Instålenhagram

I really was not planning to write about Simon Stålenhag again so soon, but there is something happening on his Instagram feed right now that really has me tickled. While visiting the US, Stålenhag has been taking lots of photos that, if it were not for their lack of futuristic machines and megastructures, might be mistaken for new digital paintings. I have been loving the photos, but it is the comments on the photos and Stålenhag’s responses to them that I have found to be both hilarious and humbling.

Plenty of folks have been mistaking the photos for new paintings and then, upon realizing their mistake, asking Stålenhag what kind or sorcery he is using to make them so moody and atmospheric. Is he using film or digital? How is he editing them? What is the name of the filter effect he is employing? If he is using a DSLR, what kind of lens? Is he color correcting in Lightroom? You get the idea.

Stålenhag’s responses are as beautiful as his photos; turns out he is using an old iPhone 4 SE with standard Instagram filters and that his only sorcery is ”get out of bed very early on a sunday when it’s also very foggy”. He was gracious enough to offer some genuine advice as well: “try to find motifs with good natural values, then use the insta functions to exaggerate those values in favor of the composition. What’s in front of the camera is 90% (time of day and atmosphere included)”.

I for one feel fortunate that Los Angeles is experiencing atypical weather during Stålenhag’s visit, and from this moment on I am going to stop telling myself that my own photography would be much better if only I had a better camera.