I have been an avid photographer since I was a kid. I used to help my dad lug his camera equipment all over the place, and as soon as I was old enough, I had my own little Kodak Brownie camera. I still have two prints framed in my living room that I took with that little camera.

Over the years, I have always taken my camera along no matter where I go. Camera, along with tons of film, trying to capture on film the memories and experiences. About 15 years ago I made the transition to digital, and in many ways I had to relearn everything I knew about taking photos. In the beginning, digital could not hold a candle to film photography, especially if you wanted anything larger than a 3×5″ print. It has been interesting to see the evolution of the technology. One big difference is that I had to get a new camera every time things got better. With film, I’m still using the camera I bought in 1987, I just changed film over the years. With digital, the electronics in the camera are doing most of the work, so upgrade means new equipment.

This past year has seen a huge shift in my photography, using the camera on my phone. We all take our phones everywhere and that means we have a camera with us at all times. On one hand, this has resulted in a lot of interesting social behavior, recordings of social events and a multitude of cat videos. I shall refrain from further comment on that subject. On the other hand, I am starting to look at the ability to document my activities with my iPhone camera instead of a separate camera.

One of the goals I had for this blog was to make sure that most of the photos were my own work, but I do not plan to drag a big digital SLR around with me all the time. I am taking my photos with my iPhone exclusively. Even on my last vacation, I took all my photos with my iPhone. It was nice to not have to carry around a separate camera bag. I even purchased a set of macro lenses that I can clip onto the phone, which were moderately successful. I think there needs to be a lot more experimentation before I feel proficient with them.

I am still a film girl at heart. I understand it well enough that I can manipulate the camera settings to get exactly the type of shot I want. Digital, however, gives the ability for immediate feedback. I can tell right after I take the photo if I captured what I wanted or if I need to take another shot. Digital also merges seamlessly with digital media such as my blog, I can transfer photos from my phone to my iPad using air drop and upload them all in a few minutes.

My next goal is to work on taking photos to support some of the tutorials I want to write. Being digital (instead of print) means I can use as many photos as it takes to cover the technique well, without worrying about the cost of color photo printing or the number of pages that are involved. No more trying to convey everything in only 3 photos – the sky is the limit! I don’t think I will ever get to where I have pictures without writing, words are too important, but if a picture is worth a thousand words, my content is about to really take a jump!