I was working on photographing these mailboxes at our local mall here in Madisonville, Ky and captured this shot of my brother, Dannye Pearson, on his daily exercise there. I had liked the design of the mailboxes against the wall with the solid stripes along the bottom of the photo, but I felt it was a bit static for my liking when out of the blue my brother walks by! The iPhone used just a slow enough shutter speed to where I got a slight blur and I had the picture.

When you find a scene you like and it’s not quite what you want because the conditions aren’t right or there’s something missing, be patient and wait, or visit at a different time, because sometimes that’s what you have to do to get the shot.

Photo was shot with the iPhone’s standard camera and post processed in Photoshop using the Topaz Adjust filters.

I’ve been working on a ongoing series of photographs that I’ve labeled “Machines” that I find in my many travels around the country so anytime I come across one that is interesting to me I capture it.

This is an old Maintenance of Way vehicle for the CSX railroad that was sitting in a siding in Hanson, Ky today and I liked the rustic look of it. I find it very rewarding to work on a personal photography series. Is there something that you’re passionate about in your life that you can photograph no matter where you are that you could work into a series? Go for it!

Photo was shot with my iPhone using the Hipstamatic with the Tintype Film Pak.

Not sure just why this photo appeals to me, but It’s my favorite of the day! I was leaving a local restaurant after myself and several members of the local photography club had met for lunch, when I spotted these two portable vendor food wagons sitting out in a snowy lot, waiting for summer. The one on the right sells snow cones and while you may not be able to tell that from this vantage point, most locals will recognize it. I guess the green hut with a snow cone on it in the middle of the snowy field is what drew me to the picture. I love the dreamy look and roughness of the photo.

Photo was shot with the Hipstamatic camera using the Tintype color film and lens combo. Post processing was done in Photoshop.

Today I drove over 500 miles to take pictures of my newest great-great niece, Journey and her mom Tracy. The miles and hours were long, but the pictures I got on the day of her birth made it all worthwhile! This shot of Journey being held by her mom Tracy is my one of my favorite iPhone shots I did on the visit to celebrate her birth. I shot many others of course with my D800, but this one and several others done with the iPhone I really like!

For the family members that are wondering, I’ve  edited the pictures down to 79 and will finish editing tomorrow and post them to my Facebook Photography Page.

Photo shot with the standard iPhone App and processed through Snapseed.

At a year and a half my nephew Damion is becoming more articulate and one of his favorite responses these past few days is no, no, no! It cracks me up and I have been trying to capture some sort of photo that I think illustrates him saying the phrase. Today’s picture pretty much sums it up I think! We were at a local restaurant after church and he was enjoying his favorites, grilled cheese and fries, when I asked him something while I was taking pictures of him with my phone, he answered with the no, no, no phrase and was swaying back and forth as he said it. I don’t even remember what I asked him, but for me this shot of him half hidden behind his sippy cup and his ears covered along with his expression, just makes me smile!

Photo was shot with my iPhone 4S with the standard camera in the square format. Post processing was done in Photoshop.

I may have found one of my new favorite film and lens combination for the Hipstamatic App. This is a shot of one of my favorite trees at the Madisonville City Park from this morning. I went there with the hopes that we’d have another beautiful sunny day, but the snow had other plans. I wanted this tree with the early morning orange sun reflecting on the ice that covered it’s branches. However, things don’t always go as planned and I’m very pleased with this picture, even if it isn’t what I had planned.

As I was waiting to see if I was going to get any type of a glow from the sunrise I was looking through the Hipstamatic Store and saw that they have came out with a film and lens combination called the Tintype SnapPak and I’ve always been fond of tintypes so I decided to give it a try. The combination simulates the old process from the early days of photography and I love the look it created with this photo. Nothing extra was done to the photo after it was taken and processed in Hipstamatic.

Shot with the Hipstamatic App with the Tinto 1884 Lens and the D-Type Plate Film.

I loved the look of Damion’s snowman that we built earlier in the week in the front yard. The shadows really help to add depth to the photo and the simplicity of the scene just drew me to it.

Many times you can strengthen your pictures just by keeping the scene simple. When shooting your pictures, if something doesn’t contribute to what you want your picture to say, then remove it by changing your angle or viewpoint. It’s much easier to do it when your shooting your picture than afterwards in Photoshop.

Photo was shot using the ShakeItPhoto App on the iPhone 4S.

I love it when I come across a picture that has great contrasting colors such as these two rolls of orange pipe. I actually came across it yesterday and revisited it today as I got another picture I liked yesterday. When out looking you should always keep your eye out for things that have good contrasting colors as they can really help make your picture pop.

I shot this using the App called ShakeItPhoto  and just let it do it’s thing, nothing else was done with the photo.

After the overnight ice storm moved over our area I ventured down off my hill in search of pictures, even though I planned to stay in all day, I’m glad I did. I came upon this scene completely by surprise and came to a skidding halt when I saw it, of course that wasn’t hard on the ice.

