My iPhone 1G Camera Retires

In the wilderness of the urban world, I've been carrying my iPhone 1G to photograph what I see.  It's the original first-generation iPhone I bought when they first came out.  It only has 4 GB, and I've never maxed out the memory, probably because I don't use videos a lot on it.

What's interesting about using a very simple camera like this all the time is:  Its restricted technology makes me deal almost solely with composition.  You cannot rely on tricky features of the camera to get your image right.  No flash, no zoom, no macro focus, just compose and shoot.  I sometimes get a little cranky with the limits it places on focusing sharply and controlling things about it that other cameras can do, but I think that overall I've learned more about what I'm looking at and thinking about why I'm shooting the picture instead of what the camera can do.  I have learned to shoot quickly and pay attention to light that's available to me.  Also, I have to hold very still (reiterating the very first thing I learned in photography).

Now that's about to change a bit.  I'm finally upgrading to a 4G (fourth generation) phone/camera.  It's the same size as the 1G that I have been using.  But now I will have a reversible lens (shoots at me or at you without turning the phone around), more megapixels per file (image), a flash, selective focus and some zooming ability.  Immediately, it makes me think more about the camera than I did before.  It will be that way until it, too, becomes second nature to use, but I don't think it will take long.  Apple makes very intuitive products, and the camera on their phone is designed to be a tool to use and not an implement that introduces frustration like so many other cameras tend to be.

I'm posting a few images here from the last couple of days.  Kind of a tribute to the little iPhone 1G I've carried with me, a trusty tool I've grown to respect and admire.  As I've stated before, probably 90% of my images on this blog are from that iPhone.