Business News: Apps
Instantly Framed
New app developed by local artist gives smartphone photographers a framing option as easy as point and click
by Shawn Rossiter
Early last fall Shalee Cooper, who was then working as our Image Editor, told us she had found a full-time business opportunity and would have to step down from her responsibilities at 15 Bytes. She had spent two years transforming the look of our magazine, so we were sad to see her go. For a while we ran into her at Alpine Art, where she was the Gallery Director, and were sure to check out the show she hung at Kayo Gallery in February (see our video profile in the February 2013 edition); shortly after that, though, she disappeared into a non-descript office space somewhere in the city and we had heard little from her since.
Cooper recently came out of hiding, with some exciting news about what she has been up to. For the past year she has been working with Alpine Art Inc.'s experts in the framing business, Robin Grey, Apryll Killpack, and Cathi Sutherland, to develop Instantly Framed, a new app that helps social media users and photographers preserve and display their online photos through an easy iPhone app.
"Being consciously aware of how dramatically photography has shifted with the immediacy of being able to make photographs from your phone I have become fascinated with how images have become digitally stored, transferred & forgotten," says Cooper, whose own work and curatorial practice has included exhibitions that invite responses from photographers from around the world. "I am passionate about the tangibility of a print and I wanted to create an easy way for anyone to print frame and ship their photos directly from their phone to encourage the shared experience of a moment in a very accessible way."
With the app, users can quickly upload a photo to Instantly Framed from their Facebook, Instagram, or iPhone camera roll and get it printed into a 12”x12” physical frame. The final package arrives in a couple of days.
The app has a clean interface that allows you to crop your image, choose from three different sizes and gives you a visual image of what your finished piece will look like.
"We have spent the last year refining our offering," says Cooper, "from designing a custom easel back so that your frame will lie flush on the wall made of recycled materials or sit on a shelf, to creating a package made of a single piece of corrugated cardboard to also act as a gift box." All artwork, logo, icons, & design are compliments of Cooper's husband Tyler Bloomquist.
Despite the app's ability to provide relatively instant gratification, Instantly Framed is conscious of not becoming part of our throwaway society. "Our frames are hand made and crafted in the USA the molding we have selected is FSC farmed from a sustainable walnut resource," says Cooper. "Our photographs are made with archival inks and printed on a photo luster paper."
In keeping with her past curatorial work, Cooper says Instantly Framed will go beyond your smartphone. "We want to provide a platform for others to tell their stories. Our blog will be highlighting ("Instantly Framing") someone or something that inspires us weekly. We will be providing tips and tricks on how to improve making your photographs. We will be reviewing other photo apps and provide reviews on photography exhibitions and photographers."
In January they will be revealing their 12x12 project, in which they will be representing 12 photographers a year. And earlier this month they agreed to become sponsors of our Facebook feature 15Grams: we will feature a Utah Instagrammer every week and every quarter Instantly Framed will provide a free framing service to the Instagrammer selected by our readers.
Instantly Framed is an iPhone app, and just launched this week. You can download it for free at https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/instantly-framed/id754663886?mt=8.
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15 Bytes: About Us
Our editorial contributors
The content you see in this magazine is provided by a fluid group of volunteers whose ability with the pen or camera is matched by their curiosity and enthusiasm for Utah's art world. 15 Bytes is an open community forum. If you are interested in writing an article, or providing images for our magazine contact editor Shawn Rossiter at editor@artistsofutah.org
 Ashley Anderson is a choreographer based in Salt Lake City. She is founder of loveDANCEmore, a blog and biannual journal about dance in Utah, and currently serves as 15 Bytes's Dance Editor. |
 Simon Blundell is a Salt Lake native and has studied art, communication, journalism, design, and advertising. He has a Master of Fine Arts (MFA) and continues to explore photography and art in all its aspects. |
 Ehren Clark studied art history at both the University of Utah and the
University of Reading in the UK. He is now a professional writer. |
 Laura Durham, a Utah native with a BA in Art History from BYU, worked for the Utah Arts Council for over a decade as the Visual Arts Coordinator, managing the Rio Gallery and coordinating traveling exhibits, She is currently working on Marketing and Public Value for Utah Arts & Museums. She's assistant editor of 15 Bytes as well as managing music editor. |
 John Hughes is an award-winning artist and teacher who has been painting the landscape both in and out of the studio since 1983. He maintains a studio in Taylorsville and teaches students in private workshops and in a course at Salt Lake Community College. |
 Sue Martin holds an M.A. in Theatre and has worked in public relations. As an artist, she works in watercolor, oil, and acrylic to capture Utah landscapes or the beauty of everyday objects in still life. |
 Camille Pack teaches Language Arts at a private boarding school and received her MA in Literature and Writing from Utah State University. |
 David Pace is a writer, literary critic and arts administrator. His creative work has appeared in Quarterly West, Dialogue and Sunstone. His novel will be published in 2014 by Signature Books. |
 Zoë Rodriguez, a native of San Francisco, is a full-time photographer and designer. She is currently working on What I Thought I Saw, a book project that challenges our perceptions of how we see people. |
 Shawn Rossiter, a native of Boston, was raised on the East Coast. He has degrees in English, French and Italian Literature. A professional artist and writer, he founded Artists of Utah in 2001 and is editor of its magazine, 15 Bytes. |
 Geoff Wichert has degrees in critical writing and creative nonfiction. He writes about art to settle the arguments going on in his head. |
Artists of Utah News
We're Looking for a new Editorial Intern
Artists of Utah's 15 Bytes is looking for a new editorial intern, for the fall semester and possibly beyond. We've had great success in the past with our interns and look forward to bringing fresh blood to our publication.
The 15 Bytes Editorial Intern is an important part of our organization, helping to make 15 Bytes and our Daily Bytes possible. The intern works directly with the 15 Bytes editorial staff to produce, edit and lay out content in our publications.
You'll be working with Dreamweaver, Photoshop, Wordpress and other online publication platforms, learning important skills that will be valuable to a variety of employers. You'll also be working in the coolest field around — the arts.
Applicants must be able to work well on their own initiative, play well with others (the public and our volunteer writers and photographers) and be able to produce on a deadline. Strong writing skills and familiarity with Adobe's Creative Suite or Final Cut Pro is preferred.
If you're interested, please email 15 Bytes editor Shawn Rossiter at editor@artistsofutah.org and include any qualifications, current schooling and specific goals to achieve from the internship.
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