cell phones as alt process?? check out army perceptions

newrmdmike · Sep 7, 2008

www.sociolmike.blogspot.com

the last two posts on the blog r part of a project where i used the only cam available (cameraphone) during off time in the barracks from training with the army. excuse the very basic paragraph ive written, this is being put up from the cameraphone.

i emailed the photos to daniel who in turn pu them on the blog for me.

the photos were lit with windows and tactical flashlights...conciously i made 2 kinds of photos. 1, photos of people as they are (as far as i can tell) and 2, as they want to be percieved.

the whole thing was very interesting to me after moving from dslr's and medium format to a camera phone with very basic controls.

hope you enjoy

reg · Sep 7, 2008

newrmdmike · Sep 7, 2008

no what. . .

ellaborate or stay out of this thread. thanks

windrivermaiden · Sep 7, 2008

Well, not technically. this forum is for chemical processes for the most part.

That being said, there are alot of anti cell photo snobs out there saying that digital capture with a cell phone is not "real" photography. bite me!

I think Cell photos have a real place in the world of photo history. Historical photos, good photo journalism, images that we revere for their capture of history are not always the ones that are the most technically perfect or caught by the most sophistocated cameras Or even caught by trained "professionals" . Think of the images of JFK's assanation...caught by amature, and printed from 8mm movie film frames. Photos of RFK's assination, Under exposed, grainy, and somewhat out of focus. Some of the iconic images of WWII, the tumolt of the 1960s. Vietnam, protests, natural disasters, would never pass muster in photo 100 as even being meritous of proper photography. But that is not always the point.

We capture images to evoke emotion. And yours do that well. No matter the technology used to make them. Keep it up. And good luck in Jump school. Hoo-Rah! (USARMY 1986-1990, 3 jumps, Ft Benning 1988)

I have used a few cell images as the base of some of my chemically processed prints, making digital negatives and printing them "old school".

reg · Sep 8, 2008

newrmdmike said:
ellaborate or stay out of this thread. thanks

Your original post was the letter d and a period. Who's the one not "ellaborate"-ing?

joethedestroyer · Sep 8, 2008

I thought the Army said "Hooah..."

Maybe paratroopers are different. I don't know, I joined the Marines.

windrivermaiden · Sep 9, 2008

Maybe I'm not a very good speller. We say pretty much the same things... Just with a "regional" accent. My son is a Marine, I'm getting to be bi-lingual. LOL.

pasteofanchovie · Sep 18, 2008

Those are some amazing pictures from a cell phone camera! This may be the film section but I couldn't think of a better place to put them. These are quite alternative considering how camera phones are looked down upon in the photograph community. Keep up the good work!

TheLostPhotographer · Sep 19, 2008

I think they're excellent photographs regardless of equipment used. To many people pay to much attention to their gear rather than the actual photography.

I will be doing a similar thing over the next 18 months. Using a very basic digital camera, or even camera phone to upload to a blog whilst I'm trekking around rural Spain following old pilgrimage routes.

I am an 'old skool' film die hard, but time and cash is unlikely to allow for processing costs and scanning. Intermittent access to computers. Wanting to carry as little as possible etc. It's great what digital technologies can offer today - uploading photos to the web from the middle of nowhere!

Getting all set for an early Monday morning departure. Just me, rucksack, sleeping bag, olive staff and camera + phone, or just a camera phone.

www.thelostphotographer.blogspot.com

I'll also be uploading video files occasionally from internet cafes.

Good to see people using these technologies successfully.

windrivermaiden · Sep 19, 2008

note that the top photos posted there are from a different photographer using straight up equiptment. The cell phone ones, while still good, are a little further down the page.

Sabin · Sep 19, 2008

A coworker of mine recently got married and his favorite wedding photo didn't come from the photographer, it came from his teenage niece with a cell phone. He's had it up as his desktop image for months.

newrmdmike · Sep 29, 2008

to correct windrivermaiden all of the army photos are from my cell phones, me and daniel colvin are the only two photographers who have work on that site.

only the army stuff and tatoos are from cell phones, the post at the top "weekend in atlanta" is still my work, but with a d200 not a cell phone

and thanks all for the feedback