This enormous photo dump of a post is brought to you by my visit to the 2026 Swan Island Dahlia Festival on Michael Jackson’s Birthday Eve (Friday), a field trip I’ve been meaning to take for the last four summers. I went early (right when they opened), stayed for two and a half hours, and could’ve stayed longer had I not had to leave to make it to an appointment. I will absolutely be back.

Along with my phone, I brought my Instax and a disposable camera. I’d planned to bring the disposable with me to the festival last summer, as evidenced by that May 2025 date stamp on the Post It note stuck to the packaging. I didn’t because I didn’t go. And of course, even though I remembered to bring it with me on Friday, I didn’t take very many photos with it. Oh well. I’m excited to see how the few I took turn out, once I use up the few remaining exposures and have the roll developed.

I thought about bringing my “real” camera (an old Canon Rebel I bought at Target about 12 years ago). Because I was already carrying the Instax and the disposable and my phone and a water bottle and a bunch of other shit in my small tote bag, I didn’t. I wish now that I had. Almost all of the photos I took on Friday, I took using my phone. They turned out fine enough. I think my DSLR—or even a pocket-sized, point-and-shoot digital camera— and I could do better.

The two best things about the festival: it’s free to attend (and to park!), and I saw Michael there twice.

All of the photos in the post are straight out of my iPhone. No editing, no cropping, no resizing, etc. I say this to reiterate my belief that you don’t need a “real” camera to document your life and the things that are important to you. Is a DSLR nice to have? Yes. Is it necessary for the average, everyday person, or for memorykeeping? No.