A Little Lightroom

I’ve jumped between lots of mobile photography workflows; Flickr, Everpix, Adobe Revel, Instagram, Dropbox, Dropbox Carousel, Google Photos, iCloud, and some custom built stuff.

I’ve had my hand in several editing apps too; Camera+, Apple Photos, Adobe Revel, Flickr, Pixelmator, Photoshop, Camera Awesome, PicsPlay Pro, Repix, Camera Noir, Instagram, RNI Films, Analog Camera+, Snapseed, iPhoto, VSCO, MaxCurve, Darkroom.

The mobile revolution distracted me with photography software in the last few years. I have come to the realization that for me photography management and editing is a task for traditional computers.

I am no longer holding out for the dream allowing all photography to be managed from phone, tablet, computer. I have 100,000+ RAW files, and as many JPEGs (and that’s before we talk about the iPhone videos or random JPEGs).

A Moment of Clarity

I have been ruthless recently about devices and their intent. I’ve gone from the lifestyle where I babysit 2.5 computers, 1 tablet, 1 phone, and a watch. The nightmare dream was to be able to do anything from any device at any time.

I have 3 devices now and they serve 3 roles. A Mac mini for backup and media server; archiving, a MacBook Pro for work, and an iPhone SE for relaxing. This division of devices has brought clarity in the past few months.

I shoot with my iPhone SE and edit them using Lightroom on my phone for enjoyment and experimentation only (relaxing). The camera phone is nothing more than a Polaroid; a quick, impulsive snapshot. There is no guarantee of a backup or intention to print. If I want the image to endure I add it to a journal entry.

I am intentionally not trying to manage anything from my Fuji cameras here. That is, by my new definition, work.

I’ve been relaxing and making some images for me using Halide & Lightroom on my phone. I save them and share a few directly with family in iMessage. I don’t sync them beyond the camera roll and iCloud backups.

Some before and after images using Lightroom on my iPhone: