In my phone is a lot of evidence of a busy life being busily lived, lots of pictures of what we've been up to recently, where we've been, who we've seen. They are snaps, and not very good quality at all, but they are the photos I will want to look back on in years to come, those messy, blurry momentoes of home and family life.
I have always had a sort-of rule that photos taken on my phone would stay off my blog, mainly because they just aren't very good quality, and I always use my DSLR for blogging because I want it to look good, to be the best that it can be. That works well up to a point, and my aging-but-still-working DSLR is perfect for photos like crafting or cooking, activities in or around the home. But I'm just not in the house much these days, not compared to before I went back to work, and I find that I am increasingly leaving the big camera behind when we go somewhere, mainly because it's just so big and heavy, and I get a bit sick of lugging it around. I want to take a good photo, but not so much that my shoulders ache. But my phone is always in my hand, my pocket or my handbag, and I use the camera on it all the time. I share some of the pictures on Instagram and Facebook and I use the app WhatsApp all the time to send free messages and pictures to friends and family (I have to pay to send a picture text on my current phone contract). And it occurred to me recently that if I only share those "good" DSLR pictures with you, then I won't have much to share and a large part of my daily life won't be visible here.
So, in my phone. Pictured at the top, hilarious fun in the park with something called a Stomp Rocket, a gift to Angus from my friend Abigail. You jump on one end and the rocket shoots off from the other. Not just for kids, and not bad photos for a phone either, although it did take lots of shots to get those and Abigail took half of them.
Also in my phone: memories of a wonderful weekend with friends, a visit to the Horniman Museum in London, trips to the park, lots of eating and drinking and Eurovision-watching and laughing.
Lots of eating.
Also in my phone: the signs of late spring I am noticing everywhere around me. Suddenly the grass is full of buttercups, the hedgerows frothing with cow parsley and the horse chestnut blossom is magnificent. I feel like this year is the first time I really noticed it. Glorious green May is brimming over around me and my instinct is always to look at it, then look at it again through a lens.
There are all kinds of other miscellaneous bits and bobs in my phone too, like this photo of the border in our back garden. That large-leafed green plant is a hollyhock and I took the photo to send to my sister Anna ("remember those tiny plants you gave me last summer??") because I have high hopes for my hollyhocks and am very keen to see if they flower and what colour they might be.
Last of all, a snap of some Orla Kiely inspired napkins I've been working on recently and have almost finished.
So, that is some of the life in my phone, and some of what I have been up to lately which keeps me away from here and from all your lovely blogs. Kitchen work and work-work eat up all my free time and I can't wait for half term so that I can slow down and catch up with you all properly.
I have a lot of pictures I need to transfer to our external hard drive soon, as they are taking up storage space on my phone. I don't want to risk losing them. Tell me, do you use your phone to take most of your photos, over a compact or DSLR camera? How do you organise, store and save your pictures? I'd be curious to know.
Thank you so much for your warm birthday wishes for Angus. You are a really nice bunch of people, do you know that?
What lovely photos and they seem to be good quality, even from your phone. I sometimes have the same problem in that my big camera gets too heavy, but I do have a little pocket type one too, that I keep in the car. I'm not good with a mobile phone and mine is "VERY" basic. Love the first lot as that looks like a lot of fun. Something to keep in mind for my grandkids. The one I like best is the two of them in the tree. Reminds me of my childhood and tree climbing. Thanks for sharing and I'll email with a funny story about photo storage. Take care.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed your phone photos, Gillian. My kids also like Stomp Rockets. You should see the kind that involve water, they're a big hit in the summer. You raise an interesting question about photos. I don't use my phone much at all for photos. I'm a very late-comer to smartphone technology (only got my first one two years ago). Before that I had a phone with a camera but never learned how to transfer the photos to a computer. I think the carrier's website was a middleman for that but I don't know for sure. I've never really gotten accustomed to taking many photos with my phone, which is why I'm such a sporadic Instagram user. I would say I take most photos with my DSLR, but recently I haven't taken all that many photos with that either. I used to fill my SD card in a matter of two months or so, now I can go six before I fill it up. But we do back up our photos about every other week, and as long as I get them off the camera in time, they go on the external hard drive, which goes in the safe-deposit box, etc., so at least the photos I do take are locked down for all eternity. :)
ReplyDeleteGosh, I just love every single post of yours. Every single one.
