The iPhone gets scrappy, by Stacy Ericson

Somehow they seemed like a strange couple, the gingham and sunshine loving Scrapbook hobbiests and sleek geeky iPhone techies, but the two are drawn together by shared affection for the camera capabilities of the iPhone 3g. Scrapbook aficionados are often committed to recording the life and times of growing families and the ability to have a camera constantly at one’s fingertips makes that job fast and fun. In this day and age we are never without our phones for more than a few minutes, so getting that bathtub photo that will embarrass little Georgie in 20 years has never been easier.

Scrapbookers are recommending ImageTouch2 and ScrapApp. The former app allows you to collage your photos, resize, overlap, rotate, as well as add shadows or frames and change the background color of your creation. ImageTouch2 also allows the final collage creation to be sent as a hi-res email. Stamps and decorations are also available, which when printed out can streamline the gluing and pasting process considerably. ScrapApp comes from Scrapbooking etc. and provides iPhone backgrounds with a scrapping theme, links to hot designs and designers, coupons, palettes, and layout ideas.

The affection for the iPhone apps and the ever-ready camera has come along with the growing popularity of digital scrapbooking. Many folks now prepare part or all of their pages with a computer design application. This allows photo enhancement and adjustment, layout changes, and final printing to be achieved quite easily. Where crafters once spent hours reproducing scrapbook pages for multiple family gifts, they now can simply print multiples. Apps such as ImageTouch2 allow some of that arrangement to be done straight from the iPhone right after photos are taken, while ideas are fresh in mind.  More apps are sure to be coming; one by Coolibah is in the pipe right now, undergoing the traditional rejection process.

Everybody loves Helga, by Stacy Ericson

As soon as I saw Helga I was plunged into a night club in the ruins of Berlin, 1946. I could hear Garbo’s husky voice insisting “I vant to be alone.” The light, all velvet and platinum, the flickering shadows and dangerous encounters. Who would not fall in love with this beauty.  Okay, I was a bit off. Helga is really a child of the sixties, much more of a Bond girl than a WWII siren, an exotic adventuress right out of “You Only Live Twice.”

The CameraBag Helga effect was inspired by the Holga cameras that came out of china in the 1960s. Called “Toy Cameras” because of their cheap mass production and simple design, they were originally marketed as a camera for the People. Holgas soon became popular with collectors precisely because of the leaking light, lens curvature, and unpredictable impressionistic effects.  The Helga effect, with its distinctive washed down highlights, emphasis on the manipulation of light and shadow, square format, and unabashed vignetting is one of the most popular filter effects out there; indeed everybody loves Helga. According to CameraBag  representative, Thomas Plewe, “there's a lot more going on in the code than just adjusting saturation and contrast, though people don't necessarily notice that until they try to recreate it on their own in an image editor.” Make no mistake, like Garbo, Helga is not easy.

You may have run into Helga’s best friend, Lolo. The Lolo effect is based on another mass produced device, this one originally developed in Russia and known as the Lomo.  Another “toy” camera that produces unexpected and striking effects including bright colors, light leakage, spontaneous vignetting, and unpredictable bursts of color. Lomography remains popular among film camera enthusiasts.

Type in either Helga or Lolo and search the CameraBag Flickr group to find a variety of quirky imagery. Strangely both Helga and Lolo can claim a relationship with a slightly older swinger, Diana, a product of the early 1960’s.  Diana brought an eerie dreamlike quality to the classic prints of artist Nancy Rexroth whose series documenting Ohio rural life was mysteriously entitled “Iowa”. Rexroth influenced a generation of photographers like Cindy Sherman and Richard Prince.

Take some ordinary photos with the iPhone and experiment. Below are three shots, each with a varying amounts of color, a full frame with a center point that would crop into a square, and both detail and smooth spaces. You can see the differences below, left to right, original photo, Helga, and then Lolo.

