On Friday night I attempted step outside of the world of digital media and information superhighways and attended the The Edwardian World’s Faire, here in San Francisco.

The Edwardian period fascinates me for the fashion and adventure our modern lives seem so miserably to lack. The outing we planned, was intended as a brief departure into this world, and to my surprise it was very nearly approaching successful. I left behind all traces of my contemporary life, barring my iPhone and six one dollar notes, all minted in the last 3 years.

My inability to part with my iPhone, for a night in the early 1900s, is excusable by my standards, but my reasons and the resulting outcome turned out to be quite contrary. There are a dozen or more reasons why I love my iPhone, but the camera was never among them. It is fine, in all practical senses, but I have never purchased a phone for it’s camera. And I’ve never considered a mobile phone camera to truly manifest any of the prerequisite qualities of an actual camera. The evenings excursion, however, proved the iPhone camera otherwise.

recording visual images

I’ve always been a sucker for cameras. For me, nothing feels better than a fully manual, traditional camera. I like to feel the mechanics of a good camera in my hands. Digital cameras have always felt a bit foreign to me, but for the convenience, they are winning.

For the first time, the poor, grainy quality of a mobile phone camera became an asset at the Edwardian Ball and I ended up capturing some of the most compelling, apropos images of the event. The photos below, as well as the one I used in the title image for this post, were all taken with my iPhone 2 mega pixel camera. They have not been manipulated in any way.

Kinetic Steam Works installation

Kinetic Steam Works crew, manning the boiler

I was completely impressed, though I will admit, the subject at hand, made the exception. You can view more of my photos on Flickr. You can also see a collective posted in the Flickr group, Edwardian Ball.

Despite my enthusiasm for my iPhone photos, my chap August managed to capture the winner this evening, with something a device slightly more confident than 2 mega pixels. To top it off, it’s a picture of me.

Outside the Edwardian Ball