This week "Through the Lens of an iPhone" - Take 2

Following this weeks disappointing submissions to the "Through the Lens of an iPhone" Flickr group, and my comments earlier today; today has seen some great submissions, so in this second run of this weeks "Through the Lens of an iPhone" post, here are a handful of images that will hopefully inspire and encourage.

If you feel inspired and want to take part, then join the group, read the simple rules and start uploading, but remember, all photos must be taken and processed on an iPhone.

Comments

[Ridwan]

Hi Glyn

You just can't stop moaning; can you? =D LOL!

[Graeme]

Hi there.
I'm new to this site having only recently bought an iPhone, so I may be taking the above comment the wrong way, it may be a bit tongue in cheek.
But if it isn't and you really are criticising your followers then be very careful.
I realise you probably want to spur on your loyal readers in creating and submitting the best they can but an attitude like that can very soon lead to dwindling numbers reading your blog.
Its just an observation and, like I said, I may be wrong but just be aware.
Graeme. Lancs

[rangster]

easy does it, folks. with all due respect, Glyn's comments are candid and should be considered based on the *critical mass* at the point in time when he picked those pics. honestly, if all i'm gonna be doing is re-posting a bunch of pics from my instagr acct onto this flickr pool, i might as well not. peace.

[dani2xll]

I would like to participate but my problem is that I have several cameras including that of the iPhone and for ease of reference and simplicity I import all my images into my iPhoto library. So when it comes for me to edit an image I cannot tell what camera I use to originally take the image. I do all my editing on the iPhone so one image looks pretty much the same whether I took it with the iPhone, my Leica, my Nokia etc. Hence, why I am rather attached to the Instagram method. I should look to see if there is an instagram flickr group. Thank you for the idea.

[Martian Citrus]

I have to admire Glyn's comments, we need a good critic on iphone photography and one that is not afraid to point out the over use and reliance so many have on instagram... It is high time someone tightens up on acceptance, I, too, only want to see powerful images, there is a huge landfill of bland images out there being created and it needs to stop.

[Richard Pelletier]

Merci beaucoup.
Thank's for choosing my submission.
Richard

[Rock Perry]

Some of the photos he chooses are not that great, for example #2 #3 #6 and #7 .
If you take a look a the Flickr group sometimes some of the best submissions for that week get left out, and people get tired of posting and not getting recognition and then they just stop posting and then he gets mad when not enough people post pictures anymore, maybe he just needs to stop choosing his personal favorites and start choosing something that more people would appreciate!

[Glyn Evans]

Maybe I'll just shut the group down!!

[Rob]

Rather than shut it down, be careful to not be elitist about the way you judge a photo. Judge the photo, not the app used to create it.

I can understand being bored with Instagram shots. Hipstamatic gets the same complaints from people who have seen a billion of the same looking Hipstamatic shots. And let's be honest, most of them do look the same. And most are pretty bad.

Most. A few are genius.

Most digital photography is pretty bad, when you think about it. How many people own cameras these days? Just about everyone. How many people have talent? Obviously, the number is much smaller.

That's why I enjoy these best-of compilations. They highlight talent. Often, it seems to be relatively unknown talent, which makes the compilations even better. I actually love when I see a photo here and realize the amazing shot was created with an app I use. I find that inspiring. It serves as a reminder that it's not the app. It's the photographer. And it reminds me to go back to an app I may have stopped using and forgotten about.

[Mark]

I agree with many of the comments here. I find this website very useful to learn about apps, but the photos presented here each week are more like special effects illustrations than anything else. I'd rather look at a good photograph that just 'happened' to be taken with an iPhone, without using 3 different apps to get that over-processed look.

[Kathryn Usher]

I've only been shooting with my iPhone since mid October when I purchased the 4S. I've learned tons from your blog, Glyn. Everyone now asks me how I learned to take such interesting photos with a smartphone. I tell them lots of shooting plus reading your blog. I say run your Flickr group like you want. You created it. If folks don't want to follow the guidelines let them start their own group. That's the beauty of Flickr. I like seeing what spectacular effects can be achieved with the iPhone and your Flickr group is a fast way find beautiful shots. I like Instagram but many times there is tons of crap you have to wade through.

[funkyspirit]

Not sure if this has been covered already. Newbie :) Do we have to upload via the flickr iPhone app and do submissions have to have been taken during the week of submission or the week prior too?

[Glyn Evans]

They can be what ever you like, from when ever you like :)

[Chris]

Glyn,

Don't shut down the group. As said above, it's very inspiring to see all the submissions to the group as well as your choices for the week. As always, I appreciate your time and effort you put into this blog...!

[Glyn Evans]

Chris, don't worry, the group will not shut down :)

[Jennifer Bracewell]

Please don't shut down the group. People love to be spiteful and hateful when they can do so anonymously. If they had to sit in a room with you and look you in the eye it'd be quite different. Your blog is informative, well-written and presents quality images. Keep up the good work. Haters keep hating... I doubt they've been featured anywhere and are bitter wannabes.

[Mark Hollings]

So, Jennifer, it's perfectly fine for Glyn to disparage the submissions to his Flickr group, but it's NOT perfectly fine for readers to disparage Glyn's taste in photographic quality? In Glyn's case, it's "constructive criticism," but in everyone else's case, it's "spiteful and hateful"?

If you dish it out, you've got to be prepared to take it.

I've seen good work on that iPhone group (hence my appreciation for it). But if I were selecting winners, I would pick entirely different pictures from the ones Glyn has chosen. (Call me strange, but I just don't like purple skies, random focusing and faux-canvas textures.)

Nothing personal. At the end of the day, it's Glyn's group, so he can do what he wants. Just be prepared for some heat when entering the kitchen with a can of petrol and a match.

[John V. Keogh]

I like the way the group is set-up. The restriction of one photo per week should cause most people to select their best work.

Tastes vary - there's no point in arguing about taste.

[edysia]

Well I must say that I agree to some extent with Mark Holings...

[fernandoprats]

I also agree with Mark Hollings' pov.