A Camera Is Only as Good as the Photographer Holding It ⇥ lensandwhisk.substack.com
I use many brands of cameras for my professional work: Leica, FujiX, Canon, as well as Zeiss attachments for my phone. But the fact remains that more than 50% of my work continues to be shot on iPhone, using the native camera app, and editing in Lightroom Mobile, because it’s the camera I have with me. The photo I took that won this year’s award was taken in a very brief quiet moment, in an otherwise busy aquarium, of my young nephew who never stands still for longer than a second. The 2016 photo was similar: my then toddler gave me a very small window in which she was willing to sit there with the leaf that matched her eyes.
Do check out Brooks’ stunning work in this post, and the images created by her and other photographers in this year’s iPhone Photography Awards gallery. But notice how, as Brooks points out, very little of it depends solely on the technology in hand. Yes, some of the finalists in this year’s awards are using very recent iPhone models; others, though, are not, and I do not think it detracts from the work they have created. Even the Portrait Mode glitch I think I see in one photo is completely fine.
Photographers have captured memorable images on everything from the best medium- and large-format cameras, to instant cameras with expired film. But catching those specific moments? That is all on the photographer. Sometimes it is the result of exceptional planning; at other times, it is a lucky catch. A good photographer can prepare for the former and anticipate the latter. I think Brooks is right: I think people are getting better at this.