Once again I am pleased to present this years ’24 Mobile Photographers Til Christmas’. It is a series that has been run throughout December for the last couple of years and has always been successfully received. In part, it is to celebrate the forthcoming festive season but also to celebrate another year in the timeline of Mobiography.

In the series I ask 24 hand picked mobile photographers to offer an insight into their work, to reflect on their year gone by or plans for the coming year ahead. Each featured photographer is someone who has inspired or supported me in one way or another during the course of the past year. One photographer will be showcased each day until Christmas Eve in a sort of online advent calendar so to speak.

Today’s featured photographer is Rob Pearson-Wright

The photo I am most proud of is…

Photo by Rob Pearson-Wright

I’ve chosen this image not because it’s the best image I’ve taken all year or even the highest quality photo. It does however make me proud…in a kind of narcissistic way. Stay with me here! When I look at the image I see the split second I had to catch the light and compose the shot. My iPhone 5s just about kept speed with me. (I have a love / hate relationship with it because of the 50/50 chance of getting a sharp shot. It’s getting dumped for an iPhone 6s!) Anyway…I also see in this image, a reminder of the hard hours put into my passion for mobile photography. The release valve from normal working life, and the luck and success I’ve had in the past couple of years.

This shot wouldn’t have been taken had I not won the Terry O’Neill Award at the beginning of the year. The cash prize was immediately ring-fenced so that I could fund a trip to New York, which I’d been talking about for a couple of years. Bills be damned, I was treating myself to that NYC trip!

I got to see my aunt and enjoy her hospitality, staying in the Bronx during my visit. I got to spend my 40th birthday shooting street photography in one of the great cities of the world. I was invited for a personal tour of the New York Facebook HQ by the Instagram brand developer Patrick Workman. Thanks again for the liquid nitrogen brewed ice cream and that street photography magazine!

On the first full day in New York, at the Mermaid Parade in Coney Island, I randomly bumped into fellow iPhone street photographer and all round lovely bloke, Sheldon Serkin and got to chat and shoot with him for a few hours. I also got to meet other mobile photographers/artists on that trip like Cat Morris, Ryan Vaarsi and his wife Deb as well as an old school friend who now lives in Brooklyn. It was great meeting them all.

So when I look at this photo it makes me proud that I’m part of this vibrant community of mobile photographers and artists, proud that I’ve had some success through my passion and dedication which allowed me to travel to a great place and take away so many enduring memories and images.

Like the couple in the photo, walking off into the sunset, I left New York with a warm glow on my face and in my heart.

Connect with Rob Pearson-Wright

www.robertpearsonwright.com | Flickr | Instagram