Jet Lendon, Jo Bradford, and smartphone photography
Welcome to my latest blog, which is a gentle read about two smartphone photographers who, if you're into smartphone photography, you should check out.
I recently watched a Zoom talk by Jet Lendon, a professional photographer who, like millions of others, only uses her smartphone to take her photos. The host for this talk was MyPhotoClub, and the title of Jet's talk was '"Just" a smartphone camera? Think again.'
By the way, you should visit Jet's website to see the full range of smartphone photography courses and services she offers.
https://www.jetblacksquares.com/
Back to her Zoom talk: after briefly introducing herself, Jet then gave the audience a quick spin through setting up your smartphone camera. Going through your camera settings can seem tedious, but if you want the best results you need to set things up correctly.
There followed a generic section about photography, which didn't always only apply to smartphone photography. One good tip for taking those really low shots was to turn your phone through 180° so that the camera was literally on the floor. Good tip, but one I had picked up a long time ago.
She repeated the often said phrase that photography is about story telling. A timely reminder in case you've lost sight of photography's purpose.
There were other suggestions, such as using a selfie stick/tripod, employing a Bluetooth shutter release, and attaching a wrist strap to your phone if you were in a high risk phone-snatching area.
Finally, she took us through her photo editing workflow using Snapseed. Her mantra is if you can't edit in a minute, bin it! I am not sure I agree with this, although I suspect she's talking figuratively rather than literally. Sticking to her 'rule' may actually put people off editing. I know I have often talked about the '5-minute edit' (my Blog #23 on mike53onthemove.blogspot.com). I wouldn't want to be racing against the clock to complete an edit in one minute!
Jet Lendon is obviously someone who enjoys her photography: her delivery is pitched just right; she is certainly knowledgeable; and she's a great ambassador for smartphone photography.
I would recommend MyPhotoClub to any photographer; their weekly Zoom talks are varied in subject matter and are only £5 for two hours (you can watch the recording for up to two weeks after the live event).
I mentioned that I like to read about smartphone photography, and someone whose work I admire is Jo Bradford. Her book, 'Smart Phone. Smart Photography', was one of the first books I bought on the subject. I am constantly referring to it when I want or need to brush up on my smartphone photography.
Another of Jo's books is, 'Smart Phone. Smart Phone Editing', which as the title suggests is all about editing on your smartphone. Like myself, Jo is a huge fan of Snapseed, and she'll take you through every function of Snapseed, showing you how to master this wonderful editing tool.
Visit her website https://www.jobradford.com/
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© Mike Young 2025.
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