The advent of the app store has opened a large number of applications for niche markets and one of the most popular markets that developers have been targeting has been photography. The number of photography applications for the iPhone pales in comparison to the number of games that have been released, but what the numbers don’t reveal is the high percentage of quality apps versus junk available to photographers. Below are 11 photography related applications that I have on my iPhone and have been using even more following my upgrade to the iPhone 3G S.
The most amazing aspect of today’s transforming photography world is that it is so easy to find inspiration. The digitization of photography has placed inspiration a Google search away or even a Tweet away. While I certainly don’t have time to list a 1,000 points of inspiration I will share with you a few that I recommend checking out and I’d like to invite you to fill out the other 9,997 whether still photography, photo books, ebooks, music, video, etc. Up to the challenge? I hope so. Add your points of inspiration in the comments below.
1. Chase Jarvis CURRENT: The Consequences of Creativity For some a photo alone can be inspiration and for some a video that clubs you over the head with great ideas will do the trick. Chase wields his club with caveman like surgical precision. What the hell does that mean?! It means no matter who you are, what your photographic skill level is, or background this video is sure to get you off your butt to do something creative this weekend.
2. William Neill’s Meditation in Monochrome eBook
The digital edition of Meditation in Monochrome has stuck with me after several viewings challenging my artistic view of the world. By no means has it converted me to a B&W photographer, as color photography resonates with me far too much. What it has done with its high quality presentation, ease of access & review via PDF format and masterful photographs has challenged me to view my photographic subjects differently. It has reinforced my deep appreciation of how other nature photographers to see our world in Black & White. It also has inspired me to take a closer look at electronic publishing. William Neill’s life long efforts have been inspiring enough, but this particular project has given me a source of inspiration that is only a click away on my computer.
3. Playing with Time (via John Nack’s blog)
I’ll cheat on this counting a couple of photo/video artists under this one entry:
Andrew Curtis’s Cinco De Mayo Carnival timelapses and David Coiffier super slow motion video rugby, fire-breathing and more. For me these videos are visually engaging, they get my creative juices flowing analyzing the visual and logistical components of such a capture and change my mindset in how I evaluate photographic or video opportunities.
Now it’s your turn… add a comment and help me fill out a list of 1,000 Points of Inspiration no matter how small or large the inspiration might be.
I recently photographed my elusive “white whale” photo subject, a fog enveloped Golden Gate Bridge at sunrise. You might expect I’d be happy with capturing dozens of photos of this amazing phenomenon, but I’m eager to photograph it again to get a different take on it. I should clarify I am very satisfied with the photos captured including the one shown below, but I have an incredibly strong desire to try something new next time.
What might surprise you is that I almost missed this opportunity out of sheer laziness. I knew conditions were lining up to be good the evening before and I set my alarm for 5am… 40 minutes before sunrise. I had been working on photos until about 1am that morning and when my alarm went off I had a tough time getting my butt in gear. I got up, looked out my window and I could see a clear view above a fog layer in the valley beneath the hill I live on. What this meant is that the fog was receding and hugging the coast making the odds the bridge would be poking out of the fog a near certainty. Even still I got back in bed and after much internal debate I got myself up and out of the house. It should be noted to minimize my own internal resistance I had my gear ready to go the night before so no extra effort was needed… I just needed to get on the road.
To say I’m happy that I eventually got up is an understatement. The conditions turned out to be perfect and the rate at which the fog receded was astonishingly quick. With in a matter of 90-120 minutes the fog lowered in level from the top of the Golden Gate Bridge towers to below the bridge span. The morning air was cool, filled with the sound of birds chirping and of course foghorns. Beyond getting photographs of this phenomenon it was just fun to witness. Heck even the drive back was exciting as the fog was barely spilling over the bridge.
It seems like only yesterday that I first reviewed the camera in the original iPhone “Apple iPhone Camera Review: The One Thing Apple Isn’t Hyping“. At the time of the iPhone release 3 years ago I was not terribly impressed with the quality of the digital camera with in the phone and my opinion didn’t change with the lack of camera upgrade in the iPhone 3G. As part of the iPhone 3G S release the camera with in the phone has been upgraded and the difference between this generation and past generations is quite an improvement. Unfortunately not every short coming of the original iPhone camera has been addressed, but the vast majority of improvements warrant sharing another review. Read more…
There are so many wonderful things to say about Glacier National Park it’s hard to know where to start. One of my favorite locations to explore is the Many Glaciers area. Swiftcurrent Lake provides an incredibly majestic view of Mount Grinnell at sunrise and will hold you in awe all day long. On this particular morning Mother Nature put on an amazing show. A nearly full moon was setting at sunrise and as the mountains warmed from the early mornings sun a purple fog began to creep across the landscape. Just before the fog swept across the lake concealing this amazing view deer could be seen foraging on the far bank of the river.
Mount Grinnell Reflected in Swiftcurrent Lake at Sunrise
This is a 32 megapixel digital panoramic taken with a Canon TS-24mm f/3.5 LÂ lens. Three vertical photos were taken by shifting the lens and later merged in Photoshop. I’ll end up sharing more about this technique in the future.
Macro photography is often associated with beautiful flower photos, but during a past trip to Yosemite National Park I decided to use my macro lens to document the impact of a controlled fire that was set on the valley floor. Rather than take a standard wide view of a fire scared landscape I decided to use a macro lens to capture a more intimate landscape of shape and texture. The jigsaw puzzle like bark of the Ponderosa Pine has always fascinated me and taking a closer look before and after made for an interesting subject.
Ponderosa Pine Tree Bark Detail, Yosemite National Park
The bark of the Ponderosa Pine from afar looks as though its covered in large scales, but as you get closer the large scales actually reveal their true structure. Layers upon layers of puzzle like pieces create the thick protective layer and structure to the trunk of the tree.
Burnt Bark of a Ponderosa Pine Tree, Yosemite National Park
Taking a closer look at the burnt bark of trees in the vicinity, loose layers of bark are gone leaving only a tightly packed layers of bark. The puzzle like pieces of the bark retain their loose shape, but glisten like shiny charcoal.
I’d venture to say that most people wouldn’t think of burnt bark as having any quality of beauty, but as a macro subject I thought it did. Granted I much prefer seeing a forest in a lush state rather than burnt, identifying burnt bark as a photographic subject is a lesson in itself.
When photographing nature subjects, or any other really, its important to check preconceived notions of beauty at the door. Observing the world as though you’ve never seen it before has a lot of merit. Mind you I will admit it bugs my wife when we go on walks… I’m always observing and pointing out minutia of the environment that most normal people would never have taken a second look at.
A while back Chase Jarvis posed the question, “When was the last time you shot something for the first time?” and I’d counter, “When is the last time you photographed something as though it were your first time?” Getting into the mode of rediscovery has proven to be as invaluable to me as immersing myself into a new environment to photograph. Try it. It might just light a creative fire for you.
