I don’t often use my iPhone camera but a recent trip reminded me of why I enjoy it when I do use it. For me cameras are tools and I enjoy using the best tool for the photographic job I am doing. At times this is a compromise between what is best and what is affordable and at other times it is using the most easily accessible image recording device. Flying to the South Island recently a scene from the plane window caught my eye and I took a photo with my Fuji X100s but had an idea of how I wanted to process it which I could not do with the Fuji image while on the plane. I took the same image with my iPhone 5SE and processed it through Snapseed to achieve what I had visualised. I was pleased with the image and posted it on Instagram on landing and this began a series of daily photos documenting the trip. Most of the photos I shared were “serious” bird photos which I transferred from my D500 to an iPad via Snapbridge before editing in Snapseed but a few were iPhone photos and it made me reflect on the role of the iPhone camera in my photography. 

The iPhone camera is definitely the camera closest to hand on most occasions, but even the newest versions have technical limitations that compromise the end result for most of what I enjoy photographically. Where they really come into their own is as a visual diary or snapshot camera to record moments and memories.

We often try to make photos that “make you feel what it was like to be there” and the iPhone camera is great at recording those moments to remind us of the feeling despite the technical limitations. Each of the iPhone camera images records a moment that reminds me of an experience and immediately takes me back to enjoy it again.

The bird photos that I took in each location bring me a lot of pleasure and satisfaction but these little reminders of the environment that the bird photos were made in really add to the pleasure. Over the coming weeks I will share some of the bird photos made in these places.

Photos all with iPhone 5SE and edited in Snapseed.