The App Nerds Workshop - New Year Perspective Shift

We’re delighted to publish Lola Mitchell’s latest article to her App Nerds Workshop column with us. In case you’re new to this wonderful column we wanted to give you a little background. Lola’s bi-weekly Column is called ‘The App Nerds Workshop‘. It is a virtual classroom, an environment for new talent to share their work, for Lola to share some of the ways she uses apps and for the not so new talent to share some secrets. Lola sometimes assigns broad themes to keep the creative juices flowing. Your minds will be tickled into creating, experimenting, daring, dreaming, making and doing.

We have a dedicated Flickr group where you can submit your images for consideration, please follow the link to that, here.

This week Lola takes an introspective look at her photography and her photographic journey, not least with the hardware too, don’t miss this…

Happy New Year to all of you. I hope this year brings you what you are seeking, and surprises you with things you did not even thought you wanted or needed. I also want to congratulate everyone that made it into the MPA. There was such great works this year. I am very honored to have had two honorable mentions, one in digital fine art and one in self portrait.

I usually do not make a new year resolution, but this year I did, one is to take better care of myself, and the other is to share more, be more open to the world. I am a bit of an introvert and can spend endless amount of time alone, but if I dig deep, I am happiest when surrounded by my friends. Did you make a new year resolution?

The past few months I have been going through an existential art crisis. It all started when I decided to add photoshop to my list of skills. I dusted off my Canon 60D and started shooting. Pretty fast, I realized that the element of spontaneity did not always work, so I started sketching my ideas. I think mainly because I was using models too, but also because as I am learning I really needed to have a plan in order to have all the photos needed for editing. Which was great except I realized that suddenly I was having a hard time just creating, playing around which is why I love iPhone photography so much. You start with an idea and start playing around, experimenting. I think it became really apparent that I had lost something about two months ago. I barely took any photos, even personal photos. I had lost the spark, the element of fun.

I do not want to stop working with my Canon and do not want to stop my iPhone photos. I tried to think about how to trick my brain to be able to work both ways. I needed a shift in perspective. I have decided to embrace my self portraits for my iPhone photography. They are a great way of experimenting. Also I am always available for me. : )

I am hoping that I can work both ways by separating the two this way. It has worked to get me back to taking photos with my iPhone. I have a shoot that needs to be scheduled but was pre-planned before the holidays for my Canon 60D. I am hoping that someday I will work the same with both mediums, that they somehow will meet. For now it seems not so much.

I know there are many of us who work with both. Do you find yourself in the same mind frame when shooting with a mobile device or a dslr? Or do you approach the two as separate means of expression?

This article was a long time coming so there is a large amount of great photos that have been posted on our group The App Nerds workshop. Here are a few of my favorite, usually I pick 3 or 4 but that was not possible. So here are my 6 favorites, there was so much amazing works. Keep them coming!