When you have a little bit of an artistic eye but very little know-how when it comes to fancy supplies, you make do with what you do know. And what I do know is a cell phone camera.

Coming from the Millennial generation, I grew up with cell phone cameras- from the terrible little camera on my original flip phone to the pretty impressive thing packed inside my pocket-computer today. Partly thanks to this increase in camera capability and partly thanks to some practice, my cell phone pictures have improved from bad selfies to what might qualify as photography.

The first time I used my cellphone as the primary tool for photography was on a mission trip to Honduras. At the time, I had a Samsung Note 5. I was able to get some pretty shots of the terrain between San Pedro Sula and the surrounding cities we visited.

As happy as I was with these photos, I could not give myself too much credit- the beautiful landscape gets most of the credit.

A year later, my now-husband and I went to Myrtle Beach on our first big trip together. During this trip, though again the landscape was beautiful on its own, I wanted to see if I could do more than just press a button and have the picture turn out pretty. I wanted to be more proactive and purposeful in taking the pictures. I was pleasantly surprised with some of the images I captured.

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After that, I noticed a switch in my style when it came to taking pictures on my phone. With every picture I took, I thought about lighting, shadows, positioning. When I go on a hike or on a walk, I see the shot differently than I did when I was just snapping pictures to have a memory. Trust me, I’m not saying I am a photographer or even have half the talent that it requires. I’m only saying I notice things differently now than I did before.

So, here is the next test. How do these pictures compare with ones taken with my Nikon? Am I able to transfer the “eye” from a cellphone camera to a real one? Am I able to do some of the work myself that the cellphone camera does for me? Or, will phonetography be the best fit for me?

We will find out!