SIMPLIFYING Rick LePage, a photography-magazine editor based in Portland, Ore., recently set off on a drive across the United States with his daughter, Elizabeth, who had just graduated from college with photography-career aspirations. Naturally, they packed lots of fancy photography gear. And, to their surprise, it went mostly unused during their epic journey. Instagram turned out to be the best way of documenting sunsets, grain silos, drive-through liquor stores and state-border welcome signs. “I’m an old Polaroid guy, and still have 40 or 50 boxes of the film in a refrigerator,” said LePage. So one of the most appealing aspects of using Instagram for him “was the immediacy. I turn on the iPhone and just take a photo. With a digital camera, I would be fiddling with all the settings.” The other appealing aspect, said LePage, was being able to share the pictures with friends and family members without delay, instead of waiting for a hotel-room interlude to upload pictures to Flickr via a laptop. His daughter had the Instagram-based social networking nailed, he said. “I couldn’t believe how connected she was. Her number of followers grew over the course of the week.