One of the most commonly transparent ways that we engage with one another today is through photography. One can argue that we often speak not with words, but with photographs and images. Notably, on social media with strangers, but we also share photos with our siblings, friends and relatives' daily through various mediums. We generally share our feelings, or “mood”, our perspectives, our interests, and our knowledge. As we so constantly share photos trying keep up with the tech-savvy ecosystem around us, we tend to overlook the basic tools we already possess that allows us to not only share at a rapid rate, but also share photos of a high quality and professional level. The Smartphone Storytellers workshop instructed by photographer and creative director Chris Charles, gave a glimpse into mastering the art of photography with our smartphones. This introductory photography course focused on minimalism, exploring personal phone features, using third-party apps, and simply getting creative with angles to get the best picture for a paying client or your personal Instagram profile.
As a photographer and producer who has worked with the likes of Red Bull, The Thurgood Marshall College Fund, Toyota, Spike Lee, Grammy nominated and North Carolina emcee Rapsody, as well as many other notable clients; Charles openly shared his expertise in this field, as a substantial part of his professional photos have been shot on a smartphone. He opened the workshop by asking the audience to take a photo with their phones, and then cynically announced to everyone that they had failed the first assignment because no one took the time to even wipe off their lenses before snapping a photo. Due to our cameras being also our personal cell phones, the lenses inevitably get distorted by hand oils, lint, and many other factors that we are not conscious of. This was the first of many overlooked tips that Charles shared as it pertained to smartphone photography.
This informative workshop was held in the heart of uptown Charlotte, North Carolina, at the Harvey B. Gantt Center for African-American Arts + Culture, as a part of the on going Charlotte SHOUT! Festival. The workshop wasn't only exclusive to aspiring smartphone photographers. It ranged from the average smartphone user who simply wanted to learn a few tricks on how to take cooler pictures from their phones, to a real-estate agent who wanted to learn how to take better property photos for potential clients, a grandmother who wanted to bring her aspiring photographer grandson to gain some new knowledge, and a mother who was gifted a trip to Europe by her children for her 40th wedding anniversary, and wanted to learn how to take memorable high-quality photos during her exploration.
Those in attendance walked away with newly discovered settings they can adjust on their phones to take more refined photos, as well as new third-party apps to enhance the detail in the millions of photos they will take from their phones. Some of the pivotal tips Charles shared for those wanting to become better smartphone storytellers included; turning on the grid feature in your settings, making sure the viewer doesn’t misinterpret the focus of the photo with busy backgrounds, refraining from using digital zoom in your photos as this lessens the detail in the image, avoid using flash unless necessary, shooting the shadow of a building rather than the building alone to show depth in your photo, and simply taking a photo from a lower angle to show a unique perspective of the object or person you're taking a picture of.
Charles made it a point to repeatedly articulate that everything you need for those high quality photos are in your smartphone. Developers such as Apple and Android are only scratching the surface on the level of features and advancements they could include in our smartphone as it pertains to photography. If we are willing to explore how to take better pictures with our smartphones, and there is an experienced professional such as Chris Charles willing to share the information, there is no doubt we will continue to communicate and tell our stories through high quality photography from the palm of our hands.
Make sure you check out the list below provided to TTTMedia by Chris Charles himself for some quick tips that can help you master the camera on your smartphone. Follow Chris Charles on Instagram @chrischarles.co!
Jon Olangi is a senior editor and writer at TTT Media, where he covers culture.