Photo Art

When it comes to doing cool effects with photos, having an iPhone is kind of like cheating.  It's so simple to snap a photo and even if it's a mediocre picture, you can pull it into one of the many photo apps on the phone and in a few seconds have a cool ArtPhoto.

I've been taking pictures for many years. In fact, I got my first real camera when I was in Panama in 1972. It was a Canon FTb. It was all metal with a chunk of glass in the lense as big as a headlight. The camera weighed slightly less than my motorcycle at the time.

When I got back to the States, I went to work for The Community News with my friend Dale Short. He was a child photographic prodigy. We did ArtPhotos but it took HOURS.

The first ones we did we shot pictures with Ektachrome slide film and developed the pictures in a solution made for print film. We then developed the prints in special cannisters with a concoction of developer that was normally used for developing xrays. We added some special sauce too. At any rate, when the pictures came out, they were studies in high contrast prints with vibrant colors. Some of them were stunning.

The reason we didn't do more is because life is short.

Anyhow, I enjoyed our time experimenting with photography, but at my age, iPhone Art makes a lot more sense.