Smartphones

[Bill Pierce]

The Center for Photography in Woodstock, N.Y., is dear to my heart. It was started by Howard Greenberg, who now runs what I think of as the most important gallery of photography in the Western Hemisphere, but who still finds time to head the board of the Center. So it amused me to see that an organization associated with a gentleman who sells large Steichen platinum prints was doing an exhibition of smartphone photography. Your thoughts?

http://www.newyorker.com/culture/photo-booth/redefining-smart-phone-photography

 

[robert blu]

Times go fast...and Smartphone photography is a part of our photographic world, we can like it or not but it is. As with any instrument we can use in a good or in a bad way.
I just gave a quick look (dinner time here) but it seems me there is something interesting.
robert

 

[Paul Jenkin]

The Center for Photography in Woodstock, N.Y., is dear to my heart. It was started by Howard Greenberg, who now runs what I think of as the most important gallery of photography in the Western Hemisphere, but who still finds time to head the board of the Center. So it amused me to see that an organization associated with a gentleman who sells large Steichen platinum prints was doing an exhibition of smartphone photography. Your thoughts?

http://www.newyorker.com/culture/photo-booth/redefining-smart-phone-photography

Being from the UK, I'd never previously heard of this establishment, so I Googled it. It seems like a progressive sort of place and I can only presume it wants to prove how broad its spectrum of influences actually is.

 

[maddoc]

If digital imaging is considered as photography then why not including smartphone-based imaging? It seems to be the successor of the box-camera with the added feature of instant sharing to like-minded people world-wide via social-networks and photo-blogs. I like the idea of such an exhibition of printed smart-phone images.

 

[Ko.Fe.]

Center of what? Photography!
Mobile phones pictures are photography also.

Would I go? No. I could take my own 🙂

 

[russelljtdyer]

Accoutrements of Young Women

Accoutrements of Young Women

Last year, for a few months, I dated a woman who is much younger than me--about 17 years younger. There were advantages and disadvantages to dating a younger woman. One advantage was that she pushed me to do things that I would not do normally, such as use my mobile telephone to take photographs, so I could show her things that were happening around me during the day when we were apart. Below are some of the photos I took for her in February last year.

I prefer using a device that is dedicated to photography (i.e., a camera) and not one which has the primary function of verbal communication (i.e., a telephone). Nevertheless, I don't always bring a camera with wherever I go. There is a convenience and an immediacy available with mobile telephone cameras. And the results are not bad, albeit not as good as with my Leica and Zeiss cameras and lenses.

I took the photo above while waiting at the tram stop in Milan, to show the girlfriend that it had begun to snow. It was at the end of February and the snow days were thought to be finished. However, on this day there was an unexpected, heavy snow fall.

I went to a town on the Liguria sea called, Recca with some friends. The girlfriend couldn't go with me, so I took this photo to send her.

I found this graffito to be interesting and sent it to the girlfriend since it had an applicable, romantic sentiment to it. It says basically, "[My] love, excuse [me]. Remember that I love you! --your little girl". I added some punctuation and pronouns, and removed one pronoun to translate properly the sentiment.

 

[jsrockit]

I don't hate smartphone cameras... there is some great work being done with them. I just don't like when people confuse social media / selfies with photography.

 

[Prest_400]

I was skeptical of what could be done with a phone but after a few months of owning a flagship device with a decent camera module I've become proponent of smartphone photography.

If digital imaging is considered as photography then why not including smartphone-based imaging? It seems to be the successor of the box-camera with the added feature of instant sharing to like-minded people world-wide via social-networks and photo-blogs. I like the idea of such an exhibition of printed smart-phone images.

Afterall it is the way one can use it. We take photographs and it is a complement.
I can shoot with it in some contexts and places where a camera isn't feasible or proper. On my daily life, commuting I'm not usually bringing out my m43, 35mm or MF camera; and for some interesting detail or shot I see in the way the phone suffices.

 

[Kate-the-Great]

I prefer using a device that is dedicated to photography (i.e., a camera) and not one which has the primary function of verbal communication (i.e., a telephone). Nevertheless, I don't always bring a camera with wherever I go. There is a convenience and an immediacy available with mobile telephone cameras. And the results are not bad, albeit not as good as with my Leica and Zeiss cameras and lenses.

My thoughts as well 🙂 (this next comment may make me some enemies) In a sense, smartphone photography, when made in the hands of a photographer who knows their craft, is really in line with the "rangefinder ethos". Sure, the image quality is not as nice and you lose some subtleties- but if the camera is always there, why not use it? (samples all from iPhone 5c & Photoshop Express)

 

[russelljtdyer]

No Bad Cameras

No Bad Cameras

In a sense, smartphone photography, when made in the hands of a photographer who knows their craft, is really in line with the "rangefinder ethos". Sure, the image quality is not as nice and you lose some subtleties...

Good point Kate: Basically, there are no bad cameras, only bad photographers. This is also the point in part that jsrockit and Prest_400 seem to be making.

If Henri Cartier-Bresson was alive and well today, he could probably take better photos with my portable telephone camera, than I could take with my Leica M9 and Leica lenses.