iPhonography
The Joy of “shooting from the hip”
(The idiom “to shoot from the hip” is an allusion to firing a handgun immediately upon drawing it from its holster without taking time to aim)
“I only have an iPhone”
I have heard this disclaimer many times when people learn that I am a dedicated image maker.
I write today to question that idea as a limitation and propose that it is, in fct, an opportunity. After all, if you consider your phone to be a serious image making tool, then you are always ready to shoot!
Last night I attended a terrific opening at Madrone Arts in the small town of Pescadero, about 20 miles south of my home in Montara on the coast of California. On the way home I beheld this vista just after sunset, and the light was changing so fast that if I had my Nikon, the time required to set up my equipment would have made getting the shot impossible.
And while the 36 mega-pixel sensor on the Nikon can’t be beat, the 12MP (48MP RAW) sensor on the iphone is sufficient for nearly all tasks.
From time-to-time it is the simple, the obvious, that catches our eye.
In this case, the simplicity of light and space as articulated by the skylight in a friend’s home.
The grand view is sometimes the quiet one.
With a broad array of editing tools, many ordinary photos can be enhanced to more faithfully reveal the photographer’s perspective.
To begin with, what you need is an image with good “bones.” Good bones means sufficient data with which to work, as in, good detail in both highlights and shadows. If these values aren’t in your original photo, it becomes very difficult to introduce them later.
This is easy when shooting in flat light where there are neither brilliant highlights nor black shadows. Photos taken in brilliant light with direct sunlight or at high altitudes require special care in exposure.
That being said, sometimes it enhances an image to use a silhouette profile for added drama as was the case for this image of the Lone Cypress at Pebble Beach.
One of the joys of shooting from the hip is the sense of play it provides. Shooting for the fun of it. Shooting when you aren’t sure the photo will “come out” as we used to say. Shooting like no one is watching. (By the way, no one is watching!!)
When using film to record images when there was no alternative, my late mentor, Fred Lyon, would remind me that for every shutter release there followed an hour of work in the darkroom. This is no longer true.
Photographs can be created at no cost and deleted without concern. This is freedom and a significant break from the history of photography.
Like most people I am occasionally smitten by the sheer beauty of it all, and while I would not make this image for my black-and-white portfolio, I had to take it home.
Blue sky and clouds. Just because.
Julie and Pearl, Halloween 2023
Regardless of subject, these moments of feeling connected with life are worthy of being brought to the foreground and living as mementos of our journey.
Every day is another reason to make photographs.
Now, go forth and shoot!