I don't know about you, but this year it's felt like everyone I know has been on holiday. My Instagram feed has just been full of sunny, stony European beach after sunny, stony European beach. It got to a point where the novelty wore off so much, I actually forgot that I too, had not been on holiday.
Now we're coming into a long, (hopefully) hot Kiwi summer, and it's time for the snaps to start again. You just know that for another year running, we're going to be faced with Instagram feeds full of camping, festivals and sunny, sandy New Zealand beaches.
The thing is, it can get repetitive, and viewers get bored. With all these photos looking the same, how do you get your selfies to stand out? You could chuck on that iPhone filter that makes you look like a cat, but I wouldn't recommend it - at least not more than once.
To help with creating that content - we're looking at you wannabe influencers - I turned to Bare Kiwi, otherwise known as Kyle Mulinder.
I accompanied Mulinder on a recent trip away to Taupō try out GoPro's newest offering, the HERO8 Black. He's one of the go-to guys for GoPro content creation - and just sick snaps in general. While we mountain biked, cliff jumped (a very small one for me) and go-karted, Mulinder and rest of the GoPro team offered me some tips on making your shots stick.
Take this advice and use it how you see fit, whether that be with a GoPro, iPhone, or even just a classic point and shoot camera.
Find a new angle:
Anyone can hold their phone up and take a snap. The problem with so many photos on our feed is many of them are from the same height (around the photographer's chest) and from a common vantage point - looking out to sea, in front of a monument etc.
For impact, show the viewer something they're not used to seeing - extra points if you take them into the scene. If you're out dabbling in a surf session, grab one of the Bite Mounts and take the viewer inside the wave - hands-free. If you're hitting the tracks, strap the camera to your chest and show off the mountain bike trail or running tracks. The shots or video will make the viewer seem like they're there in the forest or on the waves, instead of where they really are - on their couch at home.
Create a good story:
No, I'm not talking about multiple slides of your different facial expressions outside the same monument. You might think they're all crazily different, but we promise you, the viewer does not. If you're posting photos or video from your recent holiday, you want something that will grip your audience from start to finish. That might be a sped-up time warp of walking through Melbourne's arty city streets, or starting a short video with a sunrise swim and ending it in the evening. It makes watching a video more cohesive and gives a stronger timeline for your photos.
Place yourself in the content:
It may be easy to point and shoot your whole life, but the people that follow you - or your friends and family who are forced to watch - love you, and want to see you in the content! This was a tough one for me - I get a bit self-conscious when the camera turns on my mug. Mulinder and the GoPro team taught me that by placing myself in the video, it anchors the content and gives it a focus, tying all the sporadic shots together. If you're kayaking or looking at some cool scenery, don't be afraid to swivel the camera and turn it on you, with a wave and a whoop!
I promise - after a couple of tries you won't feel as self-conscious.
Sarah travelled to Taupo courtesy of GoPro, to trial the new HERO8.
