Independent Research: iPhone Photography

Recently I have been experimenting taking photos with my iPhone. Over the years the quality of phone cameras has greatly increased. Currently the iPhone has one of the best cameras and can produce some really great images. There are also a number of apps that can assist in creating these images like "Camera+" and "Snapseed". Here are some iPhone images that inspired me.

Jimmy Mazur (Winning image of the 5th Annual iPhone Photography Awards)

Past winners and honorable mentions

  Greg Schmigel (Pioneer in mobile photography who uses iPhone as main camera) 

His website

For more examples check out www.iPhoneography.com which is the biggest iphone photography blog right now.

Book making inspiration

Here's some inspiration for the book I will be making based on the poem, "Morning" by Billy Collins, which is below:

Morning

BY BILLY COLLINS

Why do we bother with the rest of the day,

the swale of the afternoon,

the sudden dip into evening,

then night with his notorious perfumes,

his many-pointed stars?

This is the best—

throwing off the light covers,

feet on the cold floor,

and buzzing around the house on espresso—

maybe a splash of water on the face,

a palmful of vitamins—

but mostly buzzing around the house on espresso,

dictionary and atlas open on the rug,

the typewriter waiting for the key of the head,

a cello on the radio,

and, if necessary, the windows—

trees fifty, a hundred years old

out there,

heavy clouds on the way

and the lawn steaming like a horse

in the early morning.

Relating words and image

Here is some inspiration I found for both of the assignments for this quarter where we are asked to relate words and images.

Stefan Stagmiester:

Barbara Kruger:

Some of my attempts at camera tossing

First I tried camera tossing with my phone. I used a simple self timer app and tried to make it go off right at the peak of the throw.

I also tried some camera tossing indoors, using a few simple patterns I found on a camera tossing blog. 

Here are the patterns I used to create this images:

Independent Project: Camera Tossing

For my quarterly independent project I will be focusing on camera tossing. Camera tossing, which is a form of kinetic photography was pioneered by Ryan Gallagher, a few years back. His work can be seen at both www.kineticphotography.net as well as cameratoss.blogpot.com. A photo can only be called a camera toss if the picture is taken while the camera is in the air. There are two main types of camera tossing. The first type is shot in a dark room using a few different light sources and a long exposure. You spin and or flip the camera to create interesting designs. Here are some examples and a video which explains the process.

Photo by Beatrice Murch

The second type of camera tossing, which most people think of involves using a self timer and actually throwing the camera up above you, spinning it and hoping that it takes a picture of you looking up at it, or something else. Obviously this involves some luck, and lots of trial and error. Usually a wide angle lens is used for this so you don't need to throw it too high. You can use a fast shutter or a slower one to create a blur effect.

I will be exploring both types for my project.