Get your CameraBag and take pretty Lolo out on the town; you’ll love her saturated, funky style, affinity for the happy accident, her sexy dark edges, and her confident charm. If you prefer a girl whose a little more refined, but with a dark moody streak, date Helga. Either way your iPhone photos will emerge looking classy and classic in one easy step. Like all timeless beauties Helga and Lolo manage to be at once vintage and contemporary. They offer a gritty, sexy appeal and a dreamy glamour—yeah kinda like Garbo.

iPhone 365 Commitment Jumpstarts Creative Vision, by Stacy Ericson

Above: Bell Flower, by Stacy EricsonThe difficulty of keeping a journal record every single day has remained the same since the invention of papyrus: yep, keeping it up every single day. Project 365 went viral this year, inspiring participants to take a photo a day. To date, the Flickr365 pool has over 14, 000 contributors and is approaching one million posts. Some credit Taylor McKnight at PhotoJoJo.com with starting the phenomenon and rumors credit a teen girl for providing the original inspiration, taking a daily video of herself over a three-year period and documenting it on YouTube. I confess to being slightly chilled by the latter, so didn’t follow up that particular line of inquiry.

The photographic capabilities of the iPhone lends a new vitality to the 365 phenomena. Creative applications and unequaled portability makes the commitment easier and invites non-experts to take up the 365 challenge.  Of course, the resulting photographs range from terrible, to blah, to spectacular, but even those with limited photographic experience can produce stunning results using applications like Tiffen Photo FX and Cool FX, CameraBag, and Mill Colour.

Not only does the iPhone camera encourage on-the-spot (or on-the-shot) spontaneity, but it gives photographers a break from the perfectionism that often stifles creativity. The iPhone camera is limited. It doesn’t have built in flash and is not bound by aperture or shutter speed, but these limitations serve to encourage freedom and inventiveness. I often find ambition dampened by my inadequacies as a photographer and a purism concerning post-processing and special effects.  Both can severely limit personal vision. Artistic expression is often best served by freedom from a fear of criticism and failure. Rick Sammon commented on the cycle of learning this week, inciting a flurry of Twittographer RTs. The fear of sucking inhibits excellence, even as it drives our hunger for knowledge.

The beauty of iPhoneography, as seen in the galleries on this site, lies partly in the element of play and the freedom to experiment. Anyone exercising a skill 365 days a year is bound to: a) fail and b) get better. The willingness to do both is the driving force behind the project.

The above photo used by permission of Phillip Resuggan, all rights reserved.Some, like Dixon Hamby (see blog at http://dixonhamby.tumblr.com/), started shooting every day without knowing about the project, others are documenting family life, shooting portraits that become books, and tracking their favorite meals. Blogs spring up and die like daffodils in Spring, as people start and falter in their commitment. Blogging is an easy way to keep track of the day for numerically challenged togs like me who can’t remember whether it is day 7 or 9. Nevertheless, it is harder than one might think to find 365 iPhone blogs. I am following the Example of Valerie Ardini and Phillip Resuggan with my commitment at http://iphotophiliac.blogspot.com.

Above: Bricks and Ivy, by Stacy EricsonFor beginners, I suggest concentrating on details and patterns, experimenting on portraiture as Erik Lunsford and Josh Fahrner have done in these examples, and looking for lines and texture where ever you go. If you have trouble with shaking as you hit the shutter, try the vocal-shutter provided by Camera Genius. Take it easy on photos of your pets and, frankly, I’m not sure 365 self portraits is the way to go, unless you planning on calling your blog iNarcissist.com.

For advanced photogs the sky is the limit. Let go of your inner purist and then take a look at this riveting video by Steve John on Flickr, which was highlighted by TiffenDfx on Twitter this week. Sophisticate apps like TiffenDfx that allow layers are a must; then try going out on a pixel with double exposure using doubleExp Free or run wild with special effects using apps like Juxtaposer.

The 365 project will surely jumpstart your creativity and radicalize your personal vision; reasons enough to become an iphone quick draw and commit to the 365 project. A public commitment is a good thing, so tell someone or everyone that you are taking the plunge. If you find yourself reduced to taking photos of your toes, come back here for iPhoneography inspiration.