beauty is in the eye of the beholder

taken with iphone on instagram using nashville filter

Since the birth of my daughter, my life has changed significantly, and so I've had to make some adjustments to my photo taking habits as well. The bulky SLR has been put away until I go back to shooting professional assignments, the SX70 (and it's convenient flat design) found its place inside the diaper bag, and my trusty iphone became my camera of choice! I spend most of my days now shooting the trivial, celebrating my baby's expressions, our home, how the light changes in every room of the house throughout the day, and even my silly face! I do it a lot. All day actually! It's easy and it's fun. There is no editing, no cropping, no raw images clogging my disk space, and (god forbid!) no retouching. Who has time for that? Iphoneography is completely effortless... Yet, those special moments can still be captured all the same.

Gosh! Will phones ever replace cameras? Absolutely not. We love cameras of all kinds and shapes way too much! But do we need expensive, fancy or hip cameras to take good photos? No more, sisters, no more. Shooting is indeed a lot less about technical process and a lot more about shooting constantly and training our eye to capture the beauty we see. When we shoot from that perspective, we can pick up any piece of equipment and make magic. And as it turns out, that magic can happen even with the help of a tiny little device that fits in our back pocket!

Any other iphoneography enthusiasts out there? If you are an iphone geek like me, you must check out Instagram! This little app is revolutionizing the way we take pictures! It combines the photo community aspect of Flickr, one click filters for post processing, and Twitter chatter. The community is quite supportive as well and you can automatically post your images to flickr, twitter, facebook, posterous and tumblr too! If you want to check it out and look me up, I'm @alessandracave. I'd love to follow your photo taking journey that way.

So tell me... Would you share with us the best of your phone pics with us today?

Comments

[Kimberly Scott]

this is my favorite Instagram from today;) loveee iPhone app pics:)

http://instagr.am/p/BAr7O/

[Angela DiGiovanni | life * photography * art]

Okay, i am so glad to hear you validate iphone photography applications! I wondered if it was just me... or did they make me seem like a really good photographer! I've been using Hipstamatic but just started using Instagram about a week ago... LOVE. IT.

Here's my recent fave: (a pic of a Carnation - so close up I wonder if people would know if I didn't tell them...)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/digang/5340124993/in/set-72157625669090237/

[Jen at Cabin Fever]

Never heard of it before, but very cool! And that photo is great, very smile inducing :)

http://www.only365words.blogspot.com

[Lili&Mo]

A very nice App. Thanks for the hint. Im @liliundmo.
Greets, Nicole

[Jennifée]

I have an Android phone and not an iPhone, but oh how I love it all the same - always so glad to see other camera phone enthusiasts! It's so easy with my phone to capture the moods and small details of life from situations where I won't bring my dSLR. Here's one from yesterday, heading home from a party and wanting to portray the atmosphere of an almost deserted subway station late at night.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/85057042@N00/5355113353/

[starrlife]

I don't own a smartphone but I have only had a powershot until very recently and it's refreshing to see the candidness of your photo from your iphone! So beautiful!
I've just got a DSLR and I am so impressed with the quality of the photos but I can see how such large cameras can interfere with the level that the photographer has in actually being part of life and capturing it at the level you describe.

[Emily M.]

oh gosh, i am a huge iphoneography fan. i think it's also a really great travel camera, though i can't usually bring myself to leave my DSLR behind completely, and end up bringing them both! instagram is one of those apps i've heard about, but haven't tried yet (the photo app situation on my phone may or may not be a bit out of control). think i may have to remedy that today! don't know if this is my best, but it is one of my favorites. i always have such a hard time choosing a favorite on anything!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/emilyfrances5/4414185351/in/set-72157623188561665/

[Hannah]

I love my iPhone for capturing everyday moments. I use the ShakeItPhoto app, and I put them all up on Posterous.
Here are a couple of my recent favorites:
http://seekingequipoise.posterous.com/developing
http://seekingequipoise.posterous.com/always-moving

[Gina@Bella Vita]

I love Instagram, as well as Hipstamatic, ShakeItPhoto and TiltShiftGen!!!

