Is the Cellphone the New Polaroid?

PDN’s David Walker did a phone interview with Shawn Rocco, a staff photographer from the North Carolina News and Observer, to discuss his cellpho...

PDN’s David Walker did a phone interview with Shawn Rocco, a staff photographer from the North Carolina News and Observer, to discuss his cellphone photography. Cellphones outnumber standalone cameras by a huge margin, and we’ve already seen numerous examples of cellphone as the tool of choice for citizen journalism. But cellphone as the camera of choice for a professional hasn’t quite emerged as the paradigm of the day.

I didn’t get it at first. Why use a cellphone when could use a point-and-shoot with infinitely higher quality like a Canon G10 or a Nikon P6000? But Rocco contends that it basically takes technology out of the equation.

The fact that he goes back in and photoshops the image would seem to be antithetical to his position, since he’s trying to squeeze out quality that doesn’t really exist. But on the other hand, we all do it. So why shouldn’t a cellphone image be photoshopped?

The biggest point that his photography reinforces for me is that a camera of any type in the hands of a good photographer produces good images. He has learned to see through the cellphone and he has learned how to get around its technical limitations and quirks. And more recently on his blog, Cellular Obsucra, he’s started publishing larger images, and they look fantastic.