Sharp Shootin’ in Chicago

Shooting from the Hip Sharp Shootin’ in Chicago

The Windy City is home to some amazing sights, and photojournalist Scott Strazzante is there to capture the action, all with Hipstamatic Chicago Tribune photojournalist Scott Strazzante first became interested in photography as a teen when he started taking his dad’s camera to Chicago White Sox baseball games. However, it wasn’t until he borrowed his daughter’s iPhone on a trip to Washington, D.C. that he became excited about mobile photography, and more specifically, Hipstamatic.

“The first time I used the iPhone was a year ago October when my daughter first got her iPhone. I had always seen people using their iPhone cameras, so I asked my daughter if I could borrow her camera on a trip we took to D.C.,” said Strazzante. “I downloaded Hipstamatic and started playing with it right away.

By the end of the trip, she had to wrestle away the iPhone from me!”

“Hipstamatic Sees the Word Like I Do. It Dovetails with My Vision.” —Scott Strazzante

Strazzante, a nine-time Illinois photographer of the Year winner, finally decided to purchase his own iPhone and hasn’t looked back. As an accomplished photographer, he has covered the Super Bowl, the World Series and three Olympic Games, but says he’s most proud of the work that uncovers the small but universal moments of every day life, all of which he loves to capture Hipstamatic. Those pictures are often posted to his photojournalism blog, “Shooting From the Hip,” (which is how we discovered Scott and fell in lve with his work!)

We recently chatted with Scott about how he got started using Hipstamatic and what he loves most about the app.

Q: When did you realize you wanted to be a photojournalist? When I was a kid, my dad photographed occasionally. I would borrow his camera to take pictures to watch sports, but it was really just for fun.

My dad was a car tire dealer, so I went to college to take over his dealership. I went to a small Wisconsin college, and my junior year I went to a gallery show, and immediately thought, “This is what I want to do.’ It was a lightning bolt moment of “yes!” I want to do this.

Q: How did you first hear about Hipstamatic? The first time I saw it was when New York Times photojournalist Damon Winter won Pictures of the Year International photo contest with his hipstamatic shots. It was super controversial in the photojournalism community—people were asking, ‘Is this real photography?’

Damon is an amazing photographer, so I always thought it was just another tool. When I finally got my iPhone, I started experimenting with Hipstamatic and realized I didn’t have to do any toning, it was such a beautiful rendering of the scene. I didn’t feel like it was distorted, it wasn’t anything I wouldn’t have done in a darkroom. I thought it was rendering the scene truthfully and that was really important to me.

I stopped doing street photography with any other apps, and I now use the John S. lens primarily and the Black Keys Super grain film for black and white photos, and Ina’s 1969 for color, depending on my mood and depending on the subject matter. I’ve never used anything else, and I don’t feel the need to use anything else. — MS