Camera Choice
As our course starts the primary decision is what camera to use. I firmly believe that the best camera to use is the one in your hand and for me that is most often my iPhone 7. I’ll also be using my Canon 60D and Olympus OMD EM5 Mark II. I use all three interchangeably and usually it depends on where I am and what I’m photographing. Since the beginning of 2016, I’ve been making regular photographic excursions around Brisbane with my Canon but the Olympus is so much lighter and easily fits into my handbag.
Editing Options
Editing photos on the go has become second nature to me and the iPhone makes it so easy with a variety of apps. The ones I use most often are:
If I want to put some text over the image I usually use Typic or Over.
At the beginning of 2016, I made a decision to only shoot RAW on the DSLR’s so I usually need to go into Lightroom for editing those images. I am able to upload the images onto my iPad and edit as jpg files if I want to get something uploaded quickly to Instagram. Snapped is now able to edit RAW files which is a huge improvement.
Social Media Platforms
For a long time now, my social media of choice has been Instagram. I love the immediacy, format and the limitations of posting only from my phone. Even the square format limitation didn’t worry me too much as there were apps to help get around it if necessary. Improvements in my workflow and buying a Macbook a few years ago means that I easily post images from any of my cameras via my phone or iPad.
I enjoy a wide variety of inspiration via Instagram and have made many online friends. It is wonderful that regardless of the time of day, someone somewhere in the world is up for a chat and happily sharing their day online. I get to see the seasons change in other countries and watch breaking news happen right on my screen.
Despite the addition of live video, chat functions and a variety of other features I still enjoy the almost old school appeal of sharing images and having a peek into the worlds of others. The appeal of an uncluttered, beautifully shot and composed image continues to find my soul and provide endless inspiration. Instagram does this aspect so well!
I find that the images which attract my attention seem to tell a story, they are often well saturated with strong colours and depict the things that interest me – art, art supplies & techniques, beautiful places in the world and gorgeous, quirky whippets.
One of my volunteer jobs is as moderator of two Instagrammer groups – @igersBrisbane & @igersAustraliaofficial and we take turns selecting feature images from around Brisbane and Australia. The ones that grab me most evoke strong feelings and provide a different perspective on a usual view. I tend to look for imagery from out of the way places or people and animals doing unusual things.
Like most, I have a love-hate relationship with Facebook. It seems to be a place where people strongly voice opinions and there can be a degree of unpleasantness to the platform. I mostly cross-post my images to Facebook from inside Instagram and use a business page for my blog as a way of keeping in touch with people who aren’t on Instagram.
Pinterest Inspiration
As an artist, Pinterest is a great source of inspiration and information. I tend to use it as a tool for keeping reference images of techniques I want to try and people, techniques or information I want to remember for the future.
I don’t follow that many photographers on Pinterest because for the longest time many photographers actively discouraged having their images pinned for copyright reasons. I don’t usually pin photographer’s imagery from outside of Pinterest for that reason.
Inspiration Sources
It was a very interesting exercise to scroll through the list of people I follow online and try to break them down into a couple of categories. For some I follow them everywhere – Instagram, Facebook, blog and Pinterest but others I just follow on one platform, mostly Instagram or via blog posts. I’ve chosen to share just a snippet of some Instagram pages to give a feel for the types of images I’m interested in and the people I follow as well as including a list of my favourites.
Some others:
Bloggers
Photographers
Inspiring Artists
I’ve also included a few of my favourite artists who inspire me in the way they present themselves online. Each work under their own name as their ‘professional self’.
Purple Salt #2 