Love Thy Neighbourhood: December 2012

Well, even though I may not be a hipster in age, shape or size, I have become (as one friend so eloquently puts it), 'A hipster douche bag, with Instagram'.

Fairly recently (well, recently when you consider how long iPhones have been on the market),I got an iPhone 4s. Within minutes my 16 GB of storage was practically bursting at the seams with apps and photos. Why or why didn't I go for 64GB!!?? I have since calmed down a bit, deleting many of the silly kids games and keeping only a choice few to entertain my kids in an emergency. Instagram, however, remains front and centre on my dashboard.


Light from a prism hitting our lovingly clasped hands.

I like Instagram a lot. It is a simple little app; you take a photo and can choose to 'trick it up' with a contrast button, a focal point, added borders and different filters. Instantly I was hooked. I took photos of all sorts of things (my kids, my house, the 'hood, food, etc) and was posting like a mad thing. I have an open profile, so garnered a few followers - many of them live in the local area so our photos are alarmingly similar. I keep looking at people in the street and wondering if they are my new 'instafriends'. It is also a good way to keep in touch with distant friends without having to email and send pics - especially if they are not on Facebook.

This is my view every morning. Even when it is grey and raining.

Noticeably people on Instagram are only publishing photos that project their life in a certain way. It is kind of like the 'London Phenomenon' of the social networking world. Let me explain my 'London Phenomenon' theory. Some people (and by no means all, note to my two followers who both lived in London this does not apply to you!) move to London and seem to set up a completely new life for themselves. I suppose this is part of the reason for going. There is the opportunity to be exactly who you want to be, and who you want others to think you are - regardless of who you have been all your life. You can cut out the bit where you were unpopular at school, didn't have a flash job, have never had a partner - you can be a big shot who shagged like it was an Olympic sport. And if you don't actually 'make it' in London, you can always say that you did when you do come back to Australia. For many I think it must be such a rude shock if they decide to come home, (how can they fit back in to their life with family, old friends, etc) some never do - come home, or fit in. There is a great propensity to say 'In Luhn-den..' at the start of lots of stories, or almost every sentence. Ace. A great example of 'The London Phenomenon' is the main character in 'A Moody Christmas' a little series on the ABC at the moment. You can catch it on iView at the moment, it is worth a look if you can appreciate a very Australian, low budget, comedic Christmas series.

Street art in the neighbourhood.

I am, I admit, completely guilty of the 'London Phenomenon' with my Instagram account. I do not show messy parts of my house - unless it is for effect. My children are always eating something healthy or interesting, they are dressed well. We are looking at fabulous art, we are at cafes, bars, restaurants, everyone in my life is attractive and has good hair. In reality my life is much more mundane. That punnet of organic, locally grown blueberries I photographed my baby eating yesterday has turned into a blueberry nappy from hell this morning. No photo of that though. Instagram is a way of 'editing out' the bad bits and living an uber life for followers to be jealous of. And as a mother of two, working from home while caring for the kids, I am completely okay with that. The people who follow me, who I don't know, must think I am super mum!

Just another day visiting cafes.

Drinking fine wine.

Printstagram is a way to print your Instagram pics (which don't print well in a normal sense) in cool little books, on posters or as a calendar. I am so excited by this, and will be ordering a range of products soon. I am a complete sucker.

Well, my faithful readers, go forth and photograph!

I have included a choice selection of my photos to show you my 'wonderful' and somewhat edited life!