Why is iPhone Photography so popular? In some ways, it’s an easy question to answer. Photographers have a saying: the best camera is the camera you have with you. The iPhone is unbelievably portable – most of us have our phones with us all the time anyway.
On top of that, there’s the fact that Apple has made a devoted effort to keep the iPhone camera top-of-the-line. Jonny Evans over at Computerworld reports that Apple has identified photography as a priority. They understand that photography is one of the main ways that smartphones are being used, and that maintaining their edge in that space is essential to maintaining the prestige of their products.
And then, of course, there’s sharing. The iPhone enables shooting and sharing to take place on one device, instantly. This is at the core of social networking these days, and the trend is only growing. Instagram has exploded into the fastest-growing social network in the world, and there is no better forum for snapping and sharing your iPhone photos.
But all of these obvious reasons can distract us from another important factor that is driving the rise of iPhone Photography. The iPhone isn’t just a DSLR with an internet connection. It’s a unique tool that allows for new kinds of art to be produced. Consider, for example, the work of street photographer Mohsen Chinehkesh, who was recently interviewed on the iPhone Photography School blog. She specializes in photographing daily life on the streets of Tehran, and she uses the iPhone to do it. She keeps her headphones on, so people assume she’s not paying attention to them, which frees her up to take some amazing candid shots.
Chinehkesh’s work is just one example of a much broader phenomenon. Because of its portability and its popularity, the iPhone is rapidly becoming the device of choice for capturing intimate moments. It’s the camera for the everyday, for the amateur, the social sharer, the proud parent. DSLRs will always have their place in producing high-res photographs. But in our increasingly visual culture, the iPhone is the camera of the moment.
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