Picture this! I now have a website for my photos, courtesy of Sitewelder.com. I can't say enough good things about them. Lots of great features, including this blog feature. Most importantly, their customer support is amazing, a rarity in the online world.
In this blog, I will share my latest photograpy news with you, mostly gallery shows and installations. But I will also discuss the art of photography, from my perspective. I don't claim to be an expert but I know where I need to improve. I can also write about some invaluable things I've learned over the years from other photographers and my own observations.
My first foray into iPhone photography happened after I stumbled upon a website called P1xels from an Exhibition (that is not a typo). The creator, whose name I shall not mention because he hates when I do that, is an extemely creative and insightful artists/photographer himself, offering tips about apps (at the time, I thought apps were sometimg you ordered in a restaurant before your food arrived), what makes a good photo versus a mediocre one, and things to avoid, such as virtual frames. The website featured the work of many amazing photographers and the site owner highlighted a different artist every week. The highlighted works included a brief from the site's owner: what he liked about the photo and his interpretation of it.
I had never seen anything like this before as I was one of those people who used my iPhone for family photos and pictures of my cats. I wanted to learn to do what they were doing so I followed the website religiously, not only learning about new apps, but trying them out. Over time, I felt I was ready to submit my work to the site.
For the first few months, nothing happened. Then one day, I clicked on the site and saw one of my photos featured, a photo titled, "In Memory of Muriel." Muriel was an award-winning watercolorist who had passed away. In her memory, I photograped a cherry blossom tree but when apped, it looked like a watercolor painting. I was over the moon to have it selected.
I went on to have several more photos accepted to the site. But sadly, a few years ago, the owner announced that he was dismantling the site because as much he loved managing it, he had no more time to do it. It left a big void, not just for me, but for the other artists who contributed as well.
I started poking around the net again and found a lot of information about various photo competitions, both nationally and internatonally, I stated entering my work. Over time, several of my photos were selected for virual and offline galleries.
I will spare you the War and Peace of my life but suffice it to say, I have come a long way since 2013, when my first photo I took with an iPhone was of my tomato garden.