6/30/13 Flagstaff, Arizona
When we landed in Phoenix it was a brutally hot 119°, but as we drove up and out of the Mojave Desert the air began to cool. It's amazing how far you can see out here. A storm was building on the horizon and just after lunch the monsoon rains moved in. Normally, I'd never try to capture an image like this with a phone because it requires so much resolution to successfully pull it off. But the 1020 has the pixel count and lens resolution to grab all the big clouds, big lightning, and big landscape in huge detail. I'm thrilled with it.
7/1/13 Page, Arizona
Spent the morning photographing the Paradise Forks climbing area near Williams.
7/1/13 Page, Arizona
I'm getting to know this camera. Small and light comes in handy when I'm hanging from a rope shooting climbers scaling a 5.10 crack climb. If I tried to lean way out and get the best angle with a regular DSLR, I'd be constantly worried about how to counteract the weight of the camera. But since the 1020 is so little and light, and has such a big bright screen, I could actually compose shots from some pretty crazy positions. The focus seems spot on too, and the details it records are staggering for a smartphone.
7/1/13 Page, Arizona
After lunch we raced North to reach Page before sunset. A landslide had closed down the major road north, so it was a long, long way. Got there in time to check out a slot canyon and then go on to the Horseshoe bend of the Colorado River. Stunning place! Boaters were camped all the way down on the slickrock, and in my pictures you can count their sleeping bags even though they were 800 feet below me. This camera's resolution is incredible.
7/1/13 Page, Arizona
After lunch we raced North to reach Page before sunset. A landslide had closed down the major road north, so it was a long, long way. Got there in time to check out a slot canyon and then go on to the Horseshoe bend of the Colorado River. Stunning place! Boaters were camped all the way down on the slickrock, and in my pictures you can count their sleeping bags even though they were 800 feet below me. This camera's resolution is incredible.
7/2/13 Monument Valley, Utah/Arizona
This morning we met kayaking guides and headed out to narrow canyons on Lake Powell. You'd never expect to find a huge lake in the middle of the desert-but there it is. The kayaks let us explore places that would have been hard to reach otherwise. We kayaked up one canyon through emerald green water and then hiked farther up, with the walls growing higher and closer together as we went. At the most narrow point, we couldn't see any sky, and the light became very dim and blue. Even in those low-light conditions the camera pulled in plenty of detail.
7/2/13 Monument Valley, Utah/Arizona
This morning we met kayaking guides and headed out to narrow canyons on Lake Powell. You'd never expect to find a huge lake in the middle of the desert-but there it is. The kayaks let us explore places that would have been hard to reach otherwise. We kayaked up one canyon through emerald green water and then hiked farther up, with the walls growing higher and closer together as we went. At the most narrow point, we couldn't see any sky, and the light became very dim and blue. Even in those low-light conditions the camera pulled in plenty of detail.
7/2/13 Monument Valley, Utah/Arizona
I'm shooting with it just like I would with my DSLR-well before dawn, well after dark, well into territory where a phone has never worked well before. I'm not even tempted to bring out the "real" cameras.
7/4/13 Moab, Utah
Here at the Slickrock Trail before dawn to shoot two mountain bikers. Waiting for them to show up, I shot a photo of JB lit only by the interior light of the car.
7/4/13 Moab, Utah
ISO 1600 looked really good and all the shots before sunrise look fantastic. I have to say, this camera's low light capability just blows me away.
7/4/13 Moab, Utah
Of course once the sun clears the horizon, the camera really comes into its own.
7/4/13 Moab, Utah
This camera lets me be free. I'm not constrained by the physical bulk of a DSLR and that feels great. Tonight I was shooting on an arch in the National Park. As the sun neared the horizon it disappeared behind a cloud bank and all that glorious, perfect light was gone. I climbed down from my very precarious perch, but just as I reached the ground-boom-the sun peeked through one last time. I slipped the phone in my shirt pocket and speed-climbed back up the arch in time to get a few frames off before the light went away for good. If I'd been lugging a regular camera with a professional lens, I would never have made it back up there fast enough.
7/5/13 Moab, Utah
The way this camera lets me focus just a few inches away is astounding. I'm photographing flowers in the high mountains outside of town and that close manual focus makes all the difference.
7/5/13 Moab, Utah
The way this camera lets me focus just a few inches away is astounding. I'm photographing flowers in the high mountains outside of town and that close manual focus makes all the difference.
7/6/13 Moab, Utah.
EXHAUSTED. But had a great afternoon shooting. Mounted the phone on a long boom to get a different view of climbers on Lizard Rock up at Fisher Towers. Got above them and shot down using the boom pole to get an angle out away from the cliff face-something I could only do with a small camera.
7/6/13 Moab, Utah.
EXHAUSTED. But had a great afternoon shooting. Mounted the phone on a long boom to get a different view of climbers on Lizard Rock up at Fisher Towers. Got above them and shot down using the boom pole to get an angle out away from the cliff face-something I could only do with a small camera.
7/6/13 Moab, Utah.
Then the light died behind some clouds. But as they continued up the tower, the sun came back out for a few quick minutes as it neared the horizon. Just as Herb was at the crux of the climb, for a couple of frames, I caught him as the valley lit up in glorious golden light.
I'm done! Must have climbed that tower five times in a row in scorching afternoon desert heat.
