You know, the “best camera” is the one that you have with you. Or so they say.

After what really didn’t quite feel like two and half years, I finally took out my camera gear for a spin this past weekend. The iPhone, and it’s incrementally “insanely great” camera, coupled with the ability to process with Snapseed or a dozen or more in-phone apps, and to post immediately on IG or any other social outlet, has put a dent in this guy’s use of his “real” photo gear.

Walking around with an iPhone, one is always “ready”, always “on”. But I have come to realize if the “best camera” is the one that you have with you, it’s also a recipe for laziness, and complacency. When I first got an iPhone and started to take many images with it, I was in awe. Looking at all my gear, I thought the iPhone was the “sketchbook”, the Canon G12 was the “travel kit” and the 5D MkII was obviously the “serious” heavy artillery. And then slowly, I weaned myself off of the MkII, and eventually the G12, and shot exclusively with my phone.

Having moved to Switzerland from Canada two years ago, I realized I had not taken my gear out of storage since I got here. Not once. I also realized that the iPhone makes us lazy, in a sense. When one goes out to shoot, there is a ritual, there is a deliberate act of thinking about what lenses you will bring, what you have in mind that day, sometimes putting on a 50mm f1,8 and wanting to shoot wide open, other days, deciding that the 70-200 will stay on, no matter what. It challenges one’s creativity, puts some constraints on what and how one will shoot. What “eye” will I need today? The iPhone took that away. It has a zoom. It has HDR. It also doesn’t force you to think. It’s just there. In your front pocket. The image is almost the afterthought. One captures the image because it is there, not out of intent. Now don’t get me wrong, I’ve taken many great images with my iPhone. I’m still amazed at the quality I get form my 5s. I have a great iPhone collection of images.

But the nuance is in the purpose.

As I dusted off my gear, and had to re-learn many of the finer features of my MkII, I also rediscovered the act of deliberately preparing and going out and making pictures. I love how the hunter in me came back. I was cruising around the back roads yesterday - a gray day - looking for colza fields. I had something in mind although I couldn’t really explain it. Something about dark skies and the way colours pop on gray, wet days. It was fun to be hunting again. It’s a very different, and deliberate thing than doing other stuff, and having an image opportunity just, magically, happen. Although that is fun too.

These two images here don’t amount to much. In the end I didn’t quite find what i was looking for outside. It doesn’t matter because I was re-introduced to the photographer inside. The hunter.

It feels good to be back. I’ll be posting some images here. Maybe even some from the iPhone.

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