Smartphones ruin my photography-not what you think.

kshapero

kshapero

South Florida Man
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Joined
Mar 27, 2006
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I am primarily a street photog. I walk around, go from street to street to catch humans being humans. But, damn, the last 12 years or so, the damn smartphones have ruined everything street for me. You see I do not find smartphones to be very photogenic. So nowadays every time I see I good shot, damn if the subject more times then not is squinting at his smart phone. Huff!!! What to do?:bang::eek:
 
I'm on streets with cameras since 2017. Can't say it changed much. Canada, USA, Russia...

I have been in States regularly from 2018 to 2019. For work and even with family.
I didn't find mobilombies to be too abundant. Maybe it was spike in 2020-2021 due to some kind of turbulent events. People were reading what they liked most, I guess.
 
Akiva, you could do like Karsh did with Churchill's cigar. Snatch the offending object from their grubby little hands, then capture the resulting expression on their face with your camera. :p

- Murray
 
Not only that but we got those electric scooters parked everywhere.
 
I wish smartphones constantly in everyones' hands were ruining our street photography, and only that. Much worse is that they've made us much less aware of what's going on around us, and way less available for spontaneous social interaction with strangers. This is a much greater loss.
 
Andrea Taurisano said:
I wish smartphones constantly in everyones' hands were ruining our street photography, and only that. Much worse is that they've made us much less aware of what's going on around us, and way less available for spontaneous social interaction with strangers. This is a much greater loss.
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+1I fully agree
 
We have to accept it, fortunately there are no cigarette-smokers anymore.

gelatine silver print (elmar 50mm f3.5) leica 1A.

Erik.

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My late mother lobed to strick ip conversations when she took a train once a week. She would say 'People have all got theier heafs down staring at their phones, the're being boring'. For street photography, Looks like sge was right.
 
Enjoy the smartphone era while it is there. There will be different devices in the future. Then your street images with smartphones will be collectible!
 
Well yeah. The look of 'the street' has changed over the years and right now it's a rare street shot of people that does not have someone looking at their cell phone.

Street photography documents the interactions of people, things, events in the street ... the current cultural milieu. As a street photographer, this is one of the things you are documenting: the obsessive, over-use of the cell phone is a sign of the current milieu.

On the other hand, on my cycle rides and walks I see plenty of opportunities to shoot scenes documenting the milieu that do not have people with cell phones at their center. People out on the street are sparser than normal because of the pandemic, but there are still groups of children, parents and children, individuals talking at tables in cafe outdoor seating, sole walkers moving about. To me the overall cultural milieu I see is these occasional clumps of humans against a generally sparser, quieter backdrop of activity.

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At Crema - San Jose 2021
Polaroid SLR670m by MiNT​

Perhaps that makes the obsessive, over-use of cell phones more difficult to see beyond. Such are the challenges of street photography. :)

G
 
valdas said:
That is for our generation. In 50 years will be - oh, those smartphones were so sexy for the street photography, now those [insert new technology] really suck :)
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Yes. It is a sign of the time - and like modern cars, faces covered w masks, loads of tourists at tourists attractions etc. it will be appreciated by future viewers.
That is how XX looked, behaved, dressed and so on back in 2021.

Mobile phones held to the ear was a common sight 15 years ago, not so much anymore:
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Conversations on Piccadilly Circus 2007
 
I'm convinced that a great many who are walking while looking at "smartphones" are reading "left, right, left,right, left, right."
 
kshapero said:
I am primarily a street photog. I walk around, go from street to street to catch humans being humans. But, damn, the last 12 years or so, the damn smartphones have ruined everything street for me. You see I do not find smartphones to be very photogenic. So nowadays every time I see I good shot, damn if the subject more times then not is squinting at his smart phone. Huff!!! What to do?:bang::eek:
Click to expand...

This is exactly what I thought it would be... it's not a new complaint. I've learned to deal with it. It is just part of our times just like newspapers, cigarettes, payphones, etc were (are) in the past. Maybe stop thinking of the person with the phone as the subject and think of the whole photograph as the subject? Maybe go to where people are living life or working on the streets?
 
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