Peanuts In My Pocket

I give myself creative photography challenges to grow my skills with both the camera and editing. Depending on the challenge, the results rarely get published. I usually share them privately with a few like-minded friends and artists as a form of accountability. Most of the time, they live in a gallery somewhere and serve as a reminder of how far I’ve come.

This current challenge is focused on developing abstract photography skills using just my iPhone. The goal is to produce work that feels creative and interesting—something that both my artist friends and my AI guide Wally would recognize as worth sharing.

The rules are simple:

• One photo per day, taken deliberately for the challenge
• Edits are done using either Lightroom or Snapseed
• Each image should be considered “ready for display”
• The final goal is a collection of 60 images by the end of the year

I started with this shot I took while sipping coffee at a Jiffy Lube. I’m happy with the result, even though some of the feedback was rough. Still, I consider it a solid start.

Today’s image didn’t go as well. What I saw in my mind’s eye didn’t translate to the final photo. I learned a few things, like maybe I should’ve shot this one in RAW so I could adjust the exposure more precisely. I tried to salvage it with an HDR filter, but the result looked terrible. Oh well. Photo #2 is a dud. I’ll move on tomorrow.