Photographers have been nominating their Facebook friends to take part in the 5 day Black & White Challenge. I decided to use the challenge to see what I could create with my iPhone. Non-Facebookers have asked to see what I did too. So here are my images taken over a 5 day period. All were made with an iPhone 5s.

Day 1 - "Autumn Monochromes"

Autumn colours are spectacular. So why photograph them in black and white? Once that was the only option open to photographers. This is my attempt to "go forward to the past".

Day 2 - "Our Town"

The juxtaposition of the text Our Town which is both specific and generic; the horizontal line of the blind obscuring identity so that this could be any of us; and the vertical line of the windows sill cutting sharply through the image, all create an "alone together" feeling.  When I saw this setting I knew right away that it would create an iconic statement about cities. Unfortunately there was no one at that table.  So I came back 15 minutes later. Bingo!

Day 3 - "Soccer Practice"

There are little stories everywhere. Here the ball that missed the net tells the story. I like the clean graphic design. The young players in the distance round-out the context.

Day 4 - "Walking"

On this image I went all-out with special effects. I boosted the colour saturation in Lightroom, then did the B/W conversion in Nik SilverEffects, and applied a Film Noir filter.  Software processing and filters are all the rage for smartphone images.  Is that because post-processing really works for phone photography, creating a new art form? Or is it because the quality from these tiny sensors demands that the photographer mess with the image to hide the low resolution?

Day 5 - "Coffee Time at the Market"

On the final day I decided to see what the iPhone could do with an everyday indoor scene.

The Black & White 5 Day Challenge was great fun.  And I discovered there is something addictive about iPhone photography.

posted by Ted Nodwell