Something a little different today folks, allow me to indulge myself! I’m Kitty, Editor in Chief here at GOHub, or as the writers call me, Aunty Kitty, and this right here is my 1000th GOHub article.
So instead of bringing you the news, or sharing the best raid counters, I’m here to share my favourite part of Pokémon GO (outside of the amazing friends I’ve made), AR photography.
Now if you had told me a couple of years ago when I first hoped to join GOHub as Junior Writer that I’d be writing prolifically and considering all the wonderful team at GOHub as my own little family I’d never have believed you. But here I am, and they are!
For me Pokémon GO was a dream, the idea of seeing Pokémon in the real world was all young Kitty could have dreamed of. As the AR aspect of GO has changed, grown, broken and developed over time, it’s become a huge part of my life.
I’ve written a lot of articles hoping to help others learn to use the AR feature in GO, and those are definitely some of my highlights as a writer. The AR community may be niche, but it is dedicated and amazing, and so creative. Each month I host the AR Showcase, asking the community to submit their best AR photos along a specific theme, and each month I am absolutely blown away by how creative the community is! You inspire me every day, and push me to come up with bigger and better ideas for my own AR photography.
Some of the articles I’ve written are out of date now thanks to the huge updates to the AR mode that happened this year, and that makes me so happy! Being able to take photos of multiple Pokémon by myself is so good, though I am so grateful for the memories of doing group AR with my friends Scott and Matt, even if the Pokémon did spend half their time slipping and sliding out of frame!
- How to use the new AR mode
- Bokehmon
- Tiny Pokémon
- Motion
- Black and white
- Kecleon
- Weather
- Focusing on Pokémon from the back
- Colour
- Rule of Thirds
- Locations
- Buddy Mode
- Body Parts
- Prisms
- Event Photobombs
- From Above
- Aurora Borealis Skies
My personal favourite techniques are Bokehmon, which I find myself doing endlessly, and using the tiny Pokémon tricks. I appreciate that tricking the game into making Pokémon smaller than they should be is kind of ridiculous, but sometimes they’ve just got to be tiny and cute!
I like Bokehmon because I think it gives a sense of realism. A long time ago I was an alternative fashion photographer as a hobby, and shooting portraits often means finding beautiful spots for photos, and I still use some of my finds to this day, just with Pokémon instead! I developed carpal tunnel syndrome and despite surgery my right hand can’t hold the weight of my camera for any meaningful sense of time, so being able to use my phone for AR photos is a dream.
In portraiture it is often desirable to have a very shallow depth of field so that the focus of the photograph is entirely on the subject. With Pokémon GO the game naturally wants all of the image to be in focus, which isn’t always aesthetically as pleasing as a shallow depth of field.
This is where Bokehmon comes in, tricking the camera into focusing on your hand instead of the background of the photo, and quickly removing your hand before your phone can refocus. It can be complicated and take time to get right, but it can look so great!
I am constantly on the look out for new locations, and like to take AR photos whenever I travel as a mini diary of where I’ve been. I also aim to trigger Smeargle photobombs when I travel so that I can have a Smeargle with the location tagged for the trip!
Pokémon GO has taken me to places I never thought I’d go, and I’ve done things I never thought I’d do. Last year at London GO Fest I was asked to speak at an event hosted by The Pokémon Company at the Ivy at Tower Bridge. A truly once in a lifetime experience. I’ve made amazing new friends, gone to events by myself, met people I admire, and it is all thanks to GOHub.
To Scott, Matt, Bev, Becky, Terri, Scott, James, Rachel, Mandy, Annette, Darry, Jordan, Alex, Emma, Amoret, my local IRL squad, I love you all so much! To my online pals, some of whom I’ve had the pleasure of meeting, you mean more than you know; JellyBean, Spindiana, Avrip, Meteorash15, babygengar, phrixu, Professor Glaw, the Incensed Podcast, Asthepokeballturns, Lured Up! Podcast, all our GOHub writers and mods and the AR Community.
The biggest thanks I have to offer are to Zeroghan, our fearless leader here at GOHub. Thanks for taking a chance on this nerdy gal from the UK who had only ever written about plus size fashion before. Pokémon has become a huge part of my life, an escape, something I look forward to, something I know can always make me smile.
Here’s to the next 1000 articles!
Kitty xx
