IPhoneography, here to stay or fad?

Today there are literately hundreds of blogs talking about iPhone's and iPhoneography. iPhone images are being taken in every corner of the world by all ages. Today's most common iPhone is Apples current iPhone 4, but like myself many are still using the 3GS. Most of you that follow me on Flickr have seen an almost exclusive publishing in iPhoneography. Before as late I dabbled with my iPhone 3GS trying several camera apps that claimed to be the best, but even with some creative processing and special effects apps I still fell short of delivering images that I was please with. Several months ago I purchased the Hipstamatic app for my iPhone. Within a few short minutes of using Hipstamatic I went crazy and purchased all the special films and lenses that were available. I think the total bill was around twelve bucks. The reason I chose Hipstamatic was my desire to use new tools to produce "back in the day" images through the result of film, lens choice and imagination . I discovered this philosophy gave me an almost rouge licenses, an adolessance if you will, to break all the rules of imagery and create compelling images through choice of film and lenses.

By combining different film's and lenses I can compliment the scene, increase the mood or enhance the composition and it seems to almost transport me back to the chemical darkroom days. And don't think I liked inhaling dangerous chemicals or working in the dark by myself either. Since purchasing Hipstamatic I have stocked my image capture library with camera apps like "Instagram", "Slowshutter", "Doodlecam" and "Camera Plus Pro" for the quick snap shot.

As I mentioned earlier I am still using the iPhone 3GS with it's whopping 3 megapixel camera, but the soon to be released iPhone 5 or iPhone 4S, what ever Apple chooses to call it, is boasting an 8 megapixel camera front and back with a strong flash for low light. Let's hope that it will also have an increase in performance in low light/low contrast situations.

So......is iPhoneography here to stay? Most definitely, just google iPhonography and peruse the hundreds of results.

A New Simple Look to kevinlcole.com

For the past few years my personal website kevinlcole.com has been in a state arrested decay. When Microsoft's Frontpage web designer ceased to be supported by internet html I turned my attention towards our Flickr site, our smugmug site and our blog. Even in it's arrested state I averaged between 150 and 400 hits a day, with the higher average coinciding with image uploads on Flickr and our blog.
Thanks to my hosting provider fatcow.com and their new drag and drop website editor it gave my website a rebirth without all the pain. In keeping with my current attention span though kevinlcole.com is only an information page. I may fiddle with it some later as time permits or we experience rain delays, but for now simple is better.

A Smudge Painting of Me by Pat Thompson

In my last blog I wrote about how Flickr has enabled photographers and artists to collaborate and share images through the liberal Creative Commons Attribution license used on Flickr.
During one of our breakfast mornings Mike Baird, my friend and photo partner and I were talking that neither of us had nice head shots of ourselves that we could used as image ID’s in blog’s, group sites, like Flickr and others. So we decided to put a poll together on our Yahoo Photomorrobay Group to see if other photographers were also interested in head shots of themselves. There proved to be much interest in the idea so we set a date and decided we would do a pre-event walk-around to determine the best time of day and locations in Cloisters City Park. We took turns photographing each other in different poses, moods and locations and then posted our results on our Flickr sites. While none of the images I posted that day of Mike were use by anyone, one of the images Mike took of me was picked up by a very talented artist by the name of Pat Thompson. Pat was free to use Mike’s image of me through the liberal Creative Commons Attribution license that Mike has chosen to use for all of his images. Mike believes that an image not shared is an image never taken . When Pat Thompson finished his work on the image he contacted Mike making him aware of his work , freely sharing his artistic renditions of me with Mike and myself.
Sorry to be so long winded but I felt this story was pertinent as to how this image came to be, you never know when you push that shutter button who, where, when or how that shot will be used.

The top image is the smudge painting Pat Thompson’s magic pen created of me. Pat uses his computer screen as his canvas and may use digital image processing software from companies like Abobe’s Photoshop, NIK Software, Topaz Suite and others to brush his visions into a piece of art. Pat’s talents have created a vast website of the most interest and imaginative portraits from original out-of-the-camera images. Please take time and visit Pat’s website to experience for yourself his creative approach to digital art painting. You may even decide to have Pat smudge paint a favorite photo of yourself, just send him an email.

courtesy "Mike" Michael L. Baird, flickr.bairdphotos.com

The image to the left is the one of me Mike took that captured Pat’s creative eye. You can click on either image and it will take you where you need to go.










As a final note, this purposefully pose was intended to be stoic, contemplating and without visible emotion. I believe Mike and I succeeded.

Photomontage by Flickr member Temari 09

One of the rewards in contributing to Flickr (a photo sharing site) is the collaboration among Flickr members. If you are a Flickr member, and like me, choose to share the use of your images, you may be rewarded with a Photomontage like Flickr member and artist Temari 09 (her flickr screen name) created by remixing several images. Temari is truly an artist using her creative talents to produce compelling compositions with strong emotions. In this image, Temari used a photo of mine taken just south of Studio Drive this spring at sunset as the background to set the scene for this fashion model in Pakistan. After the selection of the perfect texture from another Flickr member and additional elements, Temari created this wonderful photomontage, as seen here in full size.

The lower image in this blog is my original image that Temari used to create the background.

If you are a Flickr member and you enjoy the creativity of Photomontages you might want to make her a contact and follower her as she continues to create these fascinating pieces of art.

Click on the image to see it on Flickr, over 6K views as of this writing.












Sharing images whether it be Flickr or other photo sharing sites is to say the least a heated subject among photographers. Personally, I enjoy sharing many of my images and making them available for other Flickr members like Temari. Several groups including, educational, non-profits, Local, State(s) and Federal agencies use my images daily in some form of media. Many of my images will show up in blogs, media articles, websites and on State and Federal Park interpretive panels.

Some of my images are copyright protected under the “Creative Commons” “all Rights Reserved” license and are available for purchase through my Smugmug account. Which, by the way is slow getting off the ground.

6 a.m. in paradise

This shot has been in our book of "wouldn't that be a cool shot" for many, many, many and many, years. For the longest time at least one, two or more of these lights have been burned out. The city does replace the lights periodically, but since they are on through the night they don't last long. Honestly, I don't believe all five lights at one time have worked during the eight years that I have been here. Then, throw in the unpredictable coastal weather during the only few seasonal months of the year. The fact that the moon is at this location in the sky only a few months of the year. And, is only full and setting as the sun rises one day in that month, and you have a "well, one can only hope" shot. For several years I have tracked the location of the sun, the moon and the tides to certain locations in Morro Bay. All the elements have to be just right for the best image composition fulfilling my vision. Sounds corny doesn't it.

Click on the image to see it on Flickr

just dream'n

Click on the image to see it on Flickr

After last Friday nights Art Walk and the opening of the Photomorphosis Exhibit at the San Luis Obispo Museum of Art, Anne and I decided to take an evening walk through town. The stores, shops and bench residents along Higuera Street often provide windows of entertainment and opportunities. Can you imagine my delight when we began to walk in front of the store window of coverings, a women's boutique . Those of you that know me know that I seldom if never go anywhere without a camera hanging on my chair.

Last Evenings Photomorphosis Opening and Awards Ceremony

The opening of the Photomorphosis Art Exhibit last evening was a huge success. There were so many wonderful pieces on display and picking a favorite or two was impossible. Being without words is not something I'm accustom to, but when they announced my name as the First Place winner with my image "Corridors of Peace", I was to say the least speechless. I am still a little speechless in writing this blog finding words hard to come by. Thanks to Renée Besta for all of her hard work in her organizing, planning and sponsorships, this would not have happened without her.