When I started making photos over 50 years ago, originally I used only film cameras. Digital cameras didn’t even exist yet! But over the past 20 years, the iPhone became one of the main tools in my arsenal. Not because it’s a better tool than a real camera, but because it fits into my pocket, and therefore goes with me everywhere.
This portability is convenient, and the iPhone does take some nice photos (unless you pixel-peep in Photoshop), but I started noticing that over the years I was becoming less excited by the process of iPhoneography. The iPhone is a slick piece of glass with a camera that makes a cheesy sound reminiscent of an SLR with a power winder. I was beginning to feel like many of my photos looked like all the other photos out there taken by iPhone.
I was missing the steampunk aesthetic of the older machine-like cameras, with all their knobs, dials, and intentional ergonomics. The physical vibration and audible ka-chunk sound that was made when you pressed the shutter button. Actual optical depth-of-field versus the computational background blur that smartphones imperfectly deliver. The act of looking through a dedicated viewfinder to connect with the subject, and make intentional compositions.
A couple of years ago Apple made some changes to the Photos app on the iPhone, that ruined the app for me as a productivity tool. I simply could not get used to their decision to put my most recent photos at the top left (like Instagram’s grid) instead of at the bottom right (the way I read). I think Apple has decided that the Photos app needs to be more of a gimmicky entertainment app than a productivity app. Those changes to the design of the app offended decades of muscle memory I’d developed. Liquid Glass doesn’t help anything.
That’s just as well, I suppose. I prefer editing on a larger screen, using professional tools. So now I wait to edit until I’m at a larger-screen computer. I fire up Photoshop to round-trip edit from—and save back to—my iCloud Photo Library. (Or I use Lightroom, for client work.) I am much happier, and my photos look better. If I do need to make a quick edit on my iPhone while out in the world, I use the excellent Darkroom app, which is a near-perfect replacement for Apple’s Photos app—it solves every UX and UI complaint I have about Photos. In the desktop version of the Darkroom app, I can carefully craft and save my own presets, and those presets automatically sync down to the iPhone version, and vice versa. Darkroom’s color-modification tools are thoughtfully designed. Most importantly, the Darkroom app allows me to browse and round-trip edit from my iCloud Photo Library, and displays my library in the sort order of my choosing. For me, latest photos should always be at the bottom right. Take me there when I enter any album. Or remember where I left off last session, and take me there. Better yet, add a setting that lets me choose. Hashtag: UX.
There’s also the fact that the advertising-industrial complex has infiltrated these little supercomputers we carry around in our pockets. Every time I would pick up my iPhone to take a photo, I’d be distracted by notifications from social media apps—and all their advertisements—vying for my attention, or I’d think, oh, I’ll check the weather, and then check my email, and then see how many steps I’ve taken thus far today. On more than one occasion I’d even forget to take the photo that was the reason I’d picked up my phone in the first place. Cue the sad trombone sound. Womp womp womp womp.
A dedicated camera protects me from these distractions. So I’ve invested in a few real cameras, that inspire me to engage the process and practice of photography. I’ve always loved the Olympus brand. (Not as wild about the new “OM System” brand—I’m sure they are awesome cameras, the name just doesn’t have the same cachet as the word “Olympus,” which is a mountain, for crying out loud!)
Thanks to eBay, I now own a PEN-F film camera made in the 1960s, and its spiritual successor, a digital PEN-F, which sports a micro-four-thirds sensor. I love the small form factor, and the digital PEN takes really amazing-quality photos. When shooting with the analog PEN (35 mm film; half-frame), I do need to use the excellent Lghtmtr app, or if I’m feeling brave, estimate the exposure using the “sunny 16” rule, or similar—the way my grandfather did with that old Pentax Spotmatic that I still own.
Long live the analog renaissance! 📸
Here’s a random assortment of photos I’ve taken over the years. Some were made with film cameras. Some were made with the iPhone camera. Others were made with one of my Olympus mirrorless digital cameras. All have been edited. Enjoy!
