One morning, nearly two weeks ago, I stepped outside with our dogs as the sun was coming up. The light was incredible on the garden, so I went back inside to get my “real” camera. And what did I do? I ingested the files into Lightroom, selected the one I liked best, exported it as JPG, AirDropped it to my iPhone, and finally, posted it to Instagram.
I’m sure my iPhone would’ve made a nice picture, but I’ve been trying to use my real/main camera more. Let me just say that I’m not one who believes you can’t make good picture with a mobile phone. But, I will say that my experience has been that my iPhone makes “good enough” pictures most of the time and I believe that’s made me lazy at the practice of photography. I have 17,553 photos in my camera roll right now to support this.
I’m trying to work out the sharing of work more than the technical aspects of how the pictures are made. Our need, my need, for the instant gratification of likes and shares and comments seems to dilute the spirit of the work and the motivation behind it. I’m trying to sort this out in my own practice.
My wife and I recently talked about this over lunch and later that same day, I listened to the PhotoWork podcast (Episode 78, June 2024) with Rahim Fortune where he talked about some of these themes (oversharing, not doing enough, social media, etc.). (The podcast conversation was spurred by this Vanity Fair article by Allison Schaller.)
There’s so much more for me to explore here…
Speaking of iPhone pictures, here are some things that made me happy this week:
Green beans from our garden and a beautiful pallet of color at Cafe Appalachia.
Tomatoes (Mortgage Lifter and Cherokee Purple) from our garden on their way to our neighbors.
A curious fox kit checking out the camera in our driveway. (It’s better with the sound on.)
I’m still reading To Photograph Is to Learn How to Die by Tim Carpenter.
I’m still listening to Futurebirds (like, all their music).
I’ve been writing down wildlife observations when I get back from walking the dogs. Here’s an entry from three days ago:
Rosepinks near the cabin.
Three foxes in a row at the point.
Small, underdeveloped button buck near the (bird) feeder this morning.
I met a 95 year-old woman at Bob Evans on her birthday and I’m still thinking about her smile.
Thanks for reading my newsletter! If you’ve been reading from the beginning, we’re officially halfway through a year of weekly ramblings.
As you might imagine, it takes time and resources to write, edit, and publish this weekly newsletter. Thanks for liking, sharing, and subscribing.
You can see more of my work on my website and follow me on Instagram (but only if you want to…not because I need the dopamine hit).
Say hi to a stranger,
Roger
Excellent. Will check out that Photo Work podcast.