Going Digital: Cameras Calling

(Continued from Going Digital: Even Better Cameras…)

Featured Photo: “Tallinn Old Town, Patkuli Viewpoint” Tallinn, Estonia—2016

I need to shift my tech focus for a moment. When the boys started school, and especially later when they began exploring after-school activities, my wife and I needed to coordinate our schedules more closely than before—especially because she was working in downtown Philadelphia, and I was farther out in the suburbs. For me, that meant the momentous step of getting a cell phone—something I had resisted for quite some time. I don’t recall exactly when I got my first cell phone, but it was a flip-model…

…rather like a low-tech version of the Star Trek Communicator, from the original TV series. It had a rudimentary screen and numeric (only) keypad that I used for the sole purpose of making calls and sending simple text messages. I eventually upgraded to a Motorola smart phone, with their Android operating system, but somehow, I was not completely satisfied.

About that time, my sister—a long-time Apple devotee—showed me her iPod and let me listen to music through her earbuds. I was blown away—such amazing sound and so much digital storage for songs! My wife also gravitated to Apple products, purchasing an iPod and eventually an iPhone. She showed me how intuitive the Apple operating system was; it seemed much better than my Android device. Ultimately, my trajectory for cell phones—and perhaps more importantly, the culmination of my conversion to digital photography—led to my own new wonder.

I got my first Apple iPhone in the spring of 2012, when I was 53 years old—the 4s model; I then progressed through a 5s, a 6s, and just kept on going.

The iPhone is—perhaps most obviously—a phone that I can use to call or text pretty much anyone in the world from just about anywhere I happen to be, whenever I need to get in touch.

And the iPhone is so much more: it is any number of amazing technologies. Most remarkably, it is a computer with a bright, sharp screen and internet access, which I can use to retrieve any information I want or need, at any time, day or night.

My iPhone can store my entire music collection—more than 25,000 songs—in its small, light package; I can easily carry my tunes with me, and listen to whatever I want, whenever I want, using my wireless AirPods, creating a private concert hall between my ears.

But the iPhone is also a high-quality digital camera—and almost “fool-proof.” Opening the camera app, I can view an image on screen as it will appear, tap the virtual white circle “shutter release” button, and the Apple processor takes care of all the camera settings to optimize the resulting photo.

If the picture is not quite as I expected, I can edit the photo—straighten the image, modify the colors, lighten or darken the exposure—using the simple, built-in Apple editing software. I can view my digital photos across all my Apple devices and send pictures instantly to family and friends—anywhere, anytime—from “the cloud.”

Like my old Polaroid One-Step and my first Canon digital camera, I thought my Apple iPhone was nothing short of a miracle, at the time. I definitely still do.

My first iPhone came with an 8-megapixel camera, providing slightly higher resolution than my first digital camera—the Canon EOS 10D SLR. And even though I used it mainly for communication, my iPhone became my constant companion on trips, with its many functions, its convenience, and its small size. It was always there in my pocket, ready to snap a picture.

I had my Apple iPhone 4s with me when I visited Brussels in 2012, and the very first photo I took with it—IMG 0001—was the triple arch at the Parc du ‎Cinquantenaire, after dinner one evening. I don’t have any other pictures of that park; I didn’t have any other cameras with me at the time.

Nonetheless, despite having my iPhone with me all the time, I didn’t use it very often as a camera; I only took about 150 photos during the two years I had my 4s. When I was traveling, I still carried my Canon 7D SLR or my Canon compact digital S95 camera to take photos. But every once in a while, I would pull out my iPhone and take a picture, usually to share with family.

I also found one practical use for my iPhone 4s camera. In 2012, I had a colleague photograph me sitting in my office; I used that photo as my professional “head shot” for several years, anytime a picture of me was needed for work.

Still, it was the convenience of having my iPhone with me, whenever I traveled to interesting places, that provided the best opportunity for taking pictures. In 2013, I took an arduous hike with my sister at Zion National Park in Utah, and photographed the panoramic view from high atop Angel’s Landing.

