Why do you love to utilize your phone to capture these images?
Like many people, I have my phone near me most all the time so it’s super convenient. I also love that I don’t really have to mess with my settings much and can just set my exposure and snap. When I shoot with my “big camera” it’s harder to stay in the moment with my daughters, ages 5 and 1, when I’m adjusting my settings for changing lighting conditions. I also love the ability to shoot, edit, store, and post right from my phone.
Has your phone help sparked more creativity onto other types of work?
Absolutely! I give myself much more freedom and creative license with my phone and I’ve definitely carried that over to my other work as well. Also, since phone cameras don’t really allow for a shallow depth of field, I’ve had to really think much more about composition in order to include the elements I want in my frame and exclude what I don’t want without being able to rely on blurry background to take care of it for me. I also tend to edit my mobile images more according to what I want the image to convey instead of obsessing over correct exposure, skin tones, etc. and I’m working on bringing that process to my DSLR work as well.
Where does your inspiration come from?
Light, shadow, and color. Wanting to remember my girls as little ones is important of course, but I think a lot about them as viewers of the images I create of them and I hope that when they see the pictures I’ve taken they’ll understand something about how I see them and how much I love them.
Can you share some tips to achieve your style of art?
I love dramatic light and I think my phone camera handles strong light and shadows really well. When you see some stripey sun coming through the blinds or big sunny spots on your floor those are great places to take pictures of kids playing. Phone cameras do really well with backlight as well and if you angle your camera downward slightly you can get those great sun rays without having too much blinding sun in the image itself. Another great thing about phone cameras that I take advantage of frequently is the wide angle. That means you can get some wonderful birds-eye-view images of your kids which always take me back to the moment so strongly because I’m often just naturally viewing them from above.
Favorite communities on Instagram so that we can also follow?
I’m a contributor at @mobile_snaps_collaborative and we only feature mobile photography so if you want to see the amazing things photographers are doing with their phones definitely follow along! I also love @siblinghoodlove because photographing my girls together is my favorite and I love the other inspirational sibling images they feature.
Gear used to achieve these?
iPhone 5c and very seldom an olloclip for an extra wide angle or a macro shot.
Favorite editing apps and why?
VSCOcam almost exclusively because it’s easy and I have a couple of go-to presets that I use to give me the look I want. I really love the VSCO mobile community and perusing their curated collections. I also sometimes use an app called ColorStory which has some neat fine-tuning adjustment tools.
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About the photographer:
My name is Corrie Heisey and I’m a mom to two young daughters and a Boston Terrier. After living in Tennessee, Alabama, and North Carolina while my husband was an Army officer we are living in Northern Virginia close to where we both grew up. I started getting serious about photography in 2012 and I shoot daily with my phone (I’m doing a mobile 365 project this year), often with my DSLR, and with my Nikon F100 35mm film camera when I have a special project. I shoot families and children but what I really love are at-home lifestyle newborn sessions.
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