Vision Slightly Blurred

Social media influencers build economic viability by amassing as large an audience as possible. This raison d'etre is different than a photographer who sells their skill as a service. Despite this difference, what might photographers learn from their influencer counterparts about how to best take advantage of a medium like Instagram.

Sarah and Allen talk about the Insta-famous from Kim and Kylie to Jimmy Chin and Brinson+Banks in the latest episode of Vision Slightly Blurred.

The fixation of some photographers to document their lives at any cost has led to unsavory behavior around the world – from the poppy fields in CA to the Grand Prismatic Springs in Yosemite to the railroad tracks at Auschwitz. To make matters worse, businesses have started designing their spaces to encourage and maximize Instagrammable moments. 

Could leaving your camera at home be liberating? Could it allow you to enjoy the moment even more? Sarah and Allen discuss the possibilities in this episode of Vision Slightly Blurred.

Many photographers have abandoned neutral documentary photography in favor of advocating for environmental causes that are important to them. And with massive social media followings, photographers like Paul Nicklen, Ami Vitale and many others are helping to shine a spotlight on issues big and small, and using photography as a primary storytelling device. 

On this Earth Day, we celebrate the photographers who are advocating for clean water, endangered species, and a healthy planet.

Facebook's content moderators have to look at some awful images and video to protect the rest of us from graphic content. The Verge reports that many of these $15/hour contract workers have suffered PTSD or secondary PTSD symptoms, which led Sarah and Allen to ask whether viewing photos could be hazardous to your health. From war photos to images of athletes with catastrophic injuries, what images should be published by the media, and what images should the public consume? 

It certainly won't hurt your career if Queen Bey hires you for a photo shoot, but the photographers who have worked with her in the past few years honed their skills and earned their keep before being tapped by one of the most influential people on the planet.

Tyler Mitchell, Raven B. Varona, Awol Erizku and Blue Ivy have all taken a different approach to photographing Beyoncé, but the end result has been visually spectacular and helped to enhance her brand. 

In traditional photography, filters were used to block certain frequencies of light or to create in-camera effects like starbursts or soft focus. But in the age of computational photography, "filters" offer a stunning array of creative choices that can simulate film stock, swap your face, or apply other forms of augmented reality to significantly alter your appearance.

In this episode, Sarah and Allen give you the low down on the latest and greatest. #nofilter

The hardliners say never give away a photo for free, and there is definitely a case to be made for not allowing other companies to use your intellectual property without compensation. But not all photos have the same economic value, and how can you evaluate whether allowing apps like Google Maps to use your images makes sense or not? The devil is in the details, and Allen and Sarah give it a go. 

Love 'em or hate 'em? Photo contests are ubiquitous in the industry providing contest promoters with an endless source of revenue and free content, and for a few select photographers, fame (sort of) and fortune (sometimes). 

Sarah and Allen discuss their own experiences with photo contests and why you might *still* consider them in this day and age.

Facial recognition software gives consumers a powerful way to auto-tag and organize photos. But like many technologies, the potential for abuse is significant – especially for hackers, overreaching governments and law enforcement agencies. Sarah and Allen discuss the implications in our premiere episode of "Vision Slightly Blurred," a new PhotoShelter podcast.

A brand new photography podcast from PhotoShelter with hosts Sarah Jacobs and Co-founder Allen Murabayashi. But we're not talking about gear or the newest version of your favorite software. Instead we're talking about how photography and photographers influence culture, how technology is shaping the definition of photography, and fun stuff like cool images of Beyoncé.

Join us weekly starting Monday, March 11.