Later that year, I was back at Independence Hall in Philadelphia, where I took a shot outside…

…and then inside, where I captured the sun shining through that same window by the same staircase I had photographed in 1976 (described in an earlier post), but taken from a slightly different perspective, and now in color.

The power of the iPhone—as a camera—was truly revealed during my first trip to China in 2012. I was at the Great Wall, walking along the ancient stone surface—amazed at the view and the experience—snapping pictures with my prized Canon 7D SLR. At one point, I pulled out my iPhone 4s and captured the same image; I was astounded at the result. Now, you can judge: my Canon 7D…

…vs. my iPhone 4s. (I think the iPhone is clearly the winner!)

At the end of 2013, when I got my next model—the Apple iPhone 5s—I started using it as a camera far more frequently; during two years, I took more than 2,000 photos with my iPhone 5s—10 times as many as I took with my earlier model. With my new iPhone, I took pictures of the Great Buddha in Kamakura, Japan…

…and—closer to home—Frank Lloyd Wright’s iconic design for the Guggenheim Museum building, during a family trip to New York City…

…and my wife and boys—still capturing memories—as on this trip in 2014 to Edisto Beach in South Carolina.

In early 2016, I upgraded to the next model—the iPhone 6s. Always carrying my iPhone with me, I found myself starting to take photographs of random things I happened to see: I noticed this collection of objects, shapes, and colors next to a parking lot, while visiting my brother and sisters in Memphis, Tennessee.

My use of the iPhone camera—whether planned or spontaneous—continued to skyrocket; I took more than 3,000 photos with my 6s. Apple continued to improve the quality of their iPhone cameras with each new model, and aggressively marketed the upgrades in their promotions. My latest iPhone has three separate lenses—normal, wide-angle, and telephoto—just like the lens and adaptors on my old Auto 500 SLR from Sears. And like my old Kodak 110 instamatic, my newest iPhone still fits easily in my pocket.

To sum up my digital conversion, since 2003, I have owned three Canon digital cameras—my 10D SLR, my 7D SLR, and my S95 compact. I still have all of them, but rarely use any of them. My iPhone is essentially the only camera I use nowadays, because of its quality and convenience. Since 2012, I have owned five Apple iPhones (I think) but now, I only have my current model. I’ve always traded in my old iPhone when I got the next model, since that provided a cost-reduction; there are no old iPhones laying around our house.

I have found digital camera technology to be remarkable, but to take good photos, I also need interesting subjects and destinations—as I’ve written several times already. I have spent most of my life in a limited area within the United States. Still, I always knew there was a vast world out there, waiting to be discovered—new people, places, and things for me to photograph. The big question was: how to get there?

I’ve related some of my travels with family, and I’ve hinted at some of my travels for work. The Featured Photo, “Tallinn Old Town, Patkuli Viewpoint,” was taken in 2016 with my Apple iPhone 6s, during another work trip to Estonia’s capital. This visit came six years after my first, when I had taken the photo of St. Olav’s Church, Old Town, and Tallinn Bay at sunrise, viewed from my hotel window (described in my previous post).

Today’s Featured Photo shows essentially the same subjects—St. Olav’s Church, Old Town, and Tallinn Bay—but from a different vantage point, at a different time of day, as the sun was setting. Perhaps my sharing another photo from Estonia raises a few questions in your mind: How many times did I visit Tallinn? Why did I travel to that particular city? How did I happen to be at that particular viewpoint, at that particular time of day? What else did I see and do while there?

For now, the photo is a reminder to me, and perhaps an enticement for you. As in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, I’ve allowed myself to fall down a rabbit-hole—actually, several rabbit-holes—while writing the first few parts of this blog introduction.

I now want to return to what this blogsite is supposed to be about: the photos I have taken over many years, especially during my travel—pictures and stories that I want to share. I’ve mentioned some of the places I’ve been, and I plan to share more photos and tell more stories about these journeys (and many others) in future posts. But first, one more rabbit-hole: I still need to explain how my work in Compendial Affairs led to my world explorations.

(To be continued…)