Broken mirror on 110th St.
Click for larger.
Sunday, April 5– Gorgeous day out, in my terms the first glimpse of spring as the contacts start getting scratchy and the nose starting to get stuffy–of course, this being April, it was going to storm the very next day. So what better day than Sunday to head outside to take a walk in Central Park with camera and gear in tow? Unless of course the person you happen to be walking with adamantly refuses to let you bring your camera with you in fear that the promised “short” walk will turn into a never-ending, hours-long venture (which definitely never happens to me whenever I bring my camera anywhere).
No fear, there’s still a camera with me at all times, and yes it’s the one on my phone. Generally I hate the limitations of a cell-phone camera and regard it as a major stifling of photographic creativity. However, I realized that limitations can be blessings in disguise in terms of creativity. In a world obfuscated by million-megapixel cameras and lenses that suit your every need, stepping back to a “prime” lens and a pretty crappy picture resolution strips down everything in your picture. There is no over- or under-exposure to hide behind and no way of creatively lighting an otherwise horrid looking scene to make a better picture. There is only the harsh reality of the 18% grey that the CCD senses.
Sunset at the Harlem Meer. Original (left), Post (right).
Click for larger.
Composition is the mitigating factor under these circumstances–the only redeeming quality of otherwise rather terrible looking images. When all else is taken away, an image can still possess beauty if it is well-composed. Now, I would never hang any picture that comes from my phone on my wall, but it’s a fun challenge none-the-less to take some photographs that are palatable with something that’s primary purpose is supposed to be for making calls. Besides it gives a long-time favorite excuse for pictures coming out poorly–just blame in on the camera!.
Path along the Harlem Meer. Original (left), Post (right). Click for larger.
Oh, and yes, black and white is indeed a cop-out for when the colors in your image look like crap. Kidding of course, so if you’re a black and white photographer like one of my favorites, Noah Grey, there is no need to verbally (or physically) assault me.
So ends up our trip through Central Park turns into somewhat of an iPhone commercial with the use of the camera (obviously), and the GPS to mark a potential picnic location on Google Maps. At the end of our 2-hour walk (hey I promised it would be “short”) we were pretty hungry. All there was left to do was to find a restaurant on the mobile browser and use the *gasp* phone feature to call them and it would have been complete.
So if you have any camera phone pictures that do you proud, please do share them under the comments.
Tags: camera phone, Central Park, Composition, iPhone, Noah Grey, Photography, Spring