The Photography of

Camera Phones:
How camera phones have changed
out perception of the photograph


By Caitlin McGarrell
43629482
MAS110
To take a photograph is to participate in another persons
mortality, vulnerability, mutability. Precisely by slicing out this
moment and freezing it, all photographs testify to times relentless
melt Susan Sontag (2006)
At the beginning of photography, only the wealthy and
important could take photographs, and only the wealthy
and important could choose what photographs were
shared with the public. After the development of
technology and the evolution of photography, taking and
sharing photos is no longer limited to the wealthy. Susan
Sontag wrote that photography was a cultural practice,
and an evaluation of the world, and as our culture
becomes more individualised, so too does our view of
photography.
What different meanings can we find in a comparison of a
formal digital photograph and a photo taken with a
camera phone?
The element of the everyday is prominent. The photos
taken with a camera phone are not usually socially
significant, yet the personal and immediate qualities
prevent the deletion of certain camera phone
photographs.
These qualities provide a Punctum by creating a deeply
personal & emotional reaction.
Figure 1. Untitled 2014
Photography is even more so a social right - with the
camera phone, everyone becomes a photographer.
This provides a new means of which to report events,
provide more sides to a story, and more freedom.
These photographs compare the formal and objective
view of a political event, with a more immediate and
personal one, one that provides a subjective point of view.
Figure 2. Enough is Enough 2014

Figure 3. The future 2014


Camera phones capture the more fleeting
and unexpected moments of surprise,
beauty and adoration in the
everyday (Goggin 2012)
! Duckworth, K. (Photographer). 2014. Untitled
(Photograph). 8 February, 2014. from https://
www.facebook.com/LDParties?fref=photo
! Szilvasi, A. (Photographer). 2014. Enough is Enough
(Photograph). 18 May, 2014. from http://
www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2631714/Enough-Tens-
thousands-disgruntled-Australians-walked-city-streets-
opposition-Federal-Governments-budget-cuts.html
! Szilvasi, A. (Photographer). 2014. The future (Photograph).
18 May, 2014. from
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2631714/
Enough-Tens-thousands-disgruntled-Australians-walked-
city-streets-opposition-Federal-Governments-budget-
cuts.html
Photographs
Academic Sources
! Goggin, G. (2012). Cell Phone Culture : Mobile Technology in
Everyday Life, e-book, accessed 04 June 2014, <http://
mqu.eblib.com.au/patron/FullRecord.aspx?p=1020245>.
! Ito, M., Okabe, D., Matsuda, M. (2005). Personal, portable,
pedestrian: mobile phones in Japanese life/ edited by Mizuko Ito,
Daisuke Okabe, and Misa Matsuda. Cambridge, Mass: MIT
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! Kolb, L. (2008). Toys to tools: connecting student cell phones to
education. Eugene Or.: International Society for Technology
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! Lillie, J. (2012). Nokias MMS: A cultural analysis of
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! Pink, S. (2012). Emplaced cartographies: reconceptualising camera
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