ReplyDeleteyour photos look great!
ReplyDeleteI like your phone photos! I always forget that my phone has a camera.
ReplyDeleteGosh, that stomp rocket looks fun! Lovely photos and the quality is very good. My phone is an old one of my daughter's; I just use it for emergencies and if I'm lucky it's charged! It does take photos but I use a compact camera - not the greatest quality but it's OK for me. I upload the photos every couple of weeks to my laptop and then save them on the shared drive. Love the Orla Kiely napkins. xx
ReplyDeleteGreat phone photos - lovely peeks! I have an aging almost retro i-phone which takes the most blurry pics but I still love it. So photographs are taken on a compact and then haphazardly saved onto a laptop. I do print a lot of my photos and so they are saved on there too...
ReplyDeleteOh I do love a good stomp on a stomp rocket; they're great fun. Super pictures as they capture the essence of the moment. And I love the pic of Angus showing his badger the stuffed badger :-) I use my iPhone all the time when I'm out and about and all the pictures I post on Instagram are from my phone. I use my DSLR when photographing my Monday vases and around the garden, but I use my phone in the garden too because it's always in my back pocket when I'm gardening. I download all my pics onto my Mac to store them (which I MUST remember to back-up!!). Hope the kitchen is coming along well. Sam x
ReplyDeleteit's massively time-consuming but getting into scrapbooking for photos x
ReplyDeleteI like my phone for IG photo's, usually use my DLSR for planned photographs, but don't really mind using phone photo's on my blog. You have posted some wonderful moments here Gillian, full of life and energy X
ReplyDeletePhones take surprisingly good photos these days. I remember reading that all the pictures taken by James Rebanks, who posts beautiful pictures of his Herdwick flock on Twitter and Instagram and has written books containing his photos, are all taken on his iPhone. I do know what you mean about using "real" camera photos, but I think that phone photos can be just as good - and sometimes more convenient xx
ReplyDeleteI don't own anything other than iphone (4s) ans mini ipad, so all my photos (incl blog) are from those! I like them and get compliments so they must be ok - personally, I can't tell the difference ;o
ReplyDeleteLove your selection of fun photos from you phone. I am wondering where our own stomp rocket is.
ReplyDeleteI very rarely use my phone for taking photos, I haven't got the hang of it. I have my big camera, and a tiny one for the pockets. For phone backup I have use Amazon Cloud (with Amazon Prime) and now I am using iCloud for all photos, phone and otherwise. For good measure, I have an external hard drive that I use for backing up now and then. x
I use my phone to capture 99% of my day to day life. I only pull out my DSLR for special events or trips as I do find it heavy and big to carry around although I've recently subscribed to the SnapShop course from Ashley (under the sycamore blog) and I'm slowly learning more about my DSLR in hopes to start using it more. I've recently blogged about how I store and organize my digital photos if you want to take a look, here's the link: https://audreeleeblog.wordpress.com/2016/03/15/organizing-storing-digital-photos/
ReplyDeleteI think I sort of have the same unwritten rule actually, but that's starting to change. I used to always use my DSLR all the time and at home I still do but I've always hated lugging it around too and most of the time these days I just forget! I don't know what phone you have but a lot of them have really good cameras these days. I've been wondering about taking an iphoneography course as I've heard a few people saying about them...
ReplyDeleteAs for storing and organisation, that's a tricky one. I keep meaning to get some printed out but it never seems to happen! Hopefully someone will have some good tips 😀
S x
The stomp rocket sounds like great fun!
ReplyDeleteI hate my phone camera as the photos are poor quality but would love the convenience of being able to take photos on a phone! I just carry a bridge camera around with me (everywhere!), a Nikon P900, as that gives a lot of zoom (for getting wildlife close ups) but isn't quite as bulky (or faff-y with lenses) as a DSLR.
I keep all of my photos on my PC, in folders organised by year, month, date. I have a hell of a lot (500gb at the moment) and solve storage problems by living with a tech genius! We each have a computer he built specifically for our computing needs and when we run out of hard drive space, we upgrade to a bigger hard drive and transfer everything. We also have a mini server with 4 hard drives in it that carries two complete back ups of all our files. I have no idea how I'd manage all my photo storage if I didn't have my very own computer expert!
