Fourteen years, every trip captured mostly or fully on iPhone, and this is the last set.
We went to Canyonlands National Park last November, and stopped by Dead Horse Point State Park on the way. It was sunrise, and being there as the pink sunlight washed over the bend in the river was one of the single most peaceful, magical, serene moments I’ve ever experienced. Everything was still and everyone was quiet, even though there were a lot of people. The landscape felt so massive that I got a little dizzy. I was glad to have video capabilities for this moment, because it was difficult to convey the vast scale of the place. It was one of those moments where I felt connected to everyone and everything there. I highly recommend seeing it in your life, at sunrise if you can.
Then we went over to Canyonlands and explored. It was beautiful, but the first place we stopped, Mesa Arch, felt like a photo op and had many people lined up, and photographers set up with their tripods, attempting to get their version of a sunburst of sunrise light through the arch. We waited our turn when the sun was up and interest had waned, and my girls went up to look through the arch.
We set off further into the park and nearly had it to ourselves, which was fun. Canyonlands is very cool, but I will be honest and say I much prefer Arches National Park in the same area, where we visited the year before. Arches has so many formations jutting from the land high into the sky, and it feels otherworldly and incredible. It is tied for first place with my other favorite National Park so far: White Sands. So my advice: See both Canyonlands and Arches, but if you only have time for one, Arches.
Then for Spring Break, we took a family road trip from Boulder, CO to Wall, South Dakota. We drove through the plains and saw bison grazing, heard prairie dogs barking, and ended up at the historic Wall Drug where we shopped, explored and kept coming back each morning for their famous maple donuts and $.05 coffee. We took off from there and explored Badlands National Park, which was incredible to see, and it still had a light dusting of snow outlining the layers in the colorful rock formations. Annoyingly, I had to repeatedly charge my phone in the car on this trip and felt anxious about not being able to capture the whole day.
From there, we went over to Mount Rushmore, climbed the Presidential Trail, went over to Crazy Horse and toured the very moving museum, drove Needles Highway through Custer State Park, and went by Wind Cave National Park.
We stopped to visit many wild west towns including Deadwood, Rapid City, and Buffalo, WY. Our last monument stop was at the first National Monument ever established by Teddy Roosevelt: Devils Tower. We hiked around it, learned the lore, saw people climbing it, and looked at the hundreds of colorful prayer cloths tied to the trees around it by members of more than 20 tribes who consider the tower sacred. It was a bit of a bummer that due to it being off-season, many things were closed, but it was a bonus that nothing was crowded.
Then, my husband Ben and I headed to New Orleans with our friends in the Spring, and did all the things: Went on a ghost tour, toured the Pharmacy Museum and the Art Museum, hung out on Bourbon Street, went on a swamp tour to see some gators up close, hit up some famous bars including The Sazerac Bar, Lafitte’s Blacksmith Shop Bar, and The Carousel Bar, we saw jubilant wedding parades down the streets (and now I feel devastated I’ve never been to a wedding in New Orleans), we had mountains of beignets at Cafe du Monde, listened to live jazz, ate so much good food (I dream about the Muffaletta at Central Grocery), and more. I fought the auto-exposure over-exposing every shot on my phone for a lot of this trip because I was shooting at night, and I wanted it to look like nighttime. I had never been to New Orleans and I absolutely loved it. People were very friendly and there was so much to see and do, night and day.
Lastly, we went to Chicago this summer for an Elks Grand Lodge event, and made it a family trip. We caught a Cubs game at Wrigley Field on the 4th of July, with a fog delay in the middle of it which was crazy— at one point the fog was so thick we couldn’t see the field! I thought it was beautiful, I have always loved fog, and again I had to fight the auto-exposure on my iPhone camera to capture it correctly. There were fireworks at the end of the game, which was so fun. We stayed at the historic Palmer House Hotel, explored Millennium Park and checked out the Bean, went to the Field Museum, the Shedd Aquarium, the Art Institute, did a boat cruise, walked the waterfront down to Navy Pier, ate delicious food, shopped, and had a blast! Chicago is a very fun city to visit.
Looking back through 14 years of memories and travel with my family is so special to me. From Disneyland to Japan, I have captured hundreds if not thousands of our family’s memories with my trusty iPhone, always in my pocket. I wouldn’t be half the photographer I am today, without having had so much practice using my iPhone to shoot.
I was asked over 10 years ago to present at Apple’s flagship about shooting with iPhone, twice. My iPhone work and opinions have been shared and promoted globally, and it has always been a thrill because I have loved my iPhone camera.
It’s also been my main, often my only, travel camera, all these years, and I’ve loved not having to pack a camera body, lenses, and computer to edit. I also absolutely love that it forces a thoughtful composition without relying on varying lenses, more so before portrait mode, but I still find myself focusing on framing more when I use it.
However, the automatic digital manipulation on the iPhone’s photos is frustrating. I know I can download and use an app, or shoot RAW to mostly remove it, but that is exactly the type of finicky thing I was avoiding when reaching for my phone for a quick swipe up and shot. If I am going to mess with settings, I will just use my camera. I don’t like that iPhone combines multiple exposures to “optimize” the highlights and shadows: it makes images flat. I LOVE contrast, I love black and white conversions specifically for this reason. I also strongly dislike the smoothing; It’s often too far and can make things like hair look weird. And conversely, the auto sharpening can be too harsh. I loathe the exposure battle you already watched me fight twice, and I also dislike the fact that iPhone also messes with tones, both on skin, and in general. I find skin can look washed out, and I notice there is often a very slight overall green tint to my images that I have to correct in post.
Basically, these are all decisions about my art that I want to make, I don’t want them made for me. I miss the earlier, less-manipulated iPhone cameras.
And there’s the practical side. I decided not to upgrade my iPhone when the new one came out this past Autumn, as I have most every other year, because in my opinion, the camera doesn’t make big jumps phone to phone, and the camera difference is only noticeable every two or so releases. In doing this, I’ve finally seen the decline in battery life people have been mentioning for years. My phone is now at 50% before lunch, if I’m lucky. This isn’t reliable for a day of being out sightseeing, needing my phone for navigating unfamiliar places, and also shooting. I don’t want to stress about needing to charge my phone while not at home, or have my camera die for the second half of my day. Carrying a power bank and a charging cable defeats the purpose of one slim, portable device.
On top of this, there are rumors the already-expensive iPhone price is increasing substantially. I have plenty of dedicated cameras I can use, and at this point, like many of my fellow Millennials, I care less and less about social media and real-time posting, and if I’m not able to rely on my phone for a full day of shooting, unless I re-up every single year at the increased prices, what’s the advantage?
It’s hard to let go: I have loved the portable, lightweight, non-fiddly ease of having my iPhone with me to capture, edit, and post photos on the go, no laptop necessary. I have also mostly loved the quality of images my phone has given me. And I have loved proselytizing about it, teaching others how to make the most of the cameras in their pockets, and I think we all still should sometimes. Yet, I wonder if this is the breaking point where photographers who have accepted iPhone are finally being pushed back to the separate, simpler, dedicated camera.
I am.
Love this perspective, Erin. Cannot wait to see your art evolve as you take back full control without having to fight your equipment ❤️
What camera(s) are you switching to? Portability is the key for me. I’ve been looking at the small Ricoh pocket cam but it’s pricey and somewhat limited.