I had such a silly, stubborn relationship with Apple iPhones for the longest time.  I was always a late bloomer when it came to cell phones and smart phones. I did not own my first cell phone until I was a senior in high school, 18 years old. I was always owned a phone for two or more years and didn’t realize that I had a free upgrade available. For years, I watched just about everyone get an iPhone and I always shrugged my shoulders. I didn’t know much about them other than you could download apps for any and everything, leaving you to never be bored in any moment. I always had the same stubborn opinion,

I don’t need all of those apps. iPhones are ridiculous. They do too much. Do they make you a cup of coffee in the morning too? Does the phone make phone calls? Good. That’s all I need…and maybe a GPS app.

So stubborn. I danced around the iPhone for many years, becoming fond of Samsung’s phones. They served me well, but then…I lost my conviction. The iPhone was going to win, here’s why….

Photography.

It was getting hard to deny, iPhones took great pictures. My conversion to the iPhone began in 2013 and was complete in June of 2014. In 2013, I downgraded my entire cell phone situation. I was planning on moving by the end of the year and I was trying to keep my budget in control. I had changed my phone to a prepaid Samsung something or another with a manageable bill. But in return the phone was very simple; it just made phone calls (what a crazy idea).

By November 2013 I had moved to California. At some point, I thought that I would upgrade to a better phone, but didn’t know which brand. Then the trouble started. I lived in California, the most beautiful state in the Union.  I was very happy to explore Southern Cal and with every new and exciting site, my instinct was to capture it and post the image to Facebook. My prepaid Samsung nothing or another was not doing justice to the beauty of what I was seeing. In conjunction with that, my ego stepped in. I would think, "people know me as a photographer." I can’t go around taking low quality cell phone pictures and posting them. I had a rep to protect!

A lot of my outings would consist of having my Samsung nothing and atrocious AND one of my Nikon DSLRs. I would see the view I liked, capture it with the DSLR, then go back home to edit it on my computer and then post it to Facebook. So inefficient. It was time. It was worth the conversion.

I joked with some of my friends, though I wasn’t joking, that my posts per day would increase thanks to the iPhone. They didn’t really, but I was glad to protect my photographic reputation. Included below are some of my favorite images captured around LA in 2014.  I downloaded the photo-editing app, “Aviary.” It has great editing software built in for color and exposure adjustments as well as an array of Instagram-like filters to give that extra punch.

Other smartphone brands and models have since caught up and even surpassed iPhone’s camera quality, but I’m pleased with the results of my iPhone 5s.

[Note: If you are friends with me on Facebook, you've already seen 98% of these.]