View from my bedroom window shot on an Android phone.
It’s close to impossible today to buy a cell phone without a camera and interest in using the inbuilt camera in creative ways is growing all the time. Chase Jarvis is one of the biggest advocates of this with his Best Camera app for iPhone’s but cellphone photography or phoneography is by no means restricted to iPhone users. Camera quality in phones improves with each generation, and the growing popularity of smart phones brings with it a host of other options for the phoneograher. As well as the aforementioned Best Camera app, you can get Photoshop on a mobile, there are numerous apps that allow use of filters, immediate posting to Facebook, Twitter, Flickr and so forth is easy to do. Any way you look at it, the possibilities offered are endless.
Like a lot of photographers, I don’t, as a rule, carry my DSLR everywhere. When I’m heading out to the market, or going out for dinner, jumping on my bike for some exercise or taking my wife to work, I don’t want to be carrying a big heavy camera with me on the off-chance that I see something worth shooting while I’m there. I do carry a phone with me however, and that doubles as the camera I have everywhere.
By far, the most important part of photography is the desire of the photographer to make the image. If you love making photographs, then the technical details, gear and specs aren’t all that important. Your desire, your vision and your passion is what drives you and a cellphone camera – or indeed any other type of camera – can see those creative needs met. As they say, it’s not what you have but how you use it.
Orchids - the first photo I took on my Android phone
You can get away with a lot more with a cellphone. An image that if shot on a DSLR would be criticized on some technical merit is likely to be praised if on a cellphone. The expectation of technical quality is a lot lower and this can often be a refreshing and freeing change. You’ve essentially got a license to experiment when you’re photographing with a phone camera which, for the artist in you, is liberating.
One key point in conclusion is that you definitely don’t need an iPhone in order to make photographs. Although there are more apps available for it, and a lot of people refer to iPhoneography, any cellphone with a camera is usable.
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