Don’t get me wrong, I’ll take my dedicated camera and lenses out with me if I’m confident it’s the best tool for the job. Or if I want to record something for posterity at the best available quality.
But, like most of us, on all the other occasions when a photo opportunity presents itself, it’s my camera phone that comes out of my pocket.
I recently took a summer vacation and, though I’d packed a decent mirrorless camera in my trusty Olympus PEN E-PL7 with catch-all zoom lens, I found myself decidedly unmotivated to use it. I’m not 100% sure why it came out of the rucksack far less than the family’s water bottles, snacks, sunscreen and sun hats that I was also tasked with carrying.
It’s not that I didn’t find anything to photograph. It’s perhaps more that when I did, I’d be asked to share it on our family WhatsApp group. My daughter also had a friend accompany her on holiday this time, so there was another person to share group shots and portraits with.
In this respect, the phone was just more convenient and immediate for the sharing of images than two teenagers having to wait for me to transfer shots to my laptop, attach them to email or generate a Dropbox link, by which time the moment of excitement / urgency of request would have passed. And possibly be considered no longer relevant.
In short, convenience won out.
This also raises a question about the importance of a curated set of images.
If I’m shooting to card on a dedicated camera, I’ll delete some images in situ if I consider them disappointing, before I even get to downloading. I’ll then do another edit and image selection later when I’m home, only keeping the best shots.
Often the ‘best’ ones are just those I’m fond of at the time – if I haven’t already deleted them, I’ll often come back years later and start preferring alternative images I’d originally discounted or overlooked.
When I’m not shooting ‘properly’, I’ll happily let my phone fill up with images until it tells me that if I don’t create some space by deleting existing files then various apps and functions will go on the fritz. I’ll then do it begrudgingly, just so I can continue viewing vintage synthesizer demos on Instagram.
If social media and private apps are where most of my images ‘live’ these days, then convenience is king. Maybe I need to go on less vacations and spend more time with my dedicated camera instead, to rekindle the creative spark.
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