The new venture fund of Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian has made its first investment, in that of a disposable camera app. Known as David’s Disposable, users take photos but must wait until 9am the next day to see them, in order to replicate the real effect of getting disposables developed.
David’s Disposable is the brainchild of YouTuber and internet personality David Dobrik, and his friend Natalie Mariduena, with the idea stemming from using real disposables at parties. The pair said they actually liked the procedure of not having the images instantly available to see. “With disposable photos, you’re not sitting there and making sure you get the right photo,” said Dobrik.
Ohanian’s Seven Seven Six fund led contributions, which amounted to over $4 million for the social-media platform, Dispo.
Their USP is that it encourages users to create “authentic” photos that haven’t been edited. Images can also then be ordered as prints through the same app.
The popularity of such an app is not much of a surprise, given how many big platforms like Instagram and Snapchat have attempted to replicate the effect of a disposable in their filters. At the time of writing, the app has had 2.6 million downloads from the Apple app store.
“I’m fortunate to have the opportunity to work with David,” Mr. Ohanian said.
Lead image by Azfan Nugi on Unsplash.
Hahahaha
It's not stupid at all. You are viewing it through the tightly constrained frame of a photographer.
This needs to be framed through a psychological lens; specifically, this is a consequence of people seeking authenticity in a world that is increasingly artificially constructed by people such as yourself. Of course, artificially creating authenticity is an oxymoron.
Yeah, agree
So that little Ricoh point and shoot is a disposable camera? Really?
no it's not at all haha
Not sure I’d call $4 million a huge investment in the context of mobile app development, nor would I call the Ricoh camera in the top photo of this story remotely related to disposable cameras.
When I teach, I get the pupils to put a posit note under the screen protector, and use really small memory cards. The first time they see the image is when we process them.
We only shoot in manual, and we say our loud the settings as we take each shot.
Amazingly, after half an hour of shooting on manual, most start getting exposures spot on, and even predicting the best exposure too
It's a revalation to make folks understand that the details of cameras, sensors and lenses are pretty irrelevant once your head understands how to nail a shot... Once we are beyond that, we can concentrate on the subject and composition
I like this idea, slowing down tech makes you pause and concentrate on making every shot matter.
This is how I was taught! Makes such a difference!
To get the full effect it should make you wait until 9 AM next day after you have completed 27 frames! And charge you for it. But why not get a disposable camera in the first place anyways?
This app has been around for some time now and there's still no Android version which is a bit disappointing. Sounds like a fun concept to play around with.
I use the Huji app now and again and it has that nice nostalgia feel.