Pixiq

I have a confession. I shoot most often with my iPhone. And that’s pretty much every day. I do this because I can't stop seeing images… because I'm fascinated with the act of collecting and connecting these images like pieces in a giant puzzle… and because my iPhone is always with me. My SLR with its powerful settings and weighty lenses is not.

iPhoneography, the art of shooting, processing, and sharing images with an iPhone, is my method of exploring and making sense of the world around me – a backdoor approach to exposing my unique vision as a photographer. Like making marks in a sketchbook or jotting down phrases in a journal, my iPhoneography is intended to be lose and experimental. I simply capture and share what strikes me in a simple Posterous-powered online journal. The online journal auto-publishes links to these images so I can share and exchange visual discoveries with a growing community of avid iPhoneographers from around the world. I value this element of community in my photography because it keeps me connected and inspired by curious and creative individuals moving through life in a similar way. It stretches my view beyond the limits of my lens, and undoubtedly influences my ability to see in ways that I can’t describe.

Over the next several months, I’m planning to dedicate much of my column here in Pixiq (and in my column at Shutter Sisters) to expose the Art of iPhoneography because I’m passionate about the potential of this movement to expand your creative capacity as a photographer. The best way to sharpen your eye and instincts as a photographer is to shoot what strikes you on a daily basis. And if you do this enough, what will undoubtedly begin to emerge in your spontaneous image collection is a series of patterns. Patterns can lead to points of focus. Points of focus can inspire an idea for an image series. And the act of creating an image series can help you expose and articulate your unique vision as a photographer.

I shot these images using the Hipstamatic app with Blanko film and the John S. lens and processed them using the Photoshop Mobile app on my iPhone. I then performed minor tweaks in Aperture on my desktop. These images are part of an ongoing series in progress titled "Out Back." With this series, I'm exploring and exposing views intended to be hidden from the general public.