Most people traveling from Europe to India would book a flight. The more adventurous might think about going by car, which sounds pretty crazy. I know someone who travelled from Denmark to India by bus in the 70s. She said they would stay the night in jails in countries like Afghanistan and Pakistan because police stations were the safest places to camp!
I thought those kinds of journeys were a thing of the past. But then, in late November 2023, I met Monika Overlingytė in Bharatpur, Rajasthan, India. She had cycled all the way from Lithuania to India! It was amazing to see how she carried everything she needed in bags on her bike.
Would you ever embark on a months-long bicycle adventure? Do you know anyone who has taken on such an adventure? Share your thoughts and stories in the comments!
Visual storytelling conveys narratives and emotions through compelling images and compositions. This image is part of my “iPhone Photography Sketches” series, where I bring everyday objects to life using simple lighting and composition, without emphasising technical camera settings.
Mobile phone photography helps you explore your creative vision effortlessly. With its simplicity and accessibility, it encourages experimentation. The constant practice refines your skills in composition, lighting, and storytelling, while editing apps allow for further expression and enhancement.
This is the story of a Labrador who has died, leaving behind his bed and toys. The image symbolises impermanence, showing that everything that comes into the world eventually goes away.
Explore the art of visual storytelling with phone photography in my online workshops.
Celebrating Indian festivals brings vibrant traditions, rich culture, and joyous gatherings to life.
A few days ago, I shared a photo of an autorickshaw driver napping in his vehicle, explaining how mobile photography motivated me to take morning and evening walks to find photo opportunities. I took this photo during one of those morning walks on Republic Day, which is on the 26th of January in India.
Someone decorated the staircase with orange, white, and green to look like the national flag.
I’ve used this bridge all my life. In my childhood, my father would drive us to his sister’s house in his Ambassador car, just a few metres away on the Ghatkopar side. We used to visit her often, especially during Kerala’s biggest festivals, Onam and Vishu, to enjoy her homemade food and deep-fried papadams.
The decoration on the bridge serves as a metaphor for the way we in India enthusiastically celebrate festivals and occasions, often making the most of limited resources. Celebrating Indian festivals offers a unique opportunity to experience the rich heritage and joyful spirit of India. This vibrant display reflects our ability to find joy and create beauty, symbolising the spirit of celebration and resilience inherent in our culture.
Every day, you see simple moments like this that are very common in your neighbourhood. However, these moments might seem exotic to people in other parts of the world.
Try to find such scenes around you that represent your community, and take photos of them with your mobile phone. Share these photos with us. This will help you develop your creative vision and storytelling skills. For more help, please read about my online mobile photography workshops.
Taking pictures indoors with an iPhone or any mobile phone under artificial lights often produces poor images. How often do you like the pictures you take at home, in restaurants, or on the streets at night?
This is because these lights aren’t designed for photography. The images will have lots of digital noise and won’t print well. However, if some natural light comes in, especially from one side, you will see better results.
Last Saturday, we talked about architectural photography with an iPhone. I explained how important it is to keep lines in pictures straight to represent a place correctly. The same goes for taking pictures of indoor spaces. The lines of the rooms should ideally be perpendicular and parallel to the edges of the frame, just as we see them in real life.
I took these pictures at the City Palace in Bharatpur, Rajasthan, using the Halide Pro Mark II app. This app has a digital spirit level that helps me keep my lines straight. Please read about my virtual mobile photography workshops to learn more about making the best use of your iPhone camera.
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Visual meditations involve focusing on a visual object or scene to achieve a state of calm and mindfulness. By concentrating on the details and allowing your mind to settle, visual meditations help reduce stress and enhance inner peace. This technique is simple and effective, making it accessible to anyone seeking a moment of tranquility.
There’s a place called Bhigwan where I go to photograph birds. As a professional photographer, I carry my professional cameras for wildlife, travel, and portraits. Yet, I enjoy using my mobile phone for snapping those in-between moments—like this one. This is the door to the toilet in a hotel room where I spend time between wildlife safaris. I appreciate the geometry and the mismatched colour combination of the door and walls.
In art and commercial photography, they teach you about the colour wheel and selecting harmonious colour combinations. But there’s a world where practicality matters more than style or colour coordination. I admire and respect this mindset—honest and unpretentious.
Developing a daily practice in mobile photography has made me more aware of my surroundings and allows me to take images like this that provoke thoughts about life in ways I wouldn’t otherwise contemplate.
This image is from my “iPhone photography sketches” series, where I show everyday objects using simple lighting and composition, without getting into technical camera settings. Explore my virtual workshops on mobile photography and see how I can guide you in using your mobile phone for visual meditation!
In Mumbai, auto rickshaw drivers often nap in their vehicles at different times of the day. This photo represents one of my first attempts at photographing people sleeping in public places.
I took this picture during the partial lockdown after the coronavirus pandemic. Initially, I felt lazy about going for walks, but using mobile photography as motivation, I started going out for morning and evening strolls to find photo opportunities.
Mobile photography is an excellent way to stay alert, enhance your creative vision, and uncover hidden talents. Explore my virtual mobile photography workshops to learn more!
Some people like everything in a space to match—designs, shapes, colours. But I can find comfort in spaces where things are mismatched. It shows a happy-go-lucky attitude and makes the best use of one’s resources. One such space is a hotel in Rajasthan, where I’ve spent lots of time and had many wonderful moments.
This image is part of my “iPhone photography sketches” series, where I bring everyday objects to life using simple lighting and composition, without focusing on technical camera settings.
How do you prefer your living space? Neatly coordinated or joyfully cluttered with items that bring you happiness scattered around?
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.
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”.
