-Arch Bridge--or some other city-scene.
• Make sure it is near sunset, but not too close to sunset. You don't want it to be dark, because you are dealing with natural lighting here. Unless you did hire your own camera crew. If that is the case, proceed whenever your crew will follow you.
• Ask a stranger to take a picture of you and your friends. (Disclaimer: you run the risk of not getting your smartphone back, but most people are pretty trustworthy, right?)
• Track down (or hire, if you have the means) a biker in a blue shirt to ride at an angle that will place him between the last two people on the left side. 

Now you, too, can take heavenly "Pinterest-esque" photos.

You might not be able to tell how I actually feel about this photo, and like I said, I really do like it. I just had to mock the process a little, because my friends and I struggle to take the kinds of pictures we want to take sometimes. But shhh! Don't tell anyone; that's supposed to be a secret. It keeps things interesting for us.

Like I mentioned in my Summer Nights post, some of my best nights have been with friends. We take silly pictures, and talk until we can't remember why/how we started a conversation that has gone on a little too long. People might back up and tip-toe out of the room if they walked in on some of our conversations out of fear of conversing with strange people. At the heart of it all we are just so close that we feel comfortable talking about anything, and I can't think of way I would like to spend a night than with people like that. Maybe someday we will even have a Pinterest board dedicated to Pinterest-worthy photos our friendship. Or maybe not...

*Read this list with a thick accent of sarcasm.

The opening image is courtesy of:

with edits from the Life in the Lost and Found Bin.

10 Must See Instagrams

So I love Instagram. I love that you can share little moments of your life with other people so easily. Sure, they are moments with carefully chosen filters, and often cropped to show just want others want you to see, but it's pretty cool that we have the technology to do this. I will admit that I don't like when people most constant selfies. If that is your most frequent type of instagram photo, I probably don't follow you.

If you capture stunning landscapes, cool food shots, or make inanimate objects look special, I will give you lots of likes. Honestly, I wish I was better at taking photos. I have been working on it, but some of my friends have such beautiful instagrams. So today, I am sharing a few of my recent favorites from people I follow. Check them out, and look them up on Instagram if you appreciate good photos as much as I do.

In no particular order, I present you with 10 Must See Instagrams. 

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#ThrowbackThursday

Social media has become a place to share like crazy. When you were a kid your parents had to convince you that sharing was the right thing to do so that Suzy-what’s-her-face’s parents wouldn’t get mad at you for hogging the Play-dough. But the invention of these social platforms has brought a new meaning to the concept of “sharing”. It has revolutionized the way that people disseminate information, and it has encouraged users to publish copious amounts of personal information.

On Facebook we are asked to display our likes and dislikes, our work/education history, and even our relationship status. One day whether or not you have “defined the relationship” was not important; it could be ambiguous to both parties. The next day Facebook junkies claimed, “It’s not official until it’s ‘Facebook Official.’” And suddenly you were either “in a relationship” or openly single. Or if you this really put you in an awkward situation you could make it more awkward by declaring, “it’s complicated.”

Twitter welcomes users to “tweet” what’s on their mind in 140 characters. At first this may sound like a simple task. You mean to say that all I have to do is think of something to say for others to see and I just push ‘Tweet’ and it’s out there? For anyone—oops! You just reached your limit, and you didn’t even say anything clever. I don’t think that is favorite-worthy, and it’s definitely not retweet-worthy. Suddenly, “tweeting” becomes more work than you signed up for when you were urged to create an account.

If you want to be an amateur photographer, all you have to do is download “Instagram”. This is where the magic happens. You snap a shot with your iPhone (or other smartphone), and voila! With Valenica, X-Pro II, Earlybird or any other filter of your choice you too can now have “semi-artsy-looking” photos.

We are in an era where “sharing” is easier than ever. All you have to do is press “publish” and your words and photos are out there—wherever “there” happens to be. But every now and then, we can use these social media platforms to remind us of times past.

Something I found on Facebook made me realize the phrase “Where are you?” has only been around as long cell-phones have. Before if you were talking to someone you knew where they were: either with you or at the location of the landline you dialed.

The term “follower” might have been used to refer to someone who was stalking you. I think we can all agree that there is an all around negative connotation with “stalking.” Yet, it’s almost become an unspoken competition of “who can get the most followers.” And don’t even get me started on “the ratio.”*

In the past if you wanted a photograph in an instant, you probably had a Polaroid camera. Mine was made by Barbie—they even had Barbie-framed film. Now we share our lives through the lens of our smartphones, and we can manipulate it as we please. But as we share new moments, we still reminisce over old ones with #ThrowbackThursday or #tbt. Join me to soak in the nostalgia of my childhood.

 

*It’s another unspoken competition on having more followers than people you follow. It’s as silly as it sounds.

A Morning in Madison