The iPhoneography Showcase of Penelope McMorris

About me: As a former corporate art curator (for nearly 20 years at Owens-Corning Fiberglas) and a private art consultant with a Masters in Art History, my eye was always on someone else's art. My day job now is at The Electric Quilt Company, the software company my husband Dean Neumann and I founded almost 20 years ago, which focuses on software for quilt designers, and their designs.

Although I had taken a short black and white photo darkroom class in the 70s, I never really pursued photography until I bought a tiny digital point and shoot eight years ago. For the first time I became passionate about creating my own images rather than always looking at and championing someone else's.

Luckily one of my best friends is Mark Packo, of Toledo, Ohio, a remarkable professional photographer and designer. As soon as Mark found I was interested in photography myself, he generously became my tutor and mentor, and has spent countless hours encouraging me and sharing his expertise in everything from photo transfer to night photography. Mark is what  author Malcolm Gladwell would call a "Maven:"  a  person who is one of the first to know about things; who gathers information, digests it, and shares it with others. Thus my introduction to the iPhone.

About a week before my husband and I were scheduled to leave for a 9 - day biking vacation trip to Vietnam I was still debating whether to take my "big camera" Nikon D300, as well as a small Leica D - Lux 3, and wondering just how much equipment I would be able to lug and really use on a bike. That was when Mark showed me his new iPhone, and some incredible pictures he'd taken with it. Coincidentally, that same day I also noticed some great iPhone shots from a Facebook friend, Nikkor, who also encouraged me. 

The next day I bought myself an iPhone, and downloaded suggested aps   : Hipstamatic, Lo - Mob,  TiltShiftGen and others. I  gambled and  left the Nikon at home. I practiced with the iPhone camera in the airport, decided I liked the  Hipstamatic's effects  with the John S filter, and  stayed with that for the whole trip. I was immediately comfortable with the "spy camera" size of the iPhone,  which let me take street photos without anyone realizing that I wasn't texting, but snapping. And I was surprised to  discover I could even take pictures out a moving bus window as I did for the Happy New Year shot taken during Vietman's Tet celebrations.

Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.
If you would like to showcase your iPhone photos here on the iPhoneography blog, then send me an email with a link to your Flickr account and a short bio about yourself and your iPhoneography, and if suitable I will post your showcase.