Riding the Carousel in Binghamton, NY.
For the last year or so I have made light of my iphonotos(no pun intended). I am not making light of the images themselves or peoples appreciation of them, but light of my current “camera” of choice. These images have been more about my journey than the photography. However, I still record the images with the same photojournalism foundation I firmly believe is important. I don’t change the content in the photo or ask others to move. It is “As I see it…”
I like to play with new apps and experiment with light and movement. Often I shoot the same subject with multiple apps, multiple focus spots, multiple exposures and various zooms, just to see the different results. Much like I did with my camera bag with its multiple lenses, filters, flashes and films. After the image was captured, came the ongoing decisions of how to “soup” that film and ultimately print the image for the world to see. We all had our standards, we knew instinctively what film, what filter, what developer etc. was required to capture a specific event. We dodged, burned, cropped, over exposed, under developed, but never changed the content of the original subject. We helped our “readers” see what we thought was the most important element of a story. It was what made good photographers better and good editors invaluable, knowing what tool and what crop would allow them to tell a compelling visual story. Like my favorite F3 with short zoom lens, I usually go back to just the straight iPhone camera and Photoshop Express (free) as my favorite apps of choice. (Ok, I love the ProHDR($1.99) app but more on that later.) In the end, I like the apps that let me keep the original image as it is, not manipulated or altered. That way I can always go back to the foundation to rebuild when I experiment. There are so many wonderful apps available that create a mood. The key is the subject – the emotion or the reaction remain the same – it should still be about the content. The mood of the image may change but the “story” is intact. I would not have this photo of my daughter laughing on a merry-go-round but that I had my phone in my pocket. I love the genuine child like laughter of my often too serious college grad, for me the phone photo was perfect for this moment.
All this brings me to an “As I see it…” conversation. Recently New York Times photographer Damon Winter won a third place award in the Feature Picture story in the Pictures of the Year International, (POYi) contest for his feature “A Grunt’s Life” shot on his iPhone using the Hipstamatic app($1.99). It has sparked all sorts of discussion and controversy. Some say the use of the app changes the reality of the scene; others question the use of the iphone entirely. But Damon says it best in his statement to Poynter.org. “I could not have taken these photos using my SLR and that perhaps is the most important point regarding my use of the camera phone for this story.” I like the picture story, especially the moments in the images, where we as the observer get to see our soldiers in their daily routine, the boredom, the exhaustion, the camaraderie and the environment they endure daily. Thank you, Damon, for making this possible. Nice Work!
Check out his work at: http://lens.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/02/11/through-my-eye-not-hipstamatics/
Also read the story on Poynter.org: http://www.poynter.org/how-tos/newsgathering-storytelling/118898/live-chat-friday-what-role-do-image-apps-like-hipstamatic-have-in-photojournalism/