I’m going to do a little something different with this Photo Phriday. Instead of putting a focus on the characters I’ll talk a bit about photography in general, and some things that get beat into my head on a regular basis. It kind of starts with pro photographer Chase Jarvis, who once said that “the best camera is the one you have with you.”

It’s true, and as someone who regularly suffers from gear envy (it’s very silly but absolutely true) I constantly forget that it isn’t about what you can’t do with what you have available, but what you CAN. Chase just blurted out this quote once, and rode with it. After what I’m sure was a brutal period of brainstorming and work he launched an iPhone app and book, both called “The Best Camera,” and it’s created this community of people using their phones to take serious photos. Well, sort of.

See, Chase was using his iPhone, made videos of him using it for photography, blogged about it, had a huge gallery show if his iPhone photos, and launched an app and book. Problem is the entire community’s enveloped in the Cult of Mac, and anyone NOT on an iPhone kind of can’t play along, or at least not with the rest of the bunch. A little unfair, sure, but that’s how cliques work. I can’t be a part of the “best camera” community, not as marketed to me at any rate, but I can go out and take photos with my phone.

These are some of the photos (lower res because the camera on my phone is total crap) from my Palm Centro. I don’t even have data for the thing. It was a phone with good native PDA applications that was affordable. It serves its purpose. When waiting for the bus, or for Amu to meet me, walking the dog, or wherever else, I began using my camera to take some shots. I wasn’t exactly expecting much out of it.

I decided to go and pull the photos from my phone and look through them. I confess I haven’t exactly taken a Chase Jarvis amount of photos (reportedly hundreds a day) on my phone but I used it when I thought to. Above is a tiny collection of those comprising the entirety of shots I deem fit to share. They’ve all been edited slightly with some minor post processing, but nothing more than contrast, sharpening, cropping and resizing.

Could I have done more with an iPhone? Probably. Does this mean I shouldn’t be using my crappy phone whenever I see something interesting? Nope. Not one bit. I need to get it into my skull that the idea and concept are the most important part of the image. Creating a good image is all that matters. I keep letting myself get distracted by all of the things I can’t do with what I have. Well I promise to start sharing some of the stuff that I CAN do.

Thanks for reading.

When I first started doing photos on Fridays I’d intended to be a bit better about them than I must admit I’m being. I’m very much a reactive person far more than a proactive one. As a result I tend to do things rather last minute. Such is the case this week. In today’s case, I’ve simply been unprepared mentally to do anything but shut my brain down except on rare occasion, to debate whether or not to turn it back on (that’s still a resounding ‘NO’ at the moment.)

As such, I’m asking forgiveness once again. As an example of how cluttered and frazzled and on automatic my mind has been I offer you some trivia. Did you know that yesterday webcomic buddies Bryan and Dern posted a guest comic I did for their strip Hello With Cheese? No? Well it’s HERE. Frazzled. I blew that.

In my head I’ve been a thousand plus places at the same time. That’s one of them I should have made sure was at the front. It wasn’t, and that’s not good. To make up for it ever so slightly I’ll offer up another bit of trivia. I hear that tomorrow, Saturday, January 30th, a SECOND guest comic I did for them will be posted at Hello With Cheese. Be sure to check it out. Bry and Dern have been amongst the most outspoken in their support of the things I do. They’re good people. Read their comic.

Right now? Bed.

I’m one of the first people to give advice. I’m guaranteed to have an opinion on most things, and if asked I’ll gladly share. If someone’s having difficulty with something I’ll do my best to offer advice towards doing what my experience has me believe is the “right thing” to do. If you’re having a personal crisis I’m more than likely to take your side by default, but will not hesitate to offer friendly criticism if I think you may need to change something. I actually think my advice is pretty good. I think if people followed it they could be further along the path to getting what they want without hurting anybody in the process. I’m also the last person that should be giving it.

See, advice is weird. I constantly have my finger on the pulse of productivity, on getting things done, on achieving goals, yet none of these things describe at all how I go about my days. Everything I’ve ever wanted to do I’ve researched. I’ve read books upon books on “how to” do a great many things. I’ve read books on drawing and cartooning, on speculative fiction and script writing, on motivation and productivity, on voice work and photography, and yet I’m not really DOING any of these things. Sure I take some pictures every once in a while, but I hesitate to say I’m a Photographer (with a capital “P”) at all. I could give phenomenal advice on any of these topics to anyone interested, because I know how to do them. The only thing I don’t know is how to have that THING inside that drives you to actually perform a gut check and take risks to do those things.

They say if you can’t DO, then TEACH. Incidentally, I’ve always wanted to be a teacher. Unfortunately, I’ve never wanted to suffer the years of time and strangling debt I’d endure going about it the way our education system prefers. I know how to do all of these things (or once did, as some of these topics I researched quite some years ago) and today I gave some advice on the subway to a very nice girl who works at the cafe across the street from my office. She’s an artist. She went to M.I.C.A., and she’s feeling stuck working in a cafe to pay off her school bills. I talked to her for a while this morning, and even got to work a little late as a result. I gave her all the advice I could think to give considering the time we had to chat. I thought it was good advice. It’s advice I should be taking.

She’s me right now. In the same boat. Hating her job and feeling trapped by bills and debt. Wanting to scratch that creative itch but feeling unknown and small and alone with her dreams. It was like I was talking to myself. I knew exactly what to say because it’s been said to me so many times. All of the words and advice and wisdom imparted to me by my wife, family and friends. All of the encouragement and nudging. A lot sunk in this morning. A little more than it ever has. I can only hope she follows the advice where I haven’t. I normally think it’s too late for me to start moving on some of these things. But maybe, just maybe, I’m learning that Beginnings don’t care about early or late. They just need to begin.