Camera Phone Photography - A New Genre

I'm no Luddite, but until now I resisted getting one of those fancy phones with all of the extra features such as a QWERTY keyboard and a camera. I've been perfectly happy with a basic cell phone, but my service provider recently discontinued it's mobile offering, and so I was forced into looking for a new phone and a new company. I had no idea what I was missing.

The phone that landed in my hands turned out to be Apple's iPhone. What an incredible tool! It's not simply a phone. I've loaded several applications that provide functionality ranging from managing my bank account to navigating via voice enabled GPS. It has turned out to be an inexpensive replacement for various dedicated devices through the addition of affordable applications downloaded from iTunes.

Included in the phone is a lens for still photography and video. I know most phones now have a built in camera so that people have the ability to capture images at any time, but I didn't realize the usefulness of these as tools related to the production of art.

After having made several images using my iPhone's camera, I began to see the potential in using what has become an every-person's item, pervasive and immediately accessible, to produce serious art. It is possible, through careful use of this tool, to generate images of a quality and unique aesthetic that could become a new genre. I can imagine a new category of photography added to shows and exhibitions. In fact, I would love to see a show dedicated to photography produced only through the use of these cameras.

What's especially interesting to me is the fact I have a camera of decent capability and a darkroom all in one palm-sized device. There are several image editing applications available for direct download to the phone, and photo's can be immediately processed. There's no need to transfer images to a computer for adjustments and enhancements. In fact, a photo can be created from directly within an editing program installed on the phone.

This opens a whole new world of subject matter and creative immediacy. The phone camera, for me, is a legitimate tool for producing work worthy of exhibition, and it is indispensible as a tool for capturing references for work in other media. The images I've included are some of my initial experiments in camera phone photography.

As I wrote this entry I conducted a cursory search of the web to find any possible resources tied to this new area of photography. It's not surprising to find that camera phone photography is indeed emerging as its own genre with competitions sponsored by phone companies and galleries. One Los Angeles artist, Patrice Elmi, exhibited work at an LA gallery back in 2007, and the response to her work included surprise from the manufacturer of the phone, which didn't initially believe the images originated from their product.

If this subject interests you as it does me, I discovered an introductory book on the subject available through Amazon titled, The Camera Phone Book. I'm sure with a more thorough search, other good resources would be found.