My phone is still the 1st iPhone that came out... its OS can not be updated anymore, and its camera is really not good. Therefore, most times when I go somewhere thinking I might want to take a picture or two (last but not least with my blog in mind), I take my digital camera. It's by no means top notch - several years old, and takes up some room in my handbag -, but it is good enough for me.
ReplyDeleteI love taking pictures, looking at them later, arranging them for blog posts etc., but I know that I am far from being a decent photographer.
When I transfer pictures from camera to PC, they go in a themed folder. For instance, all my Jersey pictures are in a "Jersey" folder, where I delete them once I've uploaded them to my blog. No need to store them twice, although I know I am risking losing them all if anything should happen to blogger or to my account.
I also have a photobucket account, which is bursting at the seams. So far, I have not yet decided whether to creat a new photobucket account (for my next batch of Yorkshire holiday pictures in July/August!) or clear out the existing one.
Your photos are great and show a glimpse of your real life as it is, lovely!
I think you are right about photos. As for storing them, I have them mostly on the computer and then periodically back up to an external drive, they are in fact all over the place, but that makes them safer in a way because the more copies I have the better I think!
ReplyDeleteHave you downloaded the free app Snapseed yet? It lets you edit the photos on your phone like you would on your computer. There's a bit of a learning curve, but I've been impressed with the results. I'm not affiliated with Snapseed in any way, BTW, just like the product and that might make you happier with your phone photos.
ReplyDeleteYour phone takes great photos. Mine is rubbish and I'd love a better one so that I could do Instagram. I just have a compact camera which is light and easy to carry around. Most of my photos are taken for the blog so I have them organised by post. Personal ones are organised by event or year - I need a better system! X
ReplyDeleteMmm, is that onion rings? I love onion rings. And the picture of Angus's badger meeting a badger is wonderful. My littlest boy would appreciate a moment like that. I almost always use my DSLR, and then I just keep the memory cards in a little case. Not very scientific, but I like to keep it simple. CJ xx
ReplyDeleteI take loads of photos on my phone. I use Dropbox, so they are all uploaded automatically onto my Dropbox account, which is online. I can then sort them into folders by month, and delete any duff ones. I can periodically just delete everything from my phone, knowing it's all saved and backed up, which is amazing really.
ReplyDeleteI like both sets of your photos. My Canon SLR got too heavy for me too. I replaced it with a much more compact and lighter Olympus EM 10 which I love and carry it on daily photowalks. I can wifi the photos straight to iPad or iPhone to Instagram. My recent(ish) iPhone does take pretty good photos, and I use it more for social events when I don't want to wield a phone. Photos on the phone is organised by days/months etc and sometimes I use their albums. It's all backed up in the Cloud (friendly name for giant computers in Pennsylbanua or somewhere isn't it!). I use the Redbubble website to post favourites and make postcards from them. Jean
ReplyDeleteSeriously I forget that my phone is a camera too, I am so used to using my compact. We have a stomp rocket and we all love playing with it at the farm because we live in a built up area and we lost some to neighbours!You little snaps of spring are great, you should make it a regular post to give you a little snapshot of your family memories. Jo x
ReplyDeletegreat pictures. I am the reverse of you and only ever use my phone for pictures I wish I used my actual camera more, especially on the blog! Looks like you have had some great times in recent weeks x
ReplyDeleteI have to say my phone photos are substandard at best. I am always looking at things sideways or missing the important moment. I use my nicer camera fro my blog, but should really practice with my phone as I know it is much more capable than I am allowing it to be. I love your snapshots of your busy life.
ReplyDeleteHugs,
MEredith
I love your phone photos, if photos tell a story of whats been happening and keep a lovely momento of a treasured time with loved ones, then it doesn't matter whether it was a fancy camera or a cheap camera that took it. I take all my photos on my phone now, as its always there to capture those precious moments.
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ReplyDeleteI use my phone so much for taking photos, instant snaps of future memories. I couldn't get my grandchildren to sit still enough if I had to go and get my husbands camera, I like to catch them when I can.
ReplyDeleteYou've taken some great photos with your phone.