Here is one of my favorite Instagram photos http://instagr.am/p/3V3j/

[Allison McCafferty]

Love Instagram. I'm going to follow your feed. Here's a recent favorite from the holidays of my daughter.
http://instagr.am/p/uL9n/

[Sam]

I am SO in love with Instagram. I already was besotted with Hipstamatic, but I love the community of Instagram. I'm using my iPhone to take a photo a day for the year, and it's just so easy... I'm samanthalang and will be sure to follow you.

[Winn]

Such a cute photo... so full of "awwwwww!" I love it!

On another note, I feel very out of the loop because not only do I not have an iPhone, I do not own any sort of cell phone. Call me stuck-in-the-early-nineties. How can I compete with the phone photography community???!!! ;)

[Lori]

What a beautiful image.

[maryann]

here's my fav iphone pic!

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_asLePPZb8m4/Sp6J2ZA7zxI/AAAAAAAABBM/G4DkMp2kyZA/s1600-h/apple.jpg

[kristin]

what a beautiful baby girl you have mama. sweet family capture.
xo

[susan]

ahh cute! my first nephew was born yesterday..but i'm not aloud to upload any photos yet! : (I lost count how many photos where taken with phones!

this is my only cell phone pic to make it to flickr..its kinda boring lol
http://www.flickr.com/photos/-konayuki-/4697383124/

[Heather]

I so agree with the iPhone, I actually only had a point and shoot, that I really like and use, but the iPhone has made it a no brainer to take fun pictures, to use cool filters and everything all in minutes and all on one device. I used a a good bit last year for 365 and will again this year, probably more.


This one is the pic I used for my self published prompted journal
http://www.flickr.com/photos/toliveinspired/4822460489/in/set-72157624427457454/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/toliveinspired/5091678990/in/set-72157624427457454/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/toliveinspired/5125425920/in/set-72157624427457454/

I have a few others I really love and some better ones, but those are a few I really like!

[Romy]

Morning Chat - http://www.flickr.com/photos/55142593@N08/5335971011/
Sweet Ride - http://www.flickr.com/photos/55142593@N08/5217857029/

iPhone camera can't replace my Canon 7D but it sure takes decent photos.

[Nicci]

As much as I love my bb, I'm soooo incredibly excited for the Verizon iphone release next month so I can finally have my coveted camera phone!! What fun I've had experimenting with the iphone camera thus far has been when I could get my hands on my sister's phone:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/niccirf/4765073411/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/niccirf/4767754637/

[Sheree]

i love your photo! it's so funny because i just posted a bunch of my iphone photos to my photoblog today...

www.shereewu.com

[WorthIt!]

What a wonderful moment you captured!

I love that I always have my iphone with me - it's fun and so convenient.

Thought I'd share one of my favorites from this summer. Shot using Hipstamatic.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/52055227@N07/5357108235/

[Texan Mama]

Sorry, my phone only makes phone calls. No camera, no text. I know, ancient, huh?

[Laine]

I admit. I am a camera snob. I am working to overcome that. I know in my head and heart the best camera is the one you have with you but my affection for my DSLR overrides that. I admit there are places where taking my bulky DSLR isn't possible and I have wished so much to "get that photo". So, I am going to tuck my Ipod touch in my back pocket and challenge myself to overcome this snobbery. Thank you for this post.

[Anastasia]

I re-discovered iPhoneography three weeks ago as my canon needed to be repaired and I couldn't find my point and shoot (while still trying to complete a digital version of December Daily project). I am so glad I did give it a go! I am LOVING every moment of (helped by a brand new iPhone 4 though I think)
I know what you are talking about - I have a 22 months old son and am expecting my second one in March:-) - iPhone is your best friend - every time I tried to take a nice picture of Henry that big fat canon was drawing way too much attention and ruined any composition:-) iPhone is way less obtrusive and my son even poses for it!!!
I've just registered with Instargamm - please follow me too:-) @me4sunny

[Andrea]

Decided not to be such a camera snob and take more photos with my IPhone. Here is #1

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=481509296115&set=a.200106371115.138227.99118791115&theater

[xanthe]

beautiful post and photo, what a gorgeous baby you have!

i too, have been enjoying the iphone delights, (no iphone4 yet) using shakeit, capturing moments each day, a "no pressure 365", lets see how it goes.
x. xoxo

[Line]

gorgeous!!

