cell phone photography – Jolene's Life in Focus

The Burden of Being Fancy

July 19, 2018July 19, 2018Posted in Travel, United KingdomTagged Bath Abbey, Bath England, Battle Abbey, Beach, boats, cell phone photography, England, footprints, Hastings Castle, Hastings UK, photography, reflection, ruins, sand, seagull, St. Ives, tin mine, travel photography, White Cliffs, Wine14 Comments

When I got my Nikon D800 four years ago I thought, this camera is going to change my life. I dubbed her “Fancy” and vowed to travel the world with her, taking once in a lifetime photographs that would have National Geographic pounding at my door. Today, I just think about how much she makes my wrists hurt and how there are probably thousands of people running around with Fancys of their own, wanting a shot with National Geographic or Lonely Planet.

I’ve learned that I’m lazy. I don’t necessarily want to learn all the nerdy and technical components about photography that will make me better at it. At the end of the day, I just want to capture what’s beautiful about the world around me. Sometimes it works out, sometimes it doesn’t.

More and more often, I take pictures on my cellphone, which is funny because that’s how this whole blog started years ago: cellphone photos. That’s not to say I’ve totally lost interest in Fancy; I’m just a lot more selective about when I take her out. During my last trip to England, I took most of my photos on my phone. I mean, it’s compact; I can easily hide it in my purse when I’m done using it. I don’t have to worry about breaking it. I can instantly upload photos to social media.

So…sorry, Fancy. Here are some of my favorite cellphone photos from England earlier this month.

Took Man, Left Chair

January 27, 2014October 20, 2014Posted in BellinghamTagged abandoned chair, cell phone photography, humor, old chair5 Comments

This should be funny – you know, random chair with a pithy, chalk caption. But all I feel is loss. Someone has a man, and she’s probably out doing fun hipster things with him, and all I’m left with is this discarded chair.

Have a Heart

February 14, 2013February 20, 2013Posted in LoveTagged anti-Valentine's Day, break up, candy heart, cell phone photography, dating tips, Love, photography, Valentine's Day8 Comments

The Bonnie Raitt song has been stuck in my head all day (and now it will likely be stuck in yours):

Hey, hey, have a heart, hey, have a heart.
If you don’t love me, why don’t you let me go?
Have a heart, please, oh don’t you have a heart?
Little by little you fade while I fall apart.

The lyrics got me thinking about some terrible break-up experiences I’ve had in my 30’s. I believe a man’s true character is revealed in the way he chooses to break up with a woman (or whatever gender combination you’d like to insert here).

How NOT to break up with someone

(All but two of these actually happened to me. I’ll let you guess which ones they were.)

Ignore them until they go away
Send a text message
Shoot off an email
Have a friend break the news
Sneak out while she’s getting ready for bed
Go to the beach while she waits outside of your apartment and then pretend you’re not you when she calls to find out where you are
Change your Facebook relationship status to single

How to be a mature adult

At the very least, CALL her
Meet in person and have a conversation (preferred, man-of-the-year method)

I know it’s not fun looking into the eyes of someone who is still very much in love with you and breaking her heart. I know you are worried she will make a scene and ask you a bunch of questions. I know you would rather get back to playing your video games (even though you are in your 30’s) than answer them. But, man up! She may cry now, but she’ll respect you later.

So concludes my dating advice and Valentine’s Day rant for the year.

Weekly Photo Challenge: Unique

February 7, 2013Posted in UncategorizedTagged cell phone photography, Pamopoly, photo challenge, photography, postaday3 Comments

This week, the Daily Post Photo Challenge is “Unique”. I couldn’t think of anyone more unique than my friend, Pam, and her Pamopoly board. Complete with bottle caps featuring pictures of Pam at different stages of her life, this comically depressing twist on the Hasbro game will send you to Therapy instead of Jail. And you start out $1,500 in debt. Pam explains it on her blog, Putting on my Big Girl Panties. While you’re there, follow her blog! She’s going to be a famous writer one day – I promise!