tiny shiny dreams.

Mar 29
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a few days ago, I’ve returned from Chamonix-Mont-Blanc, where we spent a wonderful week to close the snowboarding season, consisting of glistening snow, (mostly) good wine, home-cooked dinners in our chalet, lots of laughs by the fireplace and sunbathing during lunch breaks. it’s spring there. it was also the first trip - since probably 11 years ago (and I’ve travelled a lot, for both work and leisure) - where I didn’t bring one single *real* camera with me. let me explain - having recently obtained an iPhone, as lame as it sounds, it’s changing my behavior and principles around photography. observe:  what i like: vintage cameras expired films light leaks the sound of the shutter the never-perfect outcome the tingling excitement while waiting for the film to be developed the satisfaction when even only one single photo from the whole film turns out fairly decent  what i dislike: vintage cameras or DSLR’s are bulky, heavy and just don’t fit in a girl’s purse they break sooo easily, when you land on your ass/rock/lovely combination of these while snowboarding. and they break your ass, too. the tingling excitement is just plain sucky nagging excitement sometimes, since you have no idea whether you should shoot a dozen more images, to make sure you’ve got THAT ONE right. expired film sometimes just happens to…well.. *gasp!* ..expire, and fail at recording even one single memory you were hoping so much to have visualized and cherished forever. you have to wait and waaaait and waaaaaaait until you shoot the whole 24 or 36 exposures, to get the film developed, to see what came out of it. i’m so bad at waiting for something good. buying and developing film is expensive scanning is, too, and there’s no escape from scanning anymore. in this era, if your content isn’t digitized, it might as well never existed. summary:so, since iPhone 4 has a semi-decent camera to start with (well, at least compared to the previous models), and the apps (Instagram or Hipstamatic, for instance) allow me to produce the same kind of crapography i get with my complicated, “serious” cameras, plus they allow me to preview, re-do and upload photos instantly, the phone fits in my sleeve pocket AND it makes the shutter sound!.. what can I say? convenience and instant gratification trumped the authenticity for me in this case. yes, there’s certainly a guilt trip, too, since I have 7 perfectly good - no, drool-worthy cameras sitting on my shelves and hanging on the hooks and they’re WATCHING me with their black, sad mono-eyes, and iPhone “photography” isn’t really photography, since it doesn’t respect the history and effort and is just plain revolting for any “real” photographer.  but but but. 

a few days ago, I’ve returned from Chamonix-Mont-Blanc, where we spent a wonderful week to close the snowboarding season, consisting of glistening snow, (mostly) good wine, home-cooked dinners in our chalet, lots of laughs by the fireplace and sunbathing during lunch breaks.
it’s spring there.

it was also the first trip - since probably 11 years ago (and I’ve travelled a lot, for both work and leisure) - where I didn’t bring one single *real* camera with me.

let me explain - having recently obtained an iPhone, as lame as it sounds, it’s changing my behavior and principles around photography. observe: 

what i like:

  • vintage cameras
  • expired films
  • light leaks
  • the sound of the shutter
  • the never-perfect outcome
  • the tingling excitement while waiting for the film to be developed
  • the satisfaction when even only one single photo from the whole film turns out fairly decent 

what i dislike:

  • vintage cameras or DSLR’s are bulky, heavy and just don’t fit in a girl’s purse
  • they break sooo easily, when you land on your ass/rock/lovely combination of these while snowboarding. and they break your ass, too.
  • the tingling excitement is just plain sucky nagging excitement sometimes, since you have no idea whether you should shoot a dozen more images, to make sure you’ve got THAT ONE right.
  • expired film sometimes just happens to…well.. *gasp!* ..expire, and fail at recording even one single memory you were hoping so much to have visualized and cherished forever.
  • you have to wait and waaaait and waaaaaaait until you shoot the whole 24 or 36 exposures, to get the film developed, to see what came out of it. i’m so bad at waiting for something good.
  • buying and developing film is expensive
  • scanning is, too, and there’s no escape from scanning anymore. in this era, if your content isn’t digitized, it might as well never existed.

summary:
so, since iPhone 4 has a semi-decent camera to start with (well, at least compared to the previous models), and the apps (Instagram or Hipstamatic, for instance) allow me to produce the same kind of crapography i get with my complicated, “serious” cameras, plus they allow me to preview, re-do and upload photos instantly, the phone fits in my sleeve pocket AND it makes the shutter sound!.. what can I say? convenience and instant gratification trumped the authenticity for me in this case.

yes, there’s certainly a guilt trip, too, since I have 7 perfectly good - no, drool-worthy cameras sitting on my shelves and hanging on the hooks and they’re WATCHING me with their black, sad mono-eyes, and iPhone “photography” isn’t really photography, since it doesn’t respect the history and effort and is just plain revolting for any “real” photographer. 

but but but.