iphoneblog - iPhone Photography for Mindfulness

Leafy Luxury: Hotel’s Innovative Towel Drying Solution

Some hotels stay busy all year, but others, relying on tourists, get busier at certain times. To adapt, some establishments, like this one, adopt sustainable practices. Rather than buying dryers they rarely use, they use the sun to dry towels outside.

Mobile photography is enjoyable because it’s convenient and requires no technical fuss. However, developing a creative eye is essential for taking great photos that reflect your everyday life. Join my online workshops to enhance your creativity, understand light and shadow, and turn ordinary scenes into stunning art pieces.

Here are 3 good reasons to start expressing your creative vision today:

The sessions will be through video calls, so you can join from anywhere. We will schedule them at a time that suits you.
You always have your mobile phone with you, which means you always have your camera ready!
This is a simple workshop with no technical terms. Discover your artistic side with easy lighting and composition techniques.

Contact me today to find out more!

Simple lighting and composition

Lighting and composition are the main elements of a good photograph. The easiest visual meditation is to observe light and shadows. Look at the shapes, forms, and textures of everyday things in your home. Watch the light coming through the windows and the shadows it creates. Even the most ordinary objects can look amazing if the light hits them just right.

This image is part of a series I call “iPhone photography sketches.” My goal is to bring everyday objects to life using simple lighting and composition, without worrying about technical camera settings.

Set the aspect ratio of your photos to 1:1 in your camera app. This will create square photos that give your images a fine art look.

I teach virtual mobile photography workshops to help you explore your artistic potential. Please read more about how I can help you with your creative projects.

At the Crossroads: Life at Traffic Signals with an iPhone

I was at a traffic light after driving through Bandra Kurla Complex to get onto the Western Express Highway at Bandra when I saw this lad pushing along a cart filled with onions and potatoes.

Onions and potatoes are the two most important ingredients in Indian food. People start getting agitated when the price of onions goes up, because onions form the base of most Indian curries.

This gave me an idea for a mobile photography project: life while waiting at traffic signals!

iPhones aren’t the best tool for street photography but if you understand what they can do for you, you can have some great fun with them and click pictures that might be inaccessible with larger cameras. Please read more about iPhone cameras for street photography.

Modern technology and the obsession of clicking selfies!

In my recent iPhone photography blog post, I shared a picture of an iPhone 6 charging on a wall socket. I pondered if future generations might not recognise an old-fashioned phone plugged into a wall. Phones could become implants instead of handheld devices, and wires may no longer be used.

When this gentleman was a child, mobile phones didn’t exist, and personal landline phones were rare in India; hardly anyone had one. Nowadays, our pocket-sized phones guide us with voice commands, advising us to turn left in 150 meters.

Back in the old days, when cameras were a luxury and printing pics was pricey, did we ever think we’d snap selfies on fancy gadgets? Did we reckon we’d zap them to pals worldwide in a flash? In the nineties, letters to America took ages to arrive from India!

In our rush through modernity, we often overlook these miracles. Let’s take a moment to appreciate these everyday wonders and how lucky we are to have them.

I look at my iPhone photography as an artistic endeavor where I explore scenes that I cannot believe are really unfolding in front of me. I explore further into my approach in the “Vision and Mission” section, and though I haven’t changed anything in this photo, please read my “Editorial Disclaimer”.

Juicing Up: The Essential Ritual of iPhone Recharging

This photo shows an iPhone 6, taken with an iPhone 7, plugged into a wall socket in Sariska, a tiger reserve atop the ancient Aravalli mountain range.

While these iPhones aren’t as ancient as the mountains, they’re already outdated. Nowadays, it’s the iPhone 15 that reigns supreme. Scenes like this remain common as mobile phones and their accessories persist.

In the future, technology may evolve beyond recognition. People might struggle to grasp what’s happening here. Perhaps holograms will replace screens, controlled by gestures or even mind implants. If you’re reading this in such a future, this image might seem alien.

I used to edit photos with VSCO Cam and enjoyed its presets because they helped me convey the emotions I want viewers to experience when they see my pictures. Now, I prefer Adobe Lightroom because I bought presets I can use forever. Still, trying VSCO Cam presets is a good idea. Even their free ones are worth trying.

I explore further into my approach in the “Vision and Mission” section, and though I haven’t changed anything in this photo, please read my “Editorial Disclaimer.”

A Man Sleeps on a Park Bench in Mumbai’s Diamond Garden

In busy Mumbai, where the streets are always filled with people rushing around and cars honking, a man peacefully sleeps on a park bench. It’s like a little island of calm amidst all the city’s noise and activity.

Even though Mumbai is really busy, it’s still good to take a break and rest your body and mind. Maybe he’s dreaming about fun stuff he’ll do later, or maybe he’s just enjoying the quiet. It’s a reminder for everyone to listen to their bodies and take the rest they need.

I clicked this photo with an iPhone 7 at a time when phones couldn’t click images in the RAW format. The original file is a JPG and so it doesn’t offer me the option to correct the lens distortion.

I used to edit my photos with VSCO Cam and liked their presets. Now, I prefer Adobe Lightroom because I bought presets that I can use forever, unlike VSCO’s yearly subscription.

Still, I suggest giving VSCO Cam presets a go and see if you like them. I used them for a long time, and even their free presets are worth trying.

My iPhone photos are like an artistic adventure, where I seek out moments from everyday life that seem almost magical or surreal. I explore further into my approach in the “Vision and Mission” section. Although these are real-world photos, I view them more as fine art rather than editorial. Consequently, I might have adjusted their content in a way I’ve explained in the “Editorial Disclaimer” section.

Tourists Enjoying Their Own Photos at Fatehpur Sikri

Emperor Akbar the Great stood here in Fatehpur Sikri near Agra with his wife, Mariam, not long ago. Over 450 years have passed since they lived here which works out to a little over 1,64,000 days. I thought it would work out to be more than that. 1,64,000 days doesn’t seem like a long time ago, does it?

The people of the time aren’t around, but their art, architecture, and tales continue to live on. They probably didn’t have WiFi. Notes tied to pigeons were probably the most advanced way of getting messages across. Now we have telephonic devices with cameras that fit into our pockets, which most of us take for granted.

I watched these lads click each other inside this palace room and step outside to review their photos. I clicked this image with an iPhone 14 with the 0.5x lens. The Ultrawide 0.5x lens makes it that much more difficult to keep our lines straight in an image. I talk more about this in the section, “Apps for clicking RAW images with iPhones”. If your phone camera or app doesn’t allow you to click RAW photos with the Ultrawide lens, you can consider using the SKYVIK Pro 2 in 1 (Wide+Macro) lens.

My iPhone images are an artistic exploration where I look for slices of the real world that are almost otherworldly in their appearance or events. I talk more about my process in the section “Vision and Mission”. While these are photographs of the real world, I don’t look at them as editorial in nature, but in the space of fine art. And as a result I may have altered their editorial content in a manner that I have stated in the section “Editorial Disclaimer”.