I left the house three times over the last week to take
pictures. It’s nothing to be proud of but I’ve been asleep at the
switch for almost two months. When I began processing the images from
those adventures, I discovered I hadn’t made a photograph with either of my main cameras in seven weeks. It might be the longest I’ve gone without using a real camera in thirty years. Maybe much more. Part of the reason, you are tired of hearing,
was the long-fused effort to build a new website. But the other, and more valid
excuse, is that I’ve come to rely on the iphone in my front pocket. Or in my left
hand when I’m running. It’s unobtrusive, expedient, and competent. I am but one
of those.
Taking a real camera in your hand does change the dynamics
of picture making. It's heavier and more complex than a smart phone much the way that a 4x5 was a slow anvil compared to a full frame DSLR. But you give up contemplation
and craft when you rush things, naysayers sniff. You don’t take the time to
wait for the magic moment, the ideal light and the perfect composition. Sez you.
Having dispensed with the bulk and snail’s pace of large
format not to mention the vaporous darkroom 18 years ago I happily embraced the
ease and speed of DSLRs and now I embrace the remarkable iphone. Call
me a hussy but I like my action easy, fast and indiscriminate. And there are
processing tricks on a smart phone that I can’t perform in Photoshop. I have one word for you citizen, Snapseed.
From the fabled adobe portfolio are this gaggle of images from my heavyweight Canon 5D Mk III
and my ever ready iphone 7. They are of historic San Francisco de Asis Church in Ranchos de Taos and the equally important Martinez Hacienda half a mile down the road from us.
Pretty hard to tell what image came from which device.
Pretty hard to tell what image came from which device.
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2 comments:
I wouldn't even know where to begin with telling them apart. I wonder about the new iPhone and its new camera, too. Are you considering using it as well?
What a delight to hear from you. As to a new iphone I have some interest but am in a frugal mood. And I simply love the iphone 7. There's an adage that I will paraphrase from a disgraced cyclist named Lance something or other He said, "It's the man not the machine." So, I'd offer, "It's the photographer not the camera." Still a boy does need his toys.
How's the trike?
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