Best of the Year 2013

One of the things I like best about a New Year is catching up on all of the things I missed in the previous year. I check in with NPR's 'All Songs Considered' and my head is usually filled with all of the critically acclaimed albums that passed me by. I keep an eye on the broadsheets for their pictures of the year and also keep up with technological advances. 

The greatest change in my own photography last year was the use of my iPhone to initially 'sketch' a photo out before making the real thing; and later to use it in the making of new images in a way I cannot work with my DSLR.

The photographic app I've used the most to progress my own work is AutoStitch (£1.50 Apple and Android). I started off using it to take, stitch and crop pictures to aid my 'seeing' of a space photographically; to give me an idea of how that place might look photographed. I then started using the ProCamera app (£2.99 Apple and Android) to take the photos, AutoStitch to Stitch in HQ and Photoshop Touch (£6.99 Apple and Android) to enhance and crop. 

So nothing that I couldn't do with my DSLR so far! But then I had a revelation - I found I was able to continually add and take away frames from my stitched image until I had achieved what I had in my 'mind's eye'. I was working on a set of images for an exhibition in Manteo, North Carolina, titled 'Café Culture'. These were to be photographs of the interiors of local cafés made entirely on my iPhone. Making the image above, of the Café Du Parc at the Burton Art Gallery, I was able to sit at a table shooting and stitching the scene, shooting more frames, deleting ones that didn't work so well, and doing this over and over until I was satisfied with the result. This was closer to the way an artist using paint would work and it was very satisfying to be able to complete the whole image from life.

So 2014, I've upgraded my phone and I've added a SmartPhone Camera Workshop to my list:

SmartPhone Photography - £25
A practical workshop to learn how to use your Smartphone's camera to take professional looking photographs and enhance those images on the go. Suitable for anyone with a SmartPhone. You will need to install a few cheap photo apps in advance which I'll advise on when booking!
Thursday 20th February in Barnstaple (10am - 12.30pm) Click to reserve a place

There's a new season of other workshops available too: http://www.greengallery.co.uk/workshops.htm