Instafocus — The Scoop

There is no shortage of Instagram jokes out there. Food, mirror shots, cats and Taylor Lautner plague the Instagram popular page, leaving little room for the photography that actually deserves to inhabit the area. This isn’t new either; Instagram is an amazing network that has some fundamental flaws. With some persistent self-promotion, the time and drive to follow thousands of users and perhaps being in one of the first waves of early adopters, you can be Instagram famous. There isn’t much standing in the way of people who abuse the network to achieve personal glory.

Instafocus wants to change that. The app is available for iPhone and iPad and is currently free with a few in-app upgrades available. “Instafocus is a universal app for iPhone and iPad that showcases Instagram’s finest photographers. The app is designed to be minimalist as to not distract from the quality of the photography and the skill of the artists.” said Instafocus creators Brandon Shelley, Rebecca Foote and Jeremy Anticouni.

Instafocus highlights users in two ways. The first is through their showcase, which is a curated version of your Instagram feed. Instead of seeing images from the people you follow, you see the images uploaded by the Instafocus showcase members. The second way the app promotes users is through the featured section, which is a handful of exceptional images from different users that are usually based off a theme.

There are currently 419 photographers that are a part of Instafocus, but the creators intend on that number growing. They need to stabilize their functionality first though. “Since the launch, we have engineered a solution that will allow for hundreds if not thousands of great photographers to find their way onto the showcase. Version 1.1 focuses on performance and usability improvements and adds some great new features including a guest-curated featured artists’ page,” the creators said. They are also looking to integrate with Instagram printing services to allow users to order prints of their favorite Instafocus images.

The app is designed very well, with usability forefront and a slick design behind it. The clean white background and simple lack text lends to the focus of the app being on the imagery. You can still see your normal feed in the app if you choose to and can like photos from the thumbnails, instead of having to open them. It’s clear that a lot of thought and effort went into the creation of the app.

“Bottom line, we love Instagram – really – and we want instafocus to make people happy, and want them to be a part of the Instagram community more than ever.”

Fall in love with Instagram all over again.

Check me out in the Instafocus gallery: @radioradiowaves
Nominate an Instafocus member here
Contact me at rachel[at]culturemilk.com