Huji Cam, which make your images look as if they were taken with an old-school throwaway camera, has been downloaded more than 16 million times. In fact, many teens are going out of their way to make their photos look worse. “For the younger generation, those rules don’t apply at all.”Ī post shared by Joana Ceddia on at 4:25pm PST “Previously influencers used to say, ‘Oh, that’s not on brand,’ or only post things shot in a certain light or with a commonality,” says Lynsey Eaton, a co-founder of the influencer-marketing agency Estate Five. While Millennial influencers hauled DSLR cameras to the beach and mastered photo editing to get the perfect shot, the generation younger than they are largely post directly from their mobile phones. “It’s not cool anymore to be manufactured.”įast-rising young influencers such as Emma Chamberlain, Jazzy Anne, and Joanna Ceddia all reject the notion of a curated feed in favor of a messier and more unfiltered vibe. You can photoshop any girl into that background and it will be the same post,” said Claire, a 15-year-old who asked to be referred to by a pseudonym because of her age. It’s so generic and played out at this point. But every trend has a shelf life, and as quickly as Instagram ushered in pink walls and pastel macaroons, it’s now turning on them. Some have even started to make thousands of dollars on photo presets that warp anyone’s pictures to fit this mold. No one has capitalized on this look’s popularity more than influencers.

Even if you don’t use the app, you’ve undoubtedly encountered an “ Instagram wall,” a pop-up experience like the Museum of Ice Cream, or a brightly patterned restaurant bathroom just made to be photographed. Photos that play into these trends perform so well on Instagram that the look became synonymous with the platform itself, then seeped into the broader world. As Instagram has grown to more than 1 billion monthly users, it has ushered in a very particular look: bright walls, artfully arranged lattes and avocado toast, and Millennial-pink everything, all with that carefully staged, color-corrected, glossy-looking aesthetic.

Get any instagram photo or video