This special feature is to showcase those excelling at creating some extraordinary art with their phones.
Why do you love to utilize your phone to capture these images?
My family is on a 2 year journey to explore the beauty of our country and fulfill some serious wanderlust. Documenting our ordinary days and our extraordinary days has become an obsession and an art. We are outdoors for hours and hours everyday. To have my DSLR camera on me all day is a recipe for a broken camera. Plus my babies keep my arms full. But I always have my phone with me since it fits right in my back pocket. I’ve been impressed by my iPhone. It’s proven more than sufficient for capturing our beautiful memories. My other camera rarely ever comes out anymore.
Has your phone helped spark more creativity onto other type of work?
I have never considered myself a creative person. Coming up with new things and enhancing the beauty in ordinary things are not my specialty. But when I am doing circles around a tree staring at it to figure out the best view or when I am ducking low so I can fill my shot with flowers or foliage, I am able to admire nature better. I examine my surroundings in ways I wouldn’t cameraless. It causes me to slow down and really take in the mountains and rivers we are walking by. It’s inspired me to begin learning watercolor painting.
Where does your inspiration come from?
Nature and my children’s faces are two things I want I want to preserve. Nature can be so magical, I want to really know it and see how it changes in the light. And I adore the faces of my children, but I also want to be sure to document their experiences for them to recall later.
Can you share some tips to achieving your style of art?
1- Hold your phone long ways. I can always get a better shot with my phone if I don’t hold it up and down. The picture is wider and if I need to crop I have more to work with.
2- Have fun. When you aren’t focused on getting a great picture and are just enjoying those little moments, that’s when the magic happens. If I am placing my child in front of flowers and telling her what to do with them or with her hands, nobody is having fun. But if we are strolling through wild flowers together and both smelling and touching the flowers, I am capturing more than an image. I dote on their candid body language and childish skipping and I find myself smiling as I take the snapshot.
3- Find the style you like and stick to it. I love to have colorful and bold images. It’s not as popular as the very beautifully faded and foggy dream state-ish photos I love to look at. But I like my grass green and shadows dark.
4- Full face is not a necessity. I love when I can take a picture of what someone is looking at, so I will get behind them. Faceless pics are some of my favorite. It takes the pressure off of my kids and puts the focus on what they are seeing or where they’re going.
5- When editing with Instagram, I always go through the edits in the same order. I try the structure and sharpen out first,then the highlights and shadows. Then, I try out the other edits and add a filter last because sometimes the picture doesn’t even need a filter.
What are your favorite communities on Instagram so that we can also follow?
@thevisualcollective
@passionpassport
@thegreatoutdoors
@wildandfree.co
What gear do you use?
iPhone 6plus
What are your favorite editing apps?
I only use Instagram’s editing features on my pics but I have been playing with Snapseed.
About the photographer:
Hi! I’m Charlene and I’m a stay at home mom to 3 little girls. Me and my husband, Damian have traded in our suburban life to take a couple for 2 years of full time travel. I started photographing my now six year as soon as she was born as my passion for photography has grown with each child. My current obsession is getting ready to homeschool my now first grader.
Website. Instagram.