On Saturday, I visited The Photography Show with Zara from Mojo Blogs. As you can probably tell from the photos on my blog, photography isn’t a particular strength of mine, although when I look back at the photos I took when I started blogging, I’ve come on a long way! Every single photo I’ve taken has been on my iPhone 5. I do own a very basic ‘point and shoot’ digital camera, but to be honest, my iPhone takes better photos and I like being able to upload them to social media straight away. That said, I am getting a ‘proper’ camera in the summer and I can’t wait!!

A lot of the stuff that I saw, although incredibly interesting, wasn’t really relevant to me. It was really fascinating to watch people taking photos and experimenting with different angles and perspectives.

There was one session I attended which was really relevant and interesting, and I’m going to share what I learned with you.

The talk was given by Oliver Lang, an Australian mobile phone photographer. He focuses on street imagery and the use of Instagram. Up until recently, and even now, photography on mobile phones hasn’t really been taken very seriously. Oliver proves that is it a credible form of the art and was even commissioned by Burberry for photos.

Here is what I learned from his session

Mobile cameras are convenient

Like most people, my phone is always near. It’s either in my hand, in my bag or in my bra (I don’t tend to wear clothes with pockets!), so it is always easy to whip out and snap that fleeting moment.

Mobile cameras are good in crowds

A camera can be big and bulky, and trying to capture a scene in a busy crowd can be difficult. A phone can be held close to the body which makes it easier. People also notice a big camera, and so may ‘pose’ accordingly – not good if you wanted a completely natural photo. A phone is much more discreet and inconspicuous.

Mobile cameras are good for close-ups

iPhones aren’t bad for landscapes, but they’re much better at taking close-ups (perfect for product review photos!) and it is much easier to fill the frame. They’re also the best for selfies!

Mobile Cameras are good for connectivity

The photos are easy to share with a wide audience and thus gaining feedback immediately.

Treat mobile camera apps like photos

If they’re rubbish, don’t hold onto them – delete! Oliver mentioned a few apps that he uses for taking and editing photos – Snapseed and Procamera being two of them. I use Pomelo to edit photo, but I will be checking these out – his photos are incredible!

Consider context

This one is particularly interesting with the increasing popularity of photo-sharing websites such as Instagram and Flickr. The context needs to be considered and addressed when uploading photos. By just ‘sharing’ a photo (which I often do), you may gain a few ‘likes’, but not get the engagement you want. By ‘publishing’ it – explaining what it is and why you took it, you are more likely to get comments and feedback. If you are uploading to Instagram and want a larger audience, use appropriate hashtags. I think as bloggers we do tend to do that anyway to increase traffic, but definitely, something to consider!

Curate your photos

When we follow friends on Instagram, we tend to see mainly photos of their day to day lives – children, pets etc. He suggested that if you are a serious photographer, unfollow these people and follow photographers of the genre you’re interested in – food, street, fashion etc. They then won’t get missed amongst everything. Now, I follow people because I enjoy seeing photos of their lives, so this doesn’t really apply to me, but I guess a secondary account could be created to follow photographers if you wanted to.

I learnt so much from this session, and although I am incredibly excited to be owning a camera, I feel much better about ‘only’ having an iPhone for photos – it is more good enough!