I studied photography in the mid 90's. Back then Photoshop was in it's relative infancy. I think in my 2nd year photoshop released layers, this of course was amazing. However we were still in the old paradigm. Black and White tonal printing, a huge expnsive colour processing machine, and when we wanted to experiment and push the envelope some we'd reverse colour process, image transfer onto cloth with horrible turps gel, coat objects with liquid light and take it into the dark-room. In other words it was a tedious process, with hit or miss results.

Now I wonder often what they're studying at art school photography in terms of technique and creativity. Photoshop of course changed everything. Now that's been taken to another plane with Instagram and hipstamatic for iPhones. Now cool filters are a finger slide away and any noob can make mundane into groovy in an instant and what's more send to the world in the next.

That's not to say I dislike the app - I think it's amazing, a whole new genre created overnight. It's a weird phenomenon though isn't it - that we want to make our pics instantly vintage.

There's enough right there for a photo theory thesis. Now, who remembers mixing chemicals?

Incidentally, if you're looking to recreate instamatic filters without an iPhone. Here's a nice little set of Photoshop actions kindly provided by blogger Daniel Box
http://dbox.tumblr.com/post/5426249009/instagram-filters-as-photoshop-actions

Photograph: Paola Ayre