[Stephanie]

I don't have an iPhone...yet! But I was really pleased with this shot taken on my Palm Pixi of the Philadelphia skyline from my hotel room a couple months ago:

http://www.stephaniegracephotography.com/2010/11/philadelphia.html

[Kim]

From last summer :)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/junebugphotography/4942641848/

[mama-pan | mary frances]

these are all great--does anyone know of good photo apps for non-iphone smartphone users? I have an htc touch... maybe will get a new windows phone this year.

[Jessica]

I have an Android phone. Snapped some pics during my morning commute the other day... the snow looked so lovely:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/goaliej54/5353916910/

I have Verizon and am considering getting an iPhone when my contract is up. They seem to take better photos, or at least have more apps available. Not sure, though. I need to do some research.

[MOV]

First of all, cutest baby I have ever seen (well, my sons are pretty damn cute, so maybe a close third).
Second, I would be more than happy to share the plethora of cell-phone pics I have snapped...... sadly,most of them are of my steering wheel or dahsboard ("Dammit, is that my phone ringing again? How do you answer this thing? I'm trying to drive, it is so distracting, but maybe it's the school calling. Oops, I think I just took another photo of the steering wheel.")
Best-- MOV
http://mothersofbrothersblog.blogspot.com

[Belinda]

Hello, I just followed you. I'm Mrskypo x

[Melissa Jaine]

Hello beautiful!
Oh, yes how we love Instagram. Seriously - the interaction with you (and others) has just been the highlight of my year. (Okay - we're only 2 weeks in, but that is fact!)

Until recently I desperately wanted a proper DSLR to take "proper" foodie pics for my blog, but can't quite justify the cost (not with medical bills on top of debt I already had!). So it is nice to hear you saying good things about iPhoneography! I shall pursue learning more about my wee phone, but keep the DSLR on the wish list. :)

mj.x

[Cindy Bryant]

I love reading your blog. It is one of my daily escapes. (smile)
Recently found instagram which I love.

I'm bits_of_time

[LaToya]

I LOVE my iPhone and the pictures I can capture with the apps. If you love instagram ....Please try the Hipstamatic app it offers different lenses and films. I love my phone pics so much I dedicated a blog to them...check them out here at
http://latoyarogers.tumblr.com/

[bridge]

I not have an IPhone, but I just had to say how beautiful your baby is!

[Jen Lake]

Had been a diehard using of Hipstamatic but after this post, immediately downloaded Instagram and boy, am I in love.

http://photos-three-six-five.blogspot.com/2011/01/fourteen.html

[Joanna]

I am ADDICTED to Hipstamatic on my iPhone. I have Instagram too. I am so glad you posted this because I didnt know if there were any others that used it as much as I do. All for the same reasons you have become and iPhonographer, so have I. With the birth of my second child, I just dont have the time....or room to carry around my dSLR.

I just made a post tonight using the Hipstamatic on my blog.
http://worth-it-all.blogspot.com/

I am also doing a 365 project with my iPhone, A Hipstaprint A Day http://www.flickr.com/photos/luckysnap/sets/72157625725042396/

[Lisa]

I just got an iPhone earlier this month, and I am absolutely loving all of the photography apps! They are so fun to play with, so simple, so effortless. I've been doing a photo-a-day project using my SLR, but there have been a couple completely busy and hectic days when my iPhone saved the project. I am just loving it. Instagram is one of my favorites! I am definitely going to look you up on there. I also created a set on my flickr for just my iPhone pics. It's so much fun, and teaches me a lot about composition.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/29380197@N03/sets/72157625717336328/