When I was planning my honeymoon last summer, I had to decide what camera(s) to bring along with me on my trip through Croatia. My first instinct was to take the best camera I owned, but I’d had an awful experience several years before, lugging my massive camera and several lenses around with me in Paris, and the darn thing was just too heavy! I ended up taking very few photos because I couldn’t be bothered to wrestle “the beast” out of my bag every time I saw something photo-worthy.

Before I left, I asked a friend of mine (who is a world traveler and long-time professional photographer) what camera he takes with him when he travels. His answer surprised me — an iPhone. That’s all he brings. Really?

A little later, I saw an interview with Annie Leibovitz where she refers to the iPhone as “the snapshot camera of today”. Wow. But it’s true: you will take pictures with the camera that is the most accessible and easy to use. And for many of us, that ends up being our phone because it’s always right there in your pocket or purse.

So why did I title this post “iphone + instagram”? If you’ve never heard of it, Instagram is a free iPhone app, which their website describes as a “fast, beautiful and fun way to share your life with friends through a series of pictures.” In other words, it’s a great way to make your pictures look awesome and to quickly and easily share them with just about everybody.

I probably use Instagram more than any other app on my phone…even Facebook and Twitter! The reason I love it so much is because it has several great filters AND you can link it to your FB, Twitter, Flickr and Tumblr accounts, saving you time from going and posting your image on each account separately.

Here are a few recent snaps using my iPhone and Instagram together:

There was once a time when barely anybody had heard of Facebook, Twitter or Pinterest, and all three have since become insanely popular. What’s next for the social media/image-sharing world? Maybe it will be Instagram. For now, it’s still pretty small (well, if you consider 15 million people “small”), probably since it’s restricted to only iPhones, but it’s exciting to get in on the fun during the first stages of a really great thing.

One of my favorite clients often jokes with me that she would love to bring me along with her on all of her family vacations. I always politely laugh along, but I secretly fantasize about being “dragged” to Bali and Venice. But really…if there’s anyone out there who would like to tuck me into their pocket while on their exotic vacation, just give me a ring…really. 😉

So, for all of those moments when you don’t have a professional photographer there to document those oh-so-darling smiles, pull out that iPhone and give Instagram “a shot” (haha, I love puns). Maybe I’ll see you around the still small and quirky Instagram community. You can find me at @jillcarmel.

Jill