Hands on Look at the Canon Idea Mine Free iOS App

At the PhotoPlus Expo 2011 in New York City, I had an opportunity to sit down with Paul Pierson of the Carbone Smolan Agency (CSA) to learn about a new iOS app on which his company is working. It’s called Canon Idea Mine, and according to the company, “it was developed through CSA’s extensive research and interviews with dozens of notable photographers. By working closely with Canon, CSA built a versatile tool that’s fine-tuned to the way real artists create amazing images. Through this app and its Digital Learning Center, Canon is building on its role as a dedicated partner for photographers along every step of their creative process.”

If I were to summarize what the app does, it helps to expand one’s ideas for what to photograph by suggesting a variety of specific criteria, such as a place, as well as other content, such as one or more feelings (energetic is one feeling that you’ll see in the screen shots below). Paul Pierson explains the app in more detail: “By incorporating just the right amount of randomness, CSA’s goal was to help photographers evolve and expand their ideas. If you’re stuck, the app can generate billions of unique image concepts from scratch in just two taps. We think this tool will help today’s photographers, who are now expected to conceive ideas, not just execute. It’s a serious tool in a fun and distinctive package.”

During a hands-on demo, I was impressed by the way in which the app guides you through the criteria, resulting in a beautiful graphic using black and red text, as well as some graphics. Now that I look more closely at the screen shots and other materials, I realize that the inspiration for the graphics came from Canon’s L-series lenses, which is very cool (almost as inventive as those Canon L-series lens mugs!).

I’m not sure when the app will be available for download, but I’ll announce it on my Facebook page and my Twitter feed when I find out.

Related Links:
PDF Press Release for the Canon Idea Mine App
Article on Pixiq.com with some great ideas and insights from Damien Franco