Before digital cameras, photography wasn’t much fun. If you remembered your camera, you took some pictures at the birthday party or kid’s soccer game. When you finally used up the roll of film, you dropped it off at the store to get developed. A week later, you’d pick up your pictures. Some of them would have your thumb in a corner. Others were overexposed. None of them were good.
(Mrs. 1500 note: Before digital, Mr. 1500 was on a European trip with a friend. Let’s call him Todd. They were walking around when a fellow American asked them to take a picture of him and his wife. Todd took the camera and appeared to be taking a photo of the couple. After he handed the camera back, he confessed to Mr. 1500 that he had, instead, zoomed in on the woman’s chest and snapped a couple pictures of that, instead. No more nefarious opportunities for you, Todd.)
Fast forward to today. We have good cameras with us all the time called smart phones. At a moment’s notice, we can whip out our phone and take pictures anywhere at any time.
However, the best part of digital photography is that it’s made us all better photographers (see this for some of my top tips). Instead of waiting a week to see how the photo turned out, we can see the results instantly and try again. Sometimes, I’ll take 40 or 50 photos of the same thing. Most of those end up in the Trash bin of my Macbook, but usually one or two work out.
I have included some of my recent favorites below. I often forget my real camera, so all of these were taken with either an iPhone 4S or MotoX.
Finally, if you’re a blogger, I strongly encourage you to use your own pictures. I am a firm believer that an OK picture you personally took beats stock photography any day of the week. Your photos establish a personal connection with your audience. Don’t underestimate the power of that connection.
I’m a sucker for sunsets. I’m also a weirdo that takes childhood toys with me on vacation and photographs them. This picture combines sunsets and plastic dinosaurs. Even more bizarre, the picture was featured by a San Diego news outlet.
I love waking up before the sun and getting outside for a walk. The following two were from San Diego as well.
Our 5 year old is incapable of eating anything without getting it all over her face, clothes and in her hair. This is what happens in the course of a Costco hot dog. (Mrs. 1500 note: This picture was taken halfway through the ketchup-removal phase that commences after any meal. Note the ketchup on only one side of her mouth. This is a pure-dad trait. Mr. 1500 is also incapable of eating anything without dropping at least some of it on shirt or pants – or both! Sigh.)
P-51 Mustang
Mrs. 1500 and her sister have an ongoing toilet paper battle. Mrs. 1500 is an “over” while her sister is an “under.” Whenever they are at each other’s homes, they switch all of the rolls according to their preference.
We recently were visiting under-sister when Mrs. 1500 decided to take the battle up a notch. After switching the roll, she photographed it and framed the picture. Then, she hung the picture up discretely in sister’s home. (Mrs. 1500 note: It took my sister more than 2 hours to notice this image, even though I hammered a nail into her wall directly across from the only toilet in the house. There is literally nothing else to look at while sitting on the can, and it took her two hours to notice!)
Finally, I liked this one (even though it’s a bit fuzzy) because it reminded me a just a little bit of the movie poster for Tim Burton’s “Big Fish.” This is a picture I took when we were out a family walk after dinner. Our town recently repaved this road and added a bike lane. Woot!
What have you been taking pictures of lately? Any good photography tips for me?
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Even Steven says
January 10, 2015 at 12:50 pmThose are some fun pictures and a great reason to use your own. Starting today I will follow suit. My words, my pictures, my craziness.
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1500 says
January 10, 2015 at 1:28 pmRight on Even Steven!
Tawcan says
January 10, 2015 at 4:24 pmThose are some fun pictures. One of my goals for this year is to post more pictures that I took myself on my posts. It’s amazing that smart phones have more or less replaced point and shoot cameras. 🙂
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Mrs. Pop @ Planting Our Pennies says
January 10, 2015 at 5:52 pmToday I got a picture of Mr PoP standing in our kitchen shin deep in insulation that came down with the ceiling. Yay!
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bdub says
January 10, 2015 at 7:21 pmWhat sane person would prefer the toilet paper “under”?!
1500 says
January 11, 2015 at 7:15 amI have no clue. As you alluded to, perhaps “under” people are all slightly crazy. I’ll bet Jeffery Dahmer, Ted Bundy and some of my family members are all underers*.
*Yeah, I totally just made that up.
