PDN Emerging Photographer Magazine

I have to admit that most of the photographs I took last year on the road were from my iphone 4.  I struggle with the fact that they might not be considered serious images.  The resolution is lower, overall quality is poor and some pros might say, it's only an iphone photograph.  To my professional and fine art photographer friends, I would always respond to their compliment with, "well, it's just an iphone photograph."  I even considered my year on the road as a failure in some respects because my larger camera rarely saw the light of day due to my laziness. 

They always say that the best camera is the one you are carrying.  For me, I take my iphone nearly everywhere I go.  If I don't have it, there has to be some sort of reason I don't want to document something or I just want to go on a walk without it on purpose. Even then, there is a huge potential to miss an opportunity to photograph something.

If you follow me on Instagram (search Alison Turner "Alisontravels"), you'll know that I post just about everything I do through the lens of my iphone and sometimes fancied up with an Instagram filter.  It's so easy to take a photo and click a button to share.  It's also a nice collection of images from my life held in a place like a virtual scrapbook.

To hear that I was the winner in PDN's "Go Indie" photography contest in the Instagram/Hipstamatic category was a bit unbelievable. Thousands of images are uploaded every minute on social networks and because of the iphone, almost every corner of the world is being photographed.  Six image from my iphone 4 "On the Road" series were picked and they chose four of those images to publish on a full page in the Spring 2013 edition of Emerging Photographer Magazine.  

I still feel strange taking portraits with my iphone (scroll down my blog and you will see several), but it's what I have on me at all times so it will have to do.  I'm even working on a new project that I will eventually share that's only taken with my iphone.  

I am thankful to judge, Matthew Jordan Smith who chose my series as the winner and for PDN Emerging Photographer magazine who published it.  I am starting to warm up to the idea that the tools you use for an image shouldn't matter.  No matter what, I will continue to use the camera I have on my iphone.  It's always with me and a part of me (ok, a BIG part)  can't imaging going through life without taking photos.

Las Vegas On My iPhone

Over the weekend, I surprised my best friend Dan and showed up in a limo that his girlfriend rented to take him to the speedway to drive fast cars.  Max and I arrived in the city the night before and I decided to walk around and take some photos with my iphone.  If you like to people watch, this is one of the best cities to do it in, although the highlight of the trip was surprising Dan in the limo.  We both got emotional after the "surprise!" and I was glad I was able to capture that in a photograph.  During the day, I took Max to the dog park and we explored areas off of the strip but I did join the masses on the strip a few nights to soak in the atmosphere.  One evening for kicks, I sat in the lobby of the Bellagio and took pictures of the ceiling and then watched what happened after people watched me.  There is a chain reaction when someone sees you take a photo of something, they MUST do the same!  That was my excitement for the night.  On another night, we went downtown to see another side of Vegas.  All and all, it was a very interesting trip since I haven't been in years.  It's an adult fantasyland with some very sad undertones, in my opinion. Here are some images from the festivities.  Happy Birthday Dan!