The Camera Phone: The Death of Photography?

In any “photo op” moment it is impossible to miss the invasion of the camera phone. Where it used to be easy to tell when a camera was around and if people had them handy, now anyone with a phone could be a photographer.

Even at occasions that used to be ruled by the professional photographer such as weddings and the like, we now see those dozens of hands going up snapping photos with camera phones that seem to dominate the scene.

Conventional photography is a highly developed art form and profession. The precision of the equipment and the ability of photographers to deliver a high-quality product to their customers is well-known and the result of decades of evolution of the craft.

But today it is possible for anyone to become an amateur photographer using that tiny cell phone in their pocket or purse?

The above question needs consideration for three audiences:

• For the professional photographer, is this the end of your profession? Will digital phones wipe out your customer base and make you obsolete?
• For the aspiring photographer, what about your future? Should you even invest in learning to use the sophisticated equipment that makes professional photography so superior? Why bother if camera phones are going to make it all obsolete?
• And for you the consumer, can you get the same quality of photographs with using camera phones as you can by hiring a photographer?

These are valid questions.

It is very common when a new technology begins to make inroads into a profession for the old guard of that profession to feel threatened.

It happened when television came along and the media called it the death of radio. It happened when talkies and then color was introduced to movies and television and at each technological improvement in the music world.

And with each dire prediction of the demise of an industry, the opposite took place and that industry adjusted, evolved, got better and prospered all the more.

So there are good reasons not to worry that camera phones are going to destroy photography as we know it because:

• Camera phones cannot achieve the same levels of quality. There is a good reason that the professional photographer has invested in the highly sophisticated equipment that he has in his studio and that he or she takes to a shoot.  You can bet that forensic photography, fashion photography, and photography for publication will ever be willing to accept the low standards of quality that are the outcome of camera phone pictures.
• It’s an amateur game. When you see kids holding up their camera phones at a concert to steal a picture, you know that device is not going to result in a professional quality shot. Camera phones are an amateur photography device. And they will always occupy that niche.
• Standards of the final product would be compromised. And high standards of quality are what make professional photography a value to its customers.

This is not to cast camera phones in a negative light. They have their place and they are great fun. But we in the professional photography world have nothing to fear from the growth of this technology.  The best camera for any job is the one you have with you.