Of course I brought my real camera. Hello, I go everywhere with that thing. Everywhere. Even the grocery store.

However, there were 642 pictures taken with my real camera which I don’t have time to deal with now, as much as I would love to, so I’m sharing these iPhone pics instead!

Tech notes:

• I run my iPhone pics through the free Photoshop app. These are all taken with a 3GS. I use the “vingette blur” function, which also boosts contrast and saturation, then I add one of the preset borders. That’s it. Yes, I do know all about Hipstamatic, the darling of iPhone users everywhere. I’m just not a fan.
• The funky edge that creeps into some of these shots is the bright blue cover on my phone partially obscuring the lens.
• Last week I saw some prints made from iPhone pictures for the first time. They were good. Who knew!?

— Heidi

Well, last weekend was my birthday. Not the big 4-0 or anything, just a birthday. My husband surprised me with a last minute getaway to a secret destination. In the airport at 6.30am, I discovered we were headed to New Orleans! Never been there before. Full of preconceived notions. Very excited.

It is hard to really say how wonderful it is to walk around a strange city with my camera. I usually take my D700 with a 50mm on vacation. I don’t like taking a point and shoot, but if Panasonic wanted to send me a Lumix I might change my mind. An SLR is a little heavy but it is small enough to carry all day and be hidden in a purse when you don’t want to broadcast your camera around.

Yes, all these places, people and things have probably been photographed by millions of other tourists. Somehow that does not diminish my joy in it. I’m not going to give full explanations of each image, for fear of boring you all completely.

And thanks, Honey. Yer the best.

As part of my new year’s 2010 resolution, more individual art images will be posted to the blog, in addition to client work. This shot will look great printed on metallic paper (photo paper with a shiny silver undertone.)