Woah? A Website?

Wednesday, June 8, 2022

This is a pretty short first post, so I’ll make it quick. For long amounts of time, I have wanted a place to showcase the photos I’ve been taking since I graduated college. I created this website on June 9th, 2022, and I will begin by backfilling the photos I have already taken. All other posts will be dated on the date the photos were imported onto my computer.

In Christmas of 2020, I received an iPhone 12 Pro Max. This was the first time I had ever received a non-hand-me-down phone, and the best part was the camera. I quickly began running around the small seaside town I was living in and taking photos of the most meaningless things. The iPhone’s camera always has the best color profiles and always lights the image perfectly.

The first thing I put to the test was the low-light capability, as the recent iOS update allowed for long exposures. This feature also captures the gyroscopic data of the phone, so a shaky hand can still qualify for a sharp image. Also, note the heron in the water.

photo of a heron at a dock in the dark.

Less than a week later, I went down to Clark’s Point with Clay and Cole to take photos. This was one of the first times I actively went somewhere with the intention of taking a photo. I wore the brand new white turtleneck Clay had given me (thanks clay <3). Clay took two photos of me standing on the edge of the cliff, these used the iPhone’s “Portrait Mode.” This mode uses computer vision software tied to the LIDAR system on the iPhone to blur the background behind a subject artificially. I would soon come to learn this emulates the depth of field found on cameras with larger apertures. Now, if anyone goes to take a photo of me, I always ask that they never use this mode as it usually has some horrible clipping of my glasses and curly hair or blurs my clothes. It also cannot be undone and removes the ability to take live photos.

Self portrait.

Another self portrait.

The final photo of the day showcases the fantastic colors of the iPhone. I took the picture crouched under a rock above the five-foot-deep, fifty-degree water. This will forever be iPhone territory.

photo of the bay between two rocks.