The fire of photography

I just thought of this wacky simile.  Photography is like a fire.  Someone just put a bunch of fresh logs on - digital photography.  In the ashes are glass plates, daguerreotypes, tin types (though I saw an awesome exhibit Joni Sternbach's Tin Types at the Peabody Essex Museum this summer). The embers underneath the fire, still glowing, is film.

I've been playing around with cameras and film this winter. Here are some images from a trip to Joshua Tree National Park.



Film is great for trying to be more creative. You have less control of the process in a way, because you can't see immediately how your images turned out. You can either plan your shots more carefully. Or just look, see, and press the shutter, and move on.

Phone Pictures

There's been a ton of buzz about mobile phone pictures recently because of some cool applications available for phones these days.  The two most recent (and useful) iPhone apps I've come across for taking and editing pictures are: TheBestCamera, and PS Mobile.

The Best Camera (is the one that's with you), is the brainchild of Chase Jarvis, who is always offering creativity tips and ways to make better images on his blog.  I think he's a marketing genius - creating buzz for himself in a selfless way, by making and discussing ways to improve photography, creative projects, and collaboration.  In the iPhone application, you can take a picture, or use and existing one, then easily apply or delete various filters - from warming/cooling or brighter/darker, to other more unique ones like "jewel," or "slate," which play with contrast, vingnette, and saturation.  The coolest thing about the app is the ability to easily share photos to multiple outlets - twitter, facebook, email, and TheBestCamera gallery, which is constantly updating with a live feed from the application.

Here are some before/after images with TheBestCamera:

PS Mobile is from Adobe - a mini version of Photoshop, as well as a way to share images.  Immediately, I wished I could send my photos to different outlets, instead of just the application's community page.  Also, I didn't see a way to easily remove edits - for example, if you make a bunch of edits, you have to go back to the original image if you just want to remove the red tint you added.  However, the finger motions to control the edits I found very intuitive, and I like the range of editing - instead of choosing "brighter," I can choose how much brighter I want to make the image by sliding my finger on the screen.

Here are some before/after images with PS Mobile:

So these apps are neat. What does that mean for pro photographers, designers, and creatives?  Well, the best development is "accessibility." With a phone, you can take a picture, make a creative decision, then publish if for others to see and comment.  This creates a community where hopefully, better ideas get shared faster.  If I see someone's cool picture of X, maybe that gives me an idea of a picture of Y, which I show my friend who then creates Z, all from a little tool that most people always carry with them.  A sort of creative "pay-it-forward" idea.

Publishing

Just finished watching Chase Jarvis' talk : Consequences of Creativity. He spoke to ADCD (Art Director's Club of Denver) and ASMP, a photographer's organization.

One point that stuck me, and anyone who reads anything these days, is that creative people can now also be the ones who publish / share their work. It doesn't have to be "validated" by an ad agency or magazine editor, you create stuff and throw it on the web and instantly people can watch your latest cat-themed-youtube video.

The cool thing about this, is that there's and abundance of stuff to find, created by people with no other motive than just to create. For instance my friend Eric Millard - a great musician - just put up some of his songs on facebook and myspace. The 'goal': simply to meet people with similar interests. With social network and publishing sources like TubeMogul and Issuu, the 'why' of publishing is more of a 'why not' - it's so easy.

I started thinking of all this while I was searching my bookmarks and came Motionographer, and this strange video by Terry Timely: Synesthesia. For some reason, it seems less outlandish after returning from Beijing last night. (And yes, there are cats).