Shut up Rowan, it's a flippin' telephone

I simultaneously hate and love the camera on my iPhone. As far as cameras go, it's a bag of crap, but for god's sake, it's a telephone, what do I expect?

We're dog-sitting at the moment, and we took her out for a walk in the mist this morning. I was going to bring my regular camera, but I decided that I couldn't be bothered; I was likely to be holding a dog lead in one hand, and anticipated holding a small bag of poo in the other for about 50% of the time. I figured my phone would have to do.

They say the best camera is the one you have with you, and in this case that was the phone - I really like these shots that I got, but I hate them too.

I took this one last night - same story; without my phone, I wouldn't have this shot. But I wish it were better, you know? If it's not obvious, this is a whale's skeleton...

Landscapes

I haven't ever been someone who takes landscape photographs, but I've been thinking a lot about the landscape that I inhabit recently. The area where we live is still being developed, and is in a constant state of change. Added to this, the (mis)guided busway passes close to our flat. It's a project linking Cambridge and the surrounding towns using a dedicated route for buses, and has been stuck in project management hell for over a year. The route is finished, but no buses have ever passed along it, as far as I know. It's basically a ghost road, used by cyclists and joggers, dog walkers and commuters, but not by buses. And I love it.





It's also unusual for me to shoot in colour, but I've been looking at a lot of Joel Sternfeld's work recently. He's not a photographer I've ever really paid much attention to - I know he has great skill, but I don't think I ever 'got' his images before. Now I've tried taking landscape photographs with a modern twist, I can see that he makes it look easy, when it really isn't.





Oh, and by the way - I've changed the design of my blog - I was getting quite bored of the blackness of the last layout.