It seems that the easy transportation factor of the digital camera and the high quality guarantee of the DSLR has been outdone by the iPhone – after all, the iPhone has the advantage of an impressive 8 megapixel camera as well as being your phone. And it’s got Angry Birds.
It seems traditional for us all to worry about the advent of new technologies. It happened with radio, TV and certainly the internet, so it comes as no surprise that photographers feel threatened by the rise of iPhoneography as journalists did by bloggers. Jess, however, feels positive about the changes “I think the advent of iPhoneography is a brilliant way for everyone to experiment with photography and is making the hobby that used to be rather specialist mainstream”.
You don’t have to look far to see that many people think the same as Jess – there’s even a specialist iPhoneography course offered by Kensington and Chelsea college in London where you learn how to capture the perfect photo on your iPhone – but it’ll cost you £115 to do so. There’s mounting evidence that implies the concept of photography is not only increasingly subjective but also not all in the technicalities.
“In hind sight, it doesn’t matter what you shoot with, it’s how you take the photograph,” Jess explains “of course all the key elements such as composition, subject matter and colour need to be taken into consideration but these are skills that anyone can learn with a little practise.”
Ultimately, there are many strengths of the iPhone combined with apps such as Instagram and Hipstamatic. Ease of transportation, plenty of opportunities to alter the look and feel of your photo through adding filters but perhaps the winning feature is simply being able to share your photos in an instant. Instagram allows users to ‘follow’ and ‘like’ what you upload. Jess says “Instagram is a great way of sharing your snaps and is a brilliant tool to share your work through social networking, no wonder Facebook bought it out!”
In the end, if iPhone has given the gift of accessibility to a new hobby, definitions cease to matter. In the meantime we get thousands more images to admire and marvel at.
iPhoneography
feature is simply being able to share your photos in an instant. Instagram allows users to ‘follow’ and ‘like’ what you upload. Jess says “Instagram is a great way of sharing your snaps and is a brilliant tool to share your work through social networking, no wonder Facebook bought it out!”
In the end, if iPhone has given the gift of accessibility to a new hobby, definitions cease to matter. In the meantime we get thousands more images to admire and marvel at.
An article written for Bournemouth University's Nerve Magazine
Words by Viki Richards
Photos by Jess Bracey
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