I’m sure everyone who loves photography, at some point gets a bit burnt out. I have to admit I’m one of them. It seems like the more we chase after the newest quadrillion megapixel camera and become increasingly bogged down by post processing those ridiculously cumbersome files that we somehow lose that fervor and passion we had at the beginning. You know, when times were simpler, and all we wanted to do was shoot everything that caught our eye? If you haven’t already noticed, I’ve been a bit addicted to Instagram. The spontaneity that it cultivates has really brought back a little bit of that lost passion, and I find myself excited to shoot and share the things I see. Kind of like the old days.

On the same note, traveling with an SLR, lenses, and such has become more of a hindrance. I don’t have those 2o year old shoulders anymore, and whipping out a big heavy camera every time I see something interesting isn’t really my idea of spontaneity.  When I spent a week in beautiful Maui last week, I did pack my trusty 5D with a sparse three lens kit. But I already knew it was a lost cause. Instagram and my iPhone had already ruined it for me. The 5D never made it out of the bag.

This was my first true test of iPhone-only travel photography. To be honest, I rather enjoyed it. The freedom of shooting with such an small device, plus the ability to instantly post process and share was really refreshing. The lower-tech nature of the iPhone also forced me to be more resourceful and contemplative of each photograph; in subject matter, composition, etc. I think the results were pretty good, what do you think?

(find me at @rick_poon on Instagram or you can check out my statigram feed here!)

P.S. I know some of you will ask, so I’ll mention it here: all photos were shot with an iPhone 4s and processed using a combination of snapseed and vscocam, the collages done off camera in PS.