Mom @ Three is Plenty says
January 14, 2015 at 9:45 amSane people who have cats! (I prefer it over, but I’d also rather not lose a whole roll to a curious kitty)
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spiffi says
January 10, 2015 at 10:27 pmDigital cameras are the best invention – one of the things I realized when I visited the Grand Canyon for the first time a few years ago, is that the concessions in the park must have lost a TON of revenue from not selling film to park visitors!
The best photos I’ve taken recently were with my waterproof digital camera – the whole concept that I can go snorkeling and take photos of fish in their natural habitat just proves that we live in amazing times! The future is here!
1500 says
January 11, 2015 at 7:13 amOh wow, now you’re making me want to buy another gadget. I’d like to see how those pictures turned out!
spiffi says
January 11, 2015 at 10:27 amhttp://spiffikins.tumblr.com/
I just posted 3 photos from the Florida Keys trip last May!
1500 says
January 11, 2015 at 10:46 amWow, those are great and I love the keys. Which key were you at when you took them?
That painting of the island was neat too; reminds me of Hawaii…
spiffi says
January 11, 2015 at 5:29 pmI believe most of those were taken at Sombrero Reef – I did a few boat snorkeling tours while I was down there.
That painting was fun! I am NOT an artist, but we did a “paint night” where you show up at a restaurant, and an artist leads everyone step by step through painting the artwork of the night. It’s a hoot!
danDruff says
January 11, 2015 at 4:53 amI started using the panoramic function more and more, especially from moving vehicles.
I also read about semi-submerging a glass or bowl in water and using it as a makeshift waterproof housing so you can get cool photos half under/half over the water line. ….I Haven’t got around to trying it out yet though.
1500 says
January 11, 2015 at 7:12 amI’m intrigued by both of those ideas. Thanks for the tips!
Mrs. Frugalwoods says
January 11, 2015 at 6:22 amGorgeous photos! I really like that last one. You have a good eye!
I too am (obviously) a huge proponent of taking one’s own photos over using stock images. I’m not a very good photographer, but I use your method of taking a million shots–one is almost always decent.
Mr. FW’s parents gave us a GorillaPod flexible little tripod for Christmas and we’re having a great time with it. We’ve been taking it hiking with us and attaching it to trees/rocks to get good shots and it has really upped our photo game. I highly recommend it if you don’t already have one.
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1500 says
January 11, 2015 at 7:11 amThe GorillaPod is a great idea. When life settles down, I think I’ll pick one up (business expense!).
Thanks for the kind compliment! Really though, if any of my photos are good, it’s only because I take 20,000 every year and you’re just seeing the ones that aren’t horrible!
Jason says
January 11, 2015 at 2:40 pmI just lost my phone yesterday. Perhaps, it is time for me to get a smartphone with a good camera. It would be nice to take good photos like this. The only problem is that I have never really been good at photos. Although the photo that is on my blog is one that I took when I was in Greece a couple of years ago. My best picture ever….
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Mrs. Bookworm says
January 11, 2015 at 6:03 pmWe too make use of only original images on our blog. One of my husband’s skills is photography, so anything on our site that looks professional was taken by him. The crappy photos are mine!
There is nothing wrong with using stock photos but I believe bloggers should always be vigilant about possible copyright infringement. I have read many artists’ diatribe about their work showing up on other blogs/websites/publications without proper attribution. Even if the image is correctly attributed to the original owner, they may not necessarily want their work published elsewhere.
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Mom @ Three is Plenty says
January 14, 2015 at 9:49 amThe header image in my page is from an old Canon A630 digital camera – it’s all about the view! I don’t think I could have taken a bad picture from near the top of Mont Blanc! I have been letting Daughter Person borrow the “regular” camera and it’s amazing what she takes pictures of. I have a picture of every single toy she owns (a little blurry since I turn the flash off before giving it to her – she doesn’t understand that it’s too bright!). We’ve been mostly taking pictures of Daughter Person at museums, ice skating, etc.
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May says
February 2, 2015 at 3:18 pmGreat photos. RE: Toilet paper. I did some research on toilet paper (long story) and I used to be a firm believer in hanging the roll so the sheet hung at the back/under. After my research (and this might be too much info) I am now convinced that sheet should hang over the roll to the front. There is good reason for this – it is more sanitary. When it hangs under people are more likely to touch the surface behind it leaving or picking up yucky germs. Mrs. 1500 is right!
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