If I were to mark on a calendar the cameras I used each day, my iPhone 6s would show up most often, no fewer than 4 days a week. Most of the photos I make are throwaways, something I wanted to document so I wouldn’t forget it, or something I wanted to show my wife.
But every now and then I use my iPhone to make a photograph I wanted to keep, one I would have rather made with a “real” camera had I only had one on me. They’re all still snapshots but I thought you might like to see some of them.

Here’s a selfie of me all swagged out at my previous job (you know, the one where I was fired with no explanation). We were having our second annual Field Day, which was a bunch of silly quasi-athletic outdoor games. After my unwelcome exit from the company I promptly waste-canned all of my company swag. Also: this might be the only photo ever of me wearing a hat. I’m not a hat person. I’m too vain about my hair.

This cornerstone anchors the First Baptist Church in Lebanon, IN. I photograph church cornerstones whenever I find them; here’s my Flickr album of them.

I spied this guy while taking a walk through the neighborhood. Isn’t he just gorgeous?

These were the disposable coffee cups we used at church for a while. I drink so much coffee that this slogan describes my whole life.

On another walk through the neighborhood, this rainbow appeared.

I used the iPhone’s panorama mode to capture the whole rainbow later in the walk.

Ruth’s Cafe is a quirky breakfast-and-lunch place near where I work. It’s very popular — get there by 11:30 for lunch because it’s socked in by 11:45. This old TV, its works removed, is their check-in stand and they always have some breakfast-related quote scrawled onto its screen. I’ll bet this was a top-of-the-line set when it was new.


Here are some tulips from the little bed under our front window. I made these photos in the last few weeks as these buds began to open. The iPhone is brilliant at making flower photos.

There aren’t many advantages to living right next to I-65. One of the few is that there are no houses behind us to block the sublime sunsets we get. And then last year a Toyota dealership was built on the other side of the retention pond from us, and they erected their sign right in our line of sight. Sunset, brought to you by Toyota. Oh, what a feeling.

It’s a tired cliche, I know, to photograph your lunch. But these gluten-free waffles are so tender and delicious that I had to memorialize them just once. If you’re ever in the area and follow a gluten-free diet you can get these at Cafe Patachou, which has locations all around Indianapolis.

Finally, the crowd gathers to see Metallica play at Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. Maybe it was because we were in the very last row, but the sound was so muddy we sometimes couldn’t tell what song they were playing. I’ve seen Metallica five times now, but the last time was 22 years ago. I can’t believe the metal bands of my youth are still at it. Anyway, thrice Metallica were brilliant and twice they sucked. One of the times they sucked, I stood in a downpour that lasted the show. Good times, good times.
My metalhead son and I are on a quest to see the Big Four thrash metal bands — Slayer, Anthrax, Metallica, and Megadeth. We saw Anthrax last year on a tour it headlined (read my report about being in the mosh pit here), and again last year on a tour Slayer headlined. We have tickets to see Megadeth in August. Parenting level: expert.
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