Tag: iphone photography

Making pictures every day

 

I’ve recently read a blog post and seen a YouTube video about why you should take photos everyday – even if you think you suck and feel uninspired.  The blog post was from Eric Kim and the video from Peter McKinnon, both with very large social media following.  The thought resonates for me because shooting is something I do to keep me less stressed and frustrated with things that are going on in the world today.

I hope the images I capture tell me something about myself or at the least give me a little joy when a nice image emerges.  I shoot often with iphone for immediate things I am doing or things are happening right around me quickly, and then use a film camera when I have a tiny bit more time (because there’s some preparation I will need to do with a manual camera).

So now making photographs for me is an extension of getting up in the morning and going out.  Whether it’s my phone or film or digital camera, I have something within reach and keep an eye out for something interesting.  I then hope that not all my photographs will suck.

Is a style emerging here?

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Photography for me right now is therapy – something to decrease stress and increase happiness. It’s also a way to meet new people outside of tech and share ideas. It’s also a way to be more aware of what’s around me as I make my way in the world. I read that photographers should find their own style to set themselves apart from other photographers and people with cameras, but right now I am having fun experimenting with both digital and analog processes, old manual equipment and highly-capable digital equipment, and shooting different subject matter. If I had to choose, film is my preference – I really like the look different black and white and color films can produce. I also enjoy the excitement of getting my negatives back (preview scans in the email to be exact).

I guess at some point a style will begin to emerge and I will settle into a more consistent workflow.

Tokyo Side Trip: Chichibu

Chichibu makes a nice side trip from Tokyo.  You can get there from Ikebukuro Station on the “Red Arrow” train in 1.5 hours.  The Red Arrow is a limited express with reserved seats so it’s a comfortable ride.  In warmer months you can tour parks and ride wooden boats down the Arakawa (river) from Nagatoro where there are beautiful cliffs and rocks.  Chichibu is also home to a number sake breweries and the Ichiro whisky distillery.  Ichiro has gained notoriety in World whisky circles and was completely sold out in Chichibu.  We were able to get a tour and tasting at the Bukou sake brewery.  They usually require advance reservations for tour groups of 10 or more but made an exception for us.  The house is about 260 years old and has a spring underneath which supplies water for the sake.  You can see the well inside the building and then drink the water from a spout outside.  Inside the shop, you can see holes in the timbers where farmers would place their cutting tools while they drank sake.  Around the town there are shrines and many old buildings.

The city is popular with lovers of anime as the city was used as the backdrop of a Japanese anime TV series called “Anohana: The Flower We Saw That Day” that has also been translated for distribution in the U.S.  There’s one bridge in the anime that’s fairly unique in Japan so fans will make the long trek from the station. You can rent bikes right next to the station to make the trip.  Finally there is an onsen (hot spring) connected to the station (look for Seibuchichibu Ekimae Onsen) so you can bathe, relax and eat before returning to Tokyo.

Overall Chichibu is an easy trip to see a small countryside city in Japan.

iPhone 8+ camera is very good

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I’m in Tokyo and set out to shoot a lot of 35mm film.  I brought the following equipment: Leica M10, Leica M6, Leitz Summicron 35mm f2 and Summicron 50mm f2, Nikon FM3a with Nikkor AF 50mm f1.4.  I still prefer the compact and stealthy Leica M bodies for shooting in crowds but the Nikon’s bright finder, solid clunk of the shutter release and AE mode make it nice to shoot with as well;  I’m just conscious of the big piece of metal in front of my face when I shoot.

Anyway, some days I just carry one of the film cameras and my iPhone 8+ which has the same rear camera set up as iPhone X.  I bring along an Olloclip wide angle/ telephoto clip on lens for the phone.  For travel photos, the wide angle lens is good to get more of a scene in.  The top image was shot without the clip-on wide angle, the bottom B&W image was shot with the wide angle attached.  I use the iPhone for shots I mostly plan on using for Instagram.  Some have turned out so nice I am considering to print them large to see what they look like.

I use Snapseed on the phone to do my editing and find that it has everything I need to punch up color photos to Instagram attractiveness if I want to.

So basically I’m thinking that with the clip on lenses the iPhone replaces a compact camera as backup to my 35mm film and full-frame digital cameras.  I was considering to pick up a Ricoh GRII here in Japan but it seems easier to handle just the iPhone and one real camera at once.  I considered buying the Moment lenses but one advantage of the Olloclip is that both tele and wide are on the same bracket so you just flip it over and shoot with the one you need.  The little nit-picks are: 1) you have to make sure the bracket is centered perfectly or you get vignetting, 2) for telephoto, you need to use a camera app like CameraPixels to select the “T” camera (the wide and tele cameras are side-by-side on the iPhone 8+).