“Striped + Fuzzy” = “Multiple”.
If you’re like me and follow a large number of celebrities and influencers on Instagram, you may have noticed an increase in blurry photos popping up all over your feed.
The resolution may seem a bit strange since there are blurry photos for as long as the ability to take photos has been around. After all, these are the people who have all the resources in the world to create a pure image, and instead choose something that looks like it was shot by me on my 2020 iPhone SE after hours of waking up. But then, that might be exactly the point.
If you remember the viral “vibe shift” piece from Cut earlier this year (TL;DR, the vibe is changing), one of the proposed shifts in vibe was the “independent chaos” of the 2000s. Trend forecaster Sean Monahan posited “American clothing, party flash photography, messy hair and messy makeup.”
Earlier this year, Harper’s Bazaar lauded that the “indie sleaze” revival was already on its way back — and suggested it focus on “real, real fun, and freedom” above all else. A bit scary for those of us who remember “Indie with Corruption” the first time around, IMHO.
The Cut also described the rise of the “party girl” aesthetic, rising in response to toxic wellness trends. Plus, there’s probably the epidemic effect that makes an improperly trimmed photo look far-fetched and less desirable (can’t we all just use some messy fun?).
Beyond the positive vibes, it has been pointed out that the look may also be a byproduct of the iPhone’s Night Mode – which is automatically enabled on new iPhones when there’s dim light, delaying exposure time and increasing the possibility of city blur (capacity) that it doesn’t have. My old iPhone practically).
Mashable later called these images “multiple” shots – a combination of Schema + Blur. This appears to be a natural progression of the “quiet” episode, prompting the persistently urgent debate about “idiocy or candor”.
Regardless of the label, what could be cooler than a blurry shot indicating that you were having a lot of fun checking if your camera is in focus? The city of authenticity, my love! very honest! very nice!
The problem here, as with all things Instagram, is that posting a photo that looks like it was taken in a split second doesn’t mean, well, just one photo. It was Taken, or that great thought was not put into it all, yada yada yada.
Better minds than mine have pondered whether authenticity is really possible on social media, and it’s not as though a lackluster shot can escape these trappings — even if it seems less immaculately captured than one might previously expect.
Either way, I’m at least happy that my horrific nighttime photos on iPhone are now aesthetic