7/7/13 Horseshoe Canyon, Utah
Arrived here at Horseshoe (Barrier) Canyon last night with a storm brewing. It's been a LONG day. Up at 4:30 a.m. to shoot aerials in Moab. (Whoever thought I'd be shooting aerials with a phone?!?)
7/7/13 Horseshoe Canyon, Utah
It was tricky, but the phone worked as well as a DSLR in many respects. I could set the ISO where I wanted and then check to make sure the shutter speed was high enough to make sharp photos from the open window of a small plane flying 130 mph. As the morning wore on I could ease the ISO further and further down to increase the quality of the images. Even with a lot of vibration from the plane, the images were sharp and held all the details.
7/7/13 Horseshoe Canyon, Utah
Back on the ground, we took a long weird drive south to Horseshoe Canyon. Almost 75 miles of dirt road!
7/7/13 Horseshoe Canyon, Utah
45 mph winds blew huge clouds of sand and dust as we packed up a little food, a gallon of water each(it was almost 100°), a tripod, a monopod, headlamp, and this blessedly small camera. Since the lens is part of the phone, I never had to worry about dust getting into the sensor, even during the sandstorm.
The canyon is as beautiful as I remember. Wide, sandy, and over 500 feet down from rim to floor. It's also extremely remote. You have to drive 75 miles on a bad dirt road, then walk for miles through loose sand. Last time I was here I carried a 4x5 press camera, tripod, and lenses. It wouldn't surprise me if the photos I take with this phone are better quality.
Cloudy, humid weather made the ochre rock paintings this canyon is known for especially vivid. To me, they look even more spectacular now that I've seen other rock art all over the world. Rained on us during our whole three-mile walk-but that was a nice, cool way to wash off the sweat and dust of the day.
7/8/13 Sand Flats, Escalante, Utah
One thing I love about being a traveling photographer-the constant surprises. We left Horseshoe Canyon this morning headed west on dirt roads through the Escalante without much idea of where we'd spend the night.
7/8/13 Sand Flats, Escalante, Utah
We wanted to see Calf Creek waterfall (which was beautiful) but beyond that who knew?
7/8/13 Sand Flats, Escalante, Utah
It always pays to ask a local. Our waitress at the Hell's Backbone Grill recommended a side road that led to one of the most astounding campsites I've ever seen. Sand, juniper trees, and an amazing view of the Escalante. We could see miles and miles out past the Henry Mountains with absolutely no sign of another human being.
7/9/13 North Rim of the Grand Canyon, Arizona
What a morning, what a night. After sunrise we hiked down to the slickrock below camp. The air was clear and cool as we looked for a way into low canyons we'd spotted the night before. The head of each one proved too steep and treacherous, so we made our way down a hump of slickrock that divided the canyons. The air got hot fast as we dropped about 800 feet from the rim to the spot where we turned to head back up by a different route. We crossed a formation where bedding planes made the rock look like a frozen red ocean wave. I've never seen anything like it.
7/9/13 North Rim of the Grand Canyon, Arizona
Back at the North Rim that night, totally exhausted. Photo assignments like this drain everything out of you-sleeping in the dirt, covering lots of ground on foot, and thousands more miles in a car.
Dead tired, we headed to Cape Royal to check out the sunset. The light was bad, our energy was zapped, and I almost called it quits. Then the sun dipped lower, the clouds broke, and the light improved. In fact it got downright incredible. Rays of sun broke through the haze-fantastic drama. For a photographer, light is like food, energy. We'd barely been able to keep our eyes open, and suddenly we were jumping across rocks like little kids.
7/10/13 Phoenix, AZ
I just went through the photos in the hotel's dark room where I could really see my images. What this camera will do astounds me. Getting these results from a phone, at magazine resolution, is stunning.
On assignment I use my smartphone constantly as a phone, an email device, for research, navigation, and as a portfolio. But I've never considered using one as a camera to shoot assignment photos. Most produce images that look OK on the phone screen but fall apart if they get any bigger. So if a good picture was happening and I only had my phone I'd be kicking myself for not carrying a "real" camera. The 1020 is a real camera, it just also happens to make phone calls.
I have to say, after shooting exclusively with this camera for seven days straight, it's pretty impressive. I treat it like a normal digital camera and expose for the highlights (manual control and exposure compensation let me do that) and let everything else fall where it may. I reach into those deep shadows later in editing and pull out details.
The phone is capable of HUGE resolution and extreme saturation. The 1020's low light performance is on par with a DSLR. The screen viewing angle is great-letting me hold the camera high over my head and still compose on the screen. It's so lightweight I could not only easily carry it, but also stick it at the end of a pole or boom.
As for technical details: I found I was using the full manual controls most when the camera was on a tripod. Then I could really dial down and control the way the image looked. The controls were very intuitive. On the fly I'd set the EV to -.3 or -.7 and just shoot away. The lens seems to be well matched with the sensor. Low light performance is exceptional for a camera phone. The bright f 2.2 aperture really lets a lot of light in.
I've used a lot of camera phones, so when I set out on this assignment I had my doubts. My doubts are gone. There's never been anything even remotely like it.
On Assignment with the Lumia 1020
Welcome to a journey like no other. A ten-day photo assignment covering vast distances, iconic panoramas, and wildly unpredictable conditions with only one piece of equipment-a smartphone. See highlights from this exhausting, exhilarating expedition through the American West. Shooting from wind-tossed planes, dangling off ropes, and scrambling up rock pinnacles to capture action and landscapes before dawn until well after those spectacular sunsets.
