so i mentioned before, i’ve been in this massive photo funk. the funk got so bad i seriously considered selling off ALL of my equipment. i have been trying all kinds of ideas trying to get the creative juices going but no projects or ideas had really grabbed me.
until now.
it started with a magazine that i got in the mail that i don’t even remember subscribing to – American Photo. there’s this article about iphone photographs being covered. being an iphone junkie, it immediately grabs my attention.
they interview different people and discuss people’s workflows and inspirations. they talk about all the pictures they take and how freeing it is. i didn’t finish reading the article right away, but i did start taking pictures with the iphone. it became an instant crack habit.
i began taking tons of photos with a device i kept with me all the time. i had a nifty little camera with me all along and never thought once about utilizing it for what it was. who knew?
i had been contemplating the purchase of the Zumi by the good folks over at Photojojo – but after discovering the iphone images i was getting, i started to reconsider the Zumi’s purchase. i’m getting similar results: low-res, high contrast, punchy color, grainy images just from the iphone. sure, i have to do some extra processing to get similar effects but the investment into a couple of $1-3 apps are still way cheaper than the $170 Zumi option. obviously i don’t have video options with the iphone (at least my model) but i’m not much of a video person anyway.
i’m taking more pictures than i have in forever it seems. and i seem to feel content with it.
here’s some recent examples of the photos i took with my nifty little camera phone…
after a couple weeks, i went back to the original article and finally read the whole thing.
i connected perfectly with Melissa Lyttle who shot an assignment with the iphone camera and had an unexpected surprise.
“its like it freed something up in my brain, she says. some sort of blockage… it took all the rules that i subconsciously impose on myself in my regular photographic life and it threw them all out the window. i felt really free to just go and play and have fun and not take myself or my photography too seriously. in a lot of ways it was like some sort of visual yoga.” Melissa Lyttle (St. Petersburg Times, FL)
i blinked in disbelief after reading what she said. it was like she read my mind. she managed to say what i’ve been feeling exactly on point.
so now i’m a little relieved – i don’t want to sell off all my gear just yet. i’m hoping that this new development will guide me back to the simple pleasures of photography and back to the passion i think i lost.
who knows how long this novelty will last – i’m hoping it will last long enough to break my creative funk i fell into. i’m anxious to start posting pics again – hence the title, the iphone picture project. i’ll try to start posting photos taken with the iphone on a semi-daily basis.
in a nutshell, i think the dinky iphone camera and the American Photo article (authors Jenny Andrews & Laurence Chen) have saved a critical piece of my life. so i must say thank you to both the iphone and jenny and laurence!
i’m reminded that even though i can’t carry my SLR around with me everywhere – as long as i have a phone, i’ll always have a camera available. and as fellow iphone photographer chase jarvis says, the best camera is the one that’s with you.
