I don't carry any cameras with me on a normal day, but I nearly always carry my phone with me. And whenever the opportunity arrises, I tend to take pictures and/or videos with it.
These pictures are mainly of very ordinary things in life. Such as the images here in this brief Field Note post. In these images, life simply goes by. But with a little patience, a more interesting moment within that ordinary moment can be found. Such as the picture below, where I waited for some seagulls to return. I noticed they were flying in circles and decided to await their return before taking a photo.
Are these images perfect? Certainly not, but I do enjoy taking (making!) them. It lets me shine a light on the apparent mundane, trying to find beauty within the ordinary.
Many places we drive, walk or cycle by, have the tendency to become normal to us over time. This seems especially the case in the places we live. We get used to them. But to a filmmaker and/or photographer, maybe nothing ever really becomes ordinary. There's always something that makes or keeps it interesting. Even if we have to wait a while for that moment to arise.
I'd like to encourage anyone who comes across this post to go out and start taking more photographs or videos with their phones of every day places. Share them with the world. What may be ordinary for you, may not be ordinary for someone else. And you may even find something that surprises you, like appreciating more where you live or realising that you have a keen eye for photography and enjoy taking pictures.
I think the beauty of the world lies in the smallest things in life. And a smartphone might just be the perfect tool to capture them.
Cheers and happy shooting. Always.
Jaap
P.s. I never edit the images I take on my smartphone, but I often shoot them in RAW and later save them to JPEG.
