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The best camera is the one you have with you

Photographer Chase Jarvis has been espousing the idea that the best camera is the one you have with you and earlier this year, he released a book and iPhone app under the same phrase. I haven’t seen the book and overall find the app to be mediocre but I’ve been trying to adopt the philosophy myself.

I carry my dSLR with me frequently but it’s kind of a beast so I don’t tend to have it for day-to-day activities. I generally carry a point-and-shoot in my bag (was a Canon SD700 until my Mom permanently borrowed it, now it’s a Canon Powershot G9) but the camera I always have with me is the one in my iPhone. It aint much in terms of cameras – it’s a dinky 2 megapixels, pretty close in count to the first digital camera I had 90 years ago when even entry level cameras were $600 and were big and bulky like a Fisher Price construct. It doesn’t zoom, it does poorly in low light and it has no controls other than “push the button” (which can be difficult enough to do on its own). But it’s there. So I’ve been trying to use it more.

These were all taken, edited and uploaded using my iPhone. They won’t be gracing my walls any time soon and there are folks out there doing a lot more amazing things with the iPhone camera than this, but I’ve been having fun.

fall scenes near my house
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4072529968_49459df08d_bThe Rock Bottom Brewery in Minneapolis

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Driving home from my session at Home For Life Animal Sanctuary

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A scene I was viewing while sick on the couch

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Trip to Lutsen (next 3)

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(I think below is my favorite iPhone photo so far)

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A tattoo parlor near my house. No, I didn’t get one.

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Watching the Holidazzle with photographer friends from the delicious Zelo Restaurant.

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Ice on my bathroom window

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In the bathroom stall at the Bryant Lake Bowl

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Some witch’s house, forget where I took this.

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View of downtown Minneapolis from the 50th floor of the IDS Tower

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And, of course, the best use for the iPhone camera…millions of cat photos! I have so many…I’ll save those for another entry. :)

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+ - 4 comments

December 30, 2009 - 12:39 pm

stalker - i like the one from the IDS center. and yes, the camera on my BB Tour mostly takes pictures of kittehs. :-)

December 30, 2009 - 12:43 pm

Jason - I think you are selling these photos short. They are excellent.

December 30, 2009 - 1:52 pm

Jes - I really like these photos! It is all about learning to use the tools you have with you at the time. :) ~@moonsweetie

January 2, 2010 - 12:08 pm

LK - it’s amazing what you can do with almost no tools! I especially love the two kitties on the windowsill -and the blitzed one on the chair.

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