How Instagram took over the world in just three years – and how I am a total addict!

How Instagram took over the world in just three years

I’m Lucy, and I’m addicted to Instagram.

I’ve always been an avid photo-taker. On nights out, I was always the one who caught every moment on camera and my friends dreaded the eventual upload of the pictures to Facebook. But the discovery of Instagram has definitely encouraged this habit, not just on nights out, but in everyday life! Now, although not big on selfies, I am constantly updating my Instagram with pictures of myself, my friends and whatever I happen to be up to on that particular day. I don’t think there is anything wrong with this, and it certainly helps to update my blog if I capture the pictures as I go along, but it makes me wonder what I used to do before Instagram – just three short years ago!

I find it amazing that an app can so affect how we live our lives in such a short time – Facebook and Twitter did a similar thing and I find it fascinating how our lives just seem to envelope such technology and adapt to fit it in. It makes me wonder just what the next addition could possibly be!

Banksy Better Out Than In map: see where the street artist has painted

Banksy Better Out Than In map: see where the street artist has painted

British street artist Banksy is keeping New Yorkers on their toes this October with a surprise “entire show” cropping up on the streets of their city. The exhibition, of sorts, is called Better Out Than In. Its first installation appeared near Manhattan’s Chinatown on Tuesday, October 1, and depicted two boys with a spray can. Amazing, poignant and powerful work by a contemporary artist who has created some very interesting pieces that silently comment on modern-day society by subverting our expectations.

BBC journalist offered promotion for sex, dossier claims

BBC journalist offered promotion for sex, dossier claims

So much for women’s rights! What were women like Emmeline Pankhurst and Emily Davison fighting for if this is all the years of struggling for equality has amounted to? Where is the basic respect for, not just women, but for our fellow workers and colleagues? When one is at work, it should not be a matter of gender or sexuality. I believe whole-heartedly that both men and women should be treated fairly depending on their talents and hard work, not promoted based on their looks or flirtation with more senior members of staff. It is disgusting and saddens me to think that this could be going on more often than we are aware of purely because people don’t think to report it, or are not sure how to without losing their job altogether. The BBC should be ashamed for letting such a thing happen.

My television debut – and Nick Knowles said my name right!

I made my television debut on Monday when the Real Rescues programme I was filmed for around a month ago was aired on BBC1.

I had actually forgotten the programme was due to be on television but thanks to a text from my boyfriend saying he had just spotted me on TV, I was able to catch it on iPlayer.

The first episode of 20 in the series, the programme follows Nick Knowles as he presents events from the day-to-day work of the emergency services.

My starring moment came when the producers spotted the short film I had made of the rescue of a muntjac deer (affectionately known as Millie in the office) which had become trapped in the Inner Purfleet next to my office. The Lynn News staff reported it to the RSPCA and fire services and watched on as the combined forces to rescue the animal and release it safely without injury.

I was asked to appear in the programme as the person who filmed the footage used and was told that they thought my footage was excellent for being filmed on a mobile phone. I was interviewed outside the offices where the rescue had taken place and was told by the cameraman that I was excellent on camera – a natural – and that I should consider a career in television which I was quite excited by.

It’s not something I had thought about in detail before now but is definitely something I would consider in future when my training is complete. It was quite exciting being interviewed for television and I am really pleased with how well I came across and how good my voice sounded (my voice is a personal peeve of mine when recorded – I hate how high-pitched I can sound!).

To watch my appearance, click here, or on the picture above and fast forward to 29 minutes into the programme.

In response to Write Meg’s ‘selfie’ post – what if your face just isn’t quite right?

In response to Write Meg’s ‘selfie’ post – what if your face just isn’t quite right?

I was really interested in reading Write Meg’s post this morning about “the humble selfie has practically risen to its own art form” because it is something that I have watched shoot to fame with the introduction of Instagram and as Facebook developed. Only 23, I still remember a time when my house had no computer and certainly no mobile phones. Photos were not digital for the Ruthnum household and they were only taken on special occasions by my parents or extended family – usually with half a finger over the lens or someone pulling a funny face, but with no way of knowing until they had been printed.

Now, everyone has an iPhone or something similar, having had mine stolen recently and lived without it for some time (I actually felt refreshed and relieved to have a short break) but it does leave you at a bit of a loss for things like photo-taking and sharing. I am a big lover of having a camera on every night out and snapping endless pictures of my life, I love Instagram because I see it as a wordless blog and a way of sharing my life with my friends. I am that friend that is partially hated by others for capturing the moments people least want on camera – many will send me that dreaded text the morning after a night out begging me not to put that picture, or that video, on Facebook.

I love pictures that show people in the moment – not posing – just having fun and sharing memories. If a pictures doesn’t not instantly transport me back to a wonderful time and place in the endless library of my memory – what is the point?

However, I am not adverse to the odd selfie, mainly if my face happens to have fallen into place quite well after a night of tossing and turning in my bed. I just don’t understand the point of uploading a different one each day, basically of you pulling the same face, with the only difference being a different outfit!

But that is my next issue – how do these girls get their faces to make such different faces? My face is stuck on two settings – big grinning smile, or neutral. Sometimes it will venture into mildly annoyed from the neutral, but rarely. I’m always one of those people who prefer to have a smile on their face.

But this new generation of girls have pouts, gasp faces, cheeky grins, big eyes, and all the rest that they seem to accentuate in their photos! Genuinely, if you look through my photos on Facebook, you will see clearly that my face does something very similar in each. Mainly because when I take photos, it is usually because I am having the time of my life. I’ll admit, it’s slightly embarrassing but sometimes I do long to be able to pull off a pout, or a sticky out tongue picture – but then I figure, what’s the point?

Let’s be honest, pouts just look ridiculous, especially when you see the pictures of groups on girls tarted up on a night out all sticking their lips out until they protrude further than their noses. Screw it, I’m sticking it the old-fashioned, but classy smile. It’s always worked for me so far!