It’s been 15 years since I moved to LA and I haven’t seen half of it…
To me, LA is really a city of many cities. Countless neighborhoods, cultures, and families from all over the world have been here for generations, as well as thousands of new transplants like me, moving in to experience the California Dream. Chasing my own dreams in LA, I share my all experiences with friends and family back home through photos on social media. I’m not alone and statistically speaking, over 77 million images are uploaded to Instagram daily from users all over the world.
Most of us like engaging with our loved ones’ photos from birthday parties, family events, travels, summer beach days, and in return, share our own. We want great pics and sometimes we’re willing to take the task into our own hands with selfies, selfie sticks, tripods, drones, etc. The reality is we’re getting better and better with taking photos of each other, while the technology is also improving inside our smartphones and professional cameras. Influencers are producing high quality content and making a huge impact on brands, marketing, and consumer behavior.
But how do we make great pics accessible to everyone and not just celebrities or influencers with personal photographers? For me, the best photos are the ones taken on the fly or captured in the moment. It’s casual photography designed to be fun, spontaneous and of course memorable. The problem usually is, there’s not a good photographer around.
The old days are exploring a new city or hanging with friends in your favorite part of town. You find a great spot to take a picture that you’ve seen on other feeds or magazines from the plane ride. You refuse to carry a selfie stick and are just too shy to ask a random to take several photos of you worthy to share on social. So you may settle for a very bad pic or no pic at all. Lost moment.
The new days with uPic are simply opening the app and discovering several nearby photographers within minutes from your location. You check out their portfolios and find the best match for what look you want to create. ‘Book’ the photographer nearby, meet in minutes, and purchase photos on the spot that appear on your smartphone.
I created uPic as a tool to connect like minded city explorers/travelers with passionate photographers looking to build their portfolios and earn extra cash. uPic has dual functions for users that just want great photos and those who are photographers that want to earn extra cash. I chose photography because it’s a more intimate shared experience. A car ride is a car ride and so is getting a sandwich delivered after 45 minutes. However, photos can be fun moments and often lasting memories.
With Los Angeles having so many iconic places to take great photos and a huge community of aspiring artists, I thought it made sense to start this journey here, right in its backyard. uPic is designed to improve the overall experience in capturing great photos while you’re on the go, at an affordable price.
The dream from the start has been to grow the uPic community to a global network and allow users to connect with photographers all over the world no matter what city you are in. Discover new places, capture great moments, and maybe meet new friends.
Jonathan Chaupin – Founder
June 14, 2019