What do you think?

[c_wyatt]

<p>'"Outrageous posts earlier. I didn't know great photography depended on the tonal range of a photo. My book of Cartier-Bresson work has blown highlights and black blacks. They are still amazing works"</p>

<p>The only outrageous post is yours. Who said, other than you, that great photography depends on tonal range or anything else.'</p>

<p>'Blown highlights, blocked shadows, does not really do any justice to the photos. "These days even a cheap digital camera will deliver acceptable resolution* It's about having some respect for your photography.'</p>

[jodys]

<p>I don't care if he took the photos with an iPhone or the latest dSLR or a shoe-box with a piece of old paper. Do the images stand on their own? I think a lot of them do, but I also think he is only just starting to find his inner 'eye' or whatever you want to call it. Technical mastery is more important than people like to think, when they don't have it. I know, people used to say that about the impressionist painters and a lot of other art 'movements' also. That doesn't make it any less true, and I've seen a lot of really bad impressionist paintings.</p>

[MarieH]

<p>Alan Zinn, it makes me wonder if you even looked. CWyatt I forgive your attack of copy and paste, rather than formulate your own opinion, follow the herd over the cliff ;) I'm being sarcastic, forgive me.<br>

Jody, that's my point exactly. From a polaroid, to a top grade dslr, to a leica rangefinder, to a toy camera. Its the image and not the means... The image stands on its own merits. Respect for your photography? Pull out photoshop and fix them up? Is that's showing respect or hiding the flaws? I know an image from a dslr has higher resolution, better sharpness (in some cases) and probably sit higher on the fence with regard to 'respect' because the user, owning a dslr, or rangefinder, or higher end camera, knows 'photography'. I went out with my 8 megapixel cellphone and I found it s different experience. People don't care that your shooting them with a cellphone, but pull out the dslr and the attitude changes. The quality of my htc desire hd in daylight was almost equal to my canon 40d with my tamron 17-50 f2.8, also smaller and lighter and more fun to carry. And I didn't feel I was 'disrespecting' my craft. Actually I was having fun and my back felt good too.</p><p><br></p><p>If you have a good cameraphone, I recommend giving it a try. Join one of the cellphone flickr groups too. Its fun, if not art.<br></p>

[MarieH]

<p>picutre with android hd 8 megapixel camera cellphone.<br _mce_bogus="1"></p><div></div>

[andrew_gardiner]

<p>@Jody S<br>

Interesting as they are I'm not sure these images are quite worth all this attention but the discussion the post has generated is very positive. Given your thoughts on technique and so on I'd be very interested to know your opinion on say Richard Billinghams photos, particularly on his earlier work , the ones that first made him famous. </p>

[alan_zinn]

<p>MH I did look. Ask yourself why one of the pictures is special in some small way. The only pic that I enjoyed seeing was the street painter. It was a document with no artful quality. As such it could be a weak member of an intrepid street painter series or sequence. I enjoyed the idea. What is it that you find special in your picture of the woman in the hat?</p>

[MarieH]

<p>Alan Zinn I was demonstrating image quality of the cellphone for a cellphone image. That is all. I suggest you look here. http://www.flickr.com/groups/530380@N25/pool/with/5857507217/ though for more 'artful' photos. <br>

I notice you have no photos uploaded to your account, so it is difficult for me to get an idea of your talent; that would be fair, so I could formulate my own idea of your comments with respect to your own work if at all possible. Thanks.</p>

 

[alan_zinn]

<p>Andrew G.<br>

Billingham's brute-document style is a tough one. It asks the viewer to set aside whatever they know about photography and try and grasp what the pictures are saying. His work is much about the process he uses for doing art and less about the individual photographs. From what was available on the web it appears that achieved his goal of showing his families' sorry existence and not much else. There was little there to encourage any feeling for them as individuals. For that the pictures needed signs of human agency or context besides their personal squalor. The paintings that resulted, if they were done, might give more depth. I haven't seen enough of his work to agree that he is an exemplar of contemporary photography</p>

[alan_zinn]

<p>MH,<br>

nice of you to ask Your street portraits are excellent! I add pictures to some of my photonet posts but don't want to do a gallery yet. <br>

I have too much stuff on my web page: <a href="http://www.panoramacamera.us">www.panoramacamera.us</a> most of my work these days goes into Blurb books. <a href="http://www.blurb.com/user/store/alzinn">http://www.blurb.com/user/store/alzinn</a> <br>

The cell phone pic sites are fun but time-consuming to peruse. The quality can be top-notch in all ways. I enjoy the photographers' wild abandon and joy apparent in the pictures.</p>

[jonathan_reynolds]

<p>"Apparently he doesn't have a camera at all yet." Isn't an iphone a camera? Are we being a little snobbish here? Goo dluck to him, but I wasn't overwhelmed by the images, considering he has more than enough opportunity to view the composition before pressing the button, and essentially no limit to how many photos he can take.</p>

[Allen Herbert]

<p> " Are we being a little snobbish here"</p>

<p>Perhaps, but folks are just trying to be helpful.</p>

[one_ant]

<p>He is using it stealthily and in a few of the pics he is composing it like a camera user would. I like the pictures but in my mind they come a bit too easy and the 'hunger' is reduced to snack. I'm no fan of the iphone camera but I do see it as a device for close-proximity shots where a dslr or RF user might use shooting-from-the-hip or hyperfocal but then we are getting back to the issue of 'stealth'. It could be used as part of a kit but he is using it as his kit and I think his pictures rise above the challenge.<br>

It doesnt matter what he uses but the images should reflect the benefits of using it rather than the limitations, just the same as someone might use a particular lens.<br>

Any comparisons in hardware is just a pecking-order. Its the pictures that speak, the cameras just go "beep".</p>

<p>ɹǝpun uʍop puɐl ǝɥʇ ɯoɹɟ</p>