Zipper City Blog: Same As It Ever Was

Tuesday, July 1, 2014

Same As It Ever Was

On Sunday my sister had the family over to celebrate my nephew, Charlie's, first birthday. As I was getting my flash attached and dialing in the best settings to capture Charlie "blowing out the candles" I noticed something for the first time - I was the only one with a dedicated camera. ...and I don't mean professional SLR - everyone else was only taking photos with their smart phones. Its probably been this way in my family for a while but it was the first time I noticed. I didn't think about it much until later - and what I thought was "that makes sense". There is a the common photography saying, "the best camera is the one you have with you" - and for most people that is their iphone. The camera my parents have - an ancient(in digital years) point and shoot Canon - could no longer hold a candle to the images their phones and tablets make. And most people want to be able to capture a moment as simply and with the least amount of thought about technical considerations possible. Its why the Kodak Brownie made waves over a hundred years ago and why new, better and simpler "automatic" and "point-and-shoot" cameras have continually been released and sold in the millions. A lot of the nerd photo-blogs sites will decry "iphonography" and the like but I don't get it - besides the fact that "photo-enthusiasts" and pros have a long tradition of knocking "lesser" photographers. Give it up already - the point-and-shoot camera as a stand alone product is on life support - and for good reason. There is no reason for super high-megapixel cameras for people who, most likely, have no intention of ever even printing them - and if they do, probably not larger than 5x7.

My cell phone contract is up in October - and you can bet when I finally get a smartphone I will opening an Instagram account....