Chase Jarvis promotes the use of a smartphone, or more realistically an iPhone, and suggests that there's no excuse not to be taking pictures because as long as you have your phone on you, you have the power to document, create, innovate and experiment.
These photos have not actually been taken with my smartphone, and certainly not an iPhone. I own a Samsung.
It just so happened that when I arrived home and found that his book The Best Camera Is the One That's With You had arrived in the post, I decided to take it to the park to look through it straight away. I had to leave my phone at home to charge and I decided to take my camera with me as a time reference. I had a cinema date with my mum later that evening.
After going through the whole book, looking at the different images, the captions, the order and the makeup of each photo, I felt inspired. Sometimes it's hard to keep up with photography, especially when you know how long it takes to process them via editing software. I guess that's why Jarvis created an app for the iPhone to meet all those needs. However, as accessible as he is trying to make it, it remains within the means of those who can afford or even desire to buy into Apple products. Huge potential for exclusion right there. Just saying.
Anyway, as it was, the only camera I had was my working Nikon body and Tamron lens. As I walked home I looked at the small details around me, the things that I have probably seen many times but never thought to try and frame. Below is a collection of that. Not all the photos are my favourites. I have treated this activity as an exercise, trying not to judge too much the quality of the final work.
All photos are in the same order in which I took them, as you can see it started raining and so although I carried on shooting under the rain, it was time to stop.
I hope this serves to inspire others to experiment with their surroundings in the same way that Jarvis inspired me. Thanks.
Note. I wanted to caption each photo in the same way that Jarvis did in his book. My current webpage format does not allow for that. In the meantime I will let you decide captions for yourself.