I found this stream flowing with water at the Madisonville City Park. I usually walk over the bridge in the background every morning during my walk, but today we skipped due to the weather. I’m glad I went out there as it was a perfect scene for today’s challenge photo. One of the hardest things about shooting pictures in bad weather is getting out the door! Dress according to the weather and get out there as there’s some great pictures to be made! Just be careful!

Photo was shot with the built-in iPhone camera and some post processing was done in Photoshop using Topaz Adjust.

Today I went and wandered around in the snow with fellow photographer Tom Wortham, looking for something that talked to me for my iPhone photo of the day and as we were traveling down a country gravel road I spotted this horse along the ridge line and really liked the simplicity of the photo. It had a feel of being lonely and desolate out in the field and I tried to convey that feeling here.

Photo was shot using the iPhone’s built-in camera and post processing was done in Adobe Camera RAW with a little bit of work in Topaz’s De-Noise filter to help clean up some of the noise.

Today after church I found this small stuffed dog waiting patiently as his owner “Charlie” helped to clean-up the sanctuary at First Christian Church in Madisonville. I like it when something just shows up for my daily picture, but of course it always pays to keep an eye out for things that make for an interesting picture. The rows of pews help also I think!

Camera was the built-in iPhone camera and the image was processed in the Snapseed App.

Today’s picture was a easy find. I went with my sister to see Marty Brown and The Willis Clan in concert at the new Owensboro Convention Center. They had these projection systems that washed the walls with blue light that made it look like it was underwater and everyone, kids and adults alike were fascinated by them. I found this family playing with their shadows which I thought made a interesting picture. It was almost more than the iPhone could handle as the light was low and so the phone shot with a high ISO and low shutter speed, but this one works for me.

I shot it on the standard iPhone Camera and post processed the image in Photoshop with Topaz Adjust so I could better work out the issues with the low light.

I just love the look of this photo of a bench at the city park here in Madisonville, Ky. The early morning light combined with the shadows, frozen lake and clouds just all came together in this photo. It again was really cold, but after I got my shot I couldn’t resist sitting on the bench for awhile to capture with my ears something his image couldn’t.

Sitting there I could hear the sounds of geese and ducks off to the left out of the frame making their quiet sounds as they were roosting on the the ice, but there was another sound that had caught my attention. It was the sound of the warmer water from the lake as it reacted on the ice on the surface. I’d not heard this before and it was almost like a musical instrument as it was coming from all over the lake, almost like an orchestra when added to the other sounds of nature.

There are some things you just can’t capture in a picture and you should take time after or before shooting to take your scene in.

Below is a recording I did with my iPhone but it really doesn’t do the experience justice.

Shot with the built in iPhone and processed with the Snapseed App.

Today I was out just driving around looking for a picture that said something to me. It was one of those solid overcast days with wind and a very low temperature and the weather just wasn’t giving me much inspiration.  I was driving down the road when I passed this stand that sells yard decorations on the south side of town. I glanced back in my mirror and saw this sun in the otherwise drab day and had to turn around as I knew I have found today’s picture.

Shot with the built in iPhone camera and processed in Snapseed.

I just love it when I turn around from what I’m currently working on and find a picture I like just staring me in the face.

I was sitting here working on my computer and when I looked behind me I found this scene with two of my cats zonked out in my other two office chairs. The chairs weren’t repositioned or anything, it’s just the way they were left the last time they were moved and both cats had settled down for a nap.

I quietly picked up my iPhone and got of about three shots before they reacted to the sound of the iPhone taking a picture, and yes, they know what that sound is as they hear it often enough. This was the second photo as Anabelle had just opened her right eye a little bit, which I think helps the photo a lot. I kinda wish I had put the phone of silent so I could have gotten off a few more, but I’m still pleased on the results.

You should always keep an eye out for those nice moments that happen around us all the time that we all take for granted and capture them.

With some smooth jazz playing and the sound of running water along with the smell of darkroom chemistry… I had forgot how soothing it is for me to process film, work in the darkroom and edit film over a light table. It’s been a long time. I think I processed two rolls perhaps last year, but it’ll be different this year as I’m doing a year-long film challenge.

Today I processed four rolls, one of which was blank and not really sure why, and the other three were for the above challenge for which the theme is “Urban Landscape.”

In the process of doing the film challenge I decided to combine my daily iPhone challenge with the monthly film challenge to see what I could come up with and as you can see I did a still life with the paper backing from the 120 film I shot and also a self-portrait as I looked over my shots on the light table in my office here at home.

The film backing photo was shot with the Hipstamatic camera app on the iPhone 4S and then I did a little fine tuning in Photoshop using the Topaz Adjust filter.

The self-portrait was done with the built in camera on the iPhone 4s, and no I didn’t use the front facing camera as the quality on it is really bad. I just held the camera toward me at a low angle and shot until I had a picture I was happy with. I then ran the photo through the ShakeItPhoto app to add the Polaroid look and then applied a soft focus filter in Topaz Adjust.

You can read about the Film Challenge and see it’s picture later in a separate post here on this website.