Mar 5, 2013 / Beginner

Quick Tip: The Best Camera is the One You Have With You

I like to take pictures using my phone. Each photo I take represents a precise moment in my life — a memory, a place, an object — something that captures my imagination or inspires me in some way. While some people fuss about buying the latest cameras and the latest lenses to make the best possible photographs, I’m not one to lug a large camera around. My iPhone is always in my pocket, ready to capture these random moments during my day and my travels, for I’ve found it’s true that the best camera in the world is the one that I have with me.

Here are some of my recent favorites in the gallery below. From left to right, a new friend I made on a trip to Spain, deep, fresh-fallen snow on coniferous trees, and a summer storm chasing us along the highway. All of these shots are moments I was able capture because my phone is always in my pocket.

My Spanish friend, Perro.
North-eastern Manitoba
Prairie storm, Canada

Mobile apps in many popular flavors

With your phone in your pocket, you’re ready to capture any thing or event in the moment. WordPress.com’s mobile apps come in iOS, Android, Windows Phone, Nokia, WebOS, and Blackberry flavors, making it a snap (whoa, punny!) to moblog on the go. Simply grab your phone, get the shot, and upload it to your WordPress.com blog. Tomorrow, Cheri Lucas will cover how to use some of the mobile apps. Today, I want to encourage you to get out and take photos with your mobile phone so that you’ll have some fun shots to upload.

Pick a photo challenge and snap to it

Looking for some inspiration? Here at Daily Post, we publish weekly photo challenges using photos we’ve taken ourselves. We enjoy coming up with new imagery each week to encourage you to capture pictures that reflect the theme as you see it through your lens. Here are a few suggestions on getting started with phoneography:

  • Go out for a walk around your neighborhood and do a study on the color “red.” Take a few photos that say “red” to you. Maybe it’s a candy wrapper, a bird, even a street sign, perhaps a wreath — what did you find that was red? Snap away.
  • Experiment with composition. Notice the photo of my Spanish friend above: he’s off to the side, literally marginalized, which lends resonance to his status as a stray dog — a dog without a home. Select any subject — a tree, your favorite tea cup, the egg you ate for breakfast — and experiment with where you place the subject within the frame. How does the photo change when you frame the subject on the right, left, center, or at an angle?
  • Using only five photos, document a day in your life. Be choosy! Which activities or objects best represent what happens during your day? You might choose to capture the tie you wore, the view from the table at which you ate lunch, the bus stop after work, the book you’re reading, and your baby girl’s hairbrush — the one you used to brush her hair after her evening bath. Which five photos best represent a day in your life? Is five too many? Snap three photos, or snap one photo that best represents your day.

The beautiful thing about phoneography is that it lowers the barrier to participating in challenges: grab your phone, grab your coat, and take a photo walk in your neighborhood — you never know what you’ll encounter, but with your phone at the ready, you know won’t miss capturing that unique moment in time.

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  1. I’d say that 99% of the photos on my blog were taken with my iPhone. It’s just a lot easier to transfer them to the site using the WordPress app on the phone.

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  2. Hate to sound like an idiot, but I don’t have or need a “smart phone”. Rather stick to my camera…so, can I use said camera to upload to The Daily Post?

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  3. 100% agreed. Ever since I switched to smartphone, it’s all I needed to take pictures and blog on wordpress. Great pictures and speedy blogging 🙂

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  5. My iphone is THE BOMB. I have all of this crazy gear and I can tell you, some of my best photos are taken with my iPhone 4. Who knew?

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  8. This is so true – the best camera is the one you have – mine alas, despite my son and daughters protestations and offers to buy me a new digital one is an slr minolta 22 years old – and nothing matches what i snap with it, only i believe, like said in the blog because it record for posterity only what i want to keep and does it superbly – there is one more such – my book of poems – which i capture like my snaps becuse i know that snap of my mind will never return or replicate – and i do want to return to it to find out how i may have felt in that rare moment.

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    1. a photo is only valuable if it can last forever in your album like a poem you wrote can in your book of poems – i have so many of both that never leave me alone – like?? my mom who i lost at the age of 4 – but she never really left me cause shes always there in all those photos – for ever more.

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  12. I love having a camera in my back pocket. Plus my iPhone is so versatile, I feel. I can capture the smallest moments and artistic shots that usually I don’t have my DSLR for. Plus I just love my iPhone in general , so that helps too. 🙂 I need to start adding more photos to my blog anyway, and this is the perfect opportunity to. A lot of the photos I’ve used on my blog anyway are my own, whether with my iPhone or with my DSLR.

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  13. Reblogged this on mikemattice and commented:
    I have never taken a good photo with my phones (but I’ve never had a “good” phone. However, I often carry my digital camera, and I’m not a professional (I know, because I know a pro!), but I feel I have taken some wonderful pictures. BTW, the difference between a pro and me is a pro makes photographic art, and I sometimes take good pictures.

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  16. I have an ongoing phone photo blog (the term phoneography is new to me, but now I can add that tag to my posts!) on WordPress, but I have yet to successfully blog a post from my phone – I usually drag my chosen pics off the phone to my laptop and upload them through the wordpress media library from there.

    I use an Android Galaxy III (since Christmas) – and the WordPress app automatically downsizes my photos to a tiny 500 x 375 pixels, which I don’t find acceptable. I can’t find anywhere in the app settings to change this annoying except (just now) by double-tapping the photo after I’ve inserted it into the post and using the image setting slider. Is this the only way?

    Would love to learn a more convenient method if it exists.

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  19. Phoneography is like taking analogue lomography to another level. I’m a quite a die-hard film photo fan but I love phone photography too. The best camera is the one that’s in your hand whenever you need it.

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