Thoughts on Phonetography

Hello. My name is Patricia Lyons. I am a professional photographer. And I, um, take a whole lot of photos with my phone.



Now don't you worry, I'm not going to show up at my next job with just my iPhone (though I can't swear that won't happen in the next ten years).

Like your mobile, the phone itself neatly wraps the fragments of my life, work and personal, into a sleek little glass-faced box. Oh yeah, we're talking color-coded kids' schedules on iCal, games to keep them happy during doctor visits, client emails, one touch weather (which is usually wrong), ESPN updates or FB checks, and texts from Dad. They're all on there. In one small unit. Sometimes I even use it to make phone calls.

But the thing is, the phone itself is freakishly close to my grasp at any given moment and has accidentally become an integral part of my personal photography vault. Now you might ask (as my husband has, while twitching and maybe holding the Visa bill in one hand), "why on earth would you shoot with a phone when you have all that expensive equipment?"

Because.

Because all day, every day, I see things I want to shoot and frame them up in my mind, but my camera is ______ (fill in blank with any location excluding my hand).
Because sometimes that big camera is, well, big, and within my purse could double as a medieval swinging weapon.
Because if I DID shoot all the time with my big camera, I'd fire myself for adding to my already overloaded processing workload.
Because I thought it would be cool to take a shot each day and slap them all together after some time to see if they encapsulate my week, month or year. Like a photojournal.
Because there are all these cool camera apps that make my inner geek giddy and make the photos look better.
Because it's great shooting exercise, especially those days I'm stuck in the office and not shooting at all.

And most importantly:

Because sometimes the best camera for capturing a moment, is simply the one you have in your hand.