I was recently in the great city of New Orleans after a decades long absence. During my undergrad photo days (way too long ago), we visited NOLA a few times for Mardi Gras, Spring Break, and a photo conference. A small group of us would descend on the city with cameras in hand, rolls and rolls of film (!) and just only enough sense to stay out of jail but not enough sense to stay out of a little bit of trouble.
We were PHOTOGRAPHY students and we were there to record the fabulousness of New Orleans. It's a great place to be as a college student. Wild, different, crazy, and freedom are words I'd use to describe it then.
Fast forward to this summer when I went there for a church mission trip. Totally different trip! This time my words would be dirty, dusty, sweaty, and tired because of the demolition work we did. It was frustrating to be in such a fun place, not able to have the kind of fun I associated with the city. I wanted nothing more out of this trip than to see my favorite place, the French Quarter. We spent an afternoon there and it was then that I realized how different the concept of photography is now.
When we visited as photo majors we were carrying 35 mm or medium format cameras--big hulking things that most people hadn't really seen before. When you stopped in front of a street artist or painter or produce seller to take their picture, it was a little bit special. Even those that didn't really want their picture taken tolerated it since there weren't very many of us "photographers" to bother them.
On this 2014 summer afternoon, I experienced something entirely different. Most people in the general public now have a camera. These masses of people didn't necessarily come to New Orleans for the purpose of taking pictures. However, you see something interesting? Just take out your phone and take a picture. Everyone now has a camera that they carry with them ALL THE TIME.
Is this a bad thing? Absolutely not. Does it change our roll as photographers? Absolutely it does. Almost anyone now can be a "photographer". SLRs are very affordable, many people can use alter and edit their pictures, often in their phones, and cameras on phones can be of really high quality. All of this is great. What does this mean for the photographer? Why even bother taking a picture of something that has probably already been taken a million times? How can I be different from all the other photographers out there? I can be different by seeing something differently, by noticing something that other people pass over, by injecting my own thoughts and personality into every image I make.
Camera phones are great, but are the users making photographs or are those users simply recording something to post online? We as photographers own it to ourselves to strive to make images that make someone feel what we felt and to get them to see and experience their world a little differently.
