Nobody Walks in LA

A handful of photos taken with a cell phone atop the US Bank tower located in downtown LA, February 2019.

Its an oft repeated truism in photography that the best camera is the one you have with you. This phrase can be applied to many things within photography. It can be used as a reminder to always bring your camera when you go out, because you never know if you will be presented with a great photo opportunity. It can also be used to justify the purchase of a new camera because you will be enthusiastic about it and be more conscious about going out and shooting with it. Of course the main point the author was trying to make was to encourage people to engage in serious photography with their phones.

I can personally attest to being a bit less than enthusiastic about using my phone for photography. I don’t really care for the ergonomics, and I have more faith in my film and digital cameras to capture whatever I am viewing. In fact, this is one of the only times I have done a “photo shoot” with my phone. Frankly I think it actually handled this pretty well, and it was an old phone even when I took these. Despite this, most of the pictures I have taken with my current phone have been selfies, mostly for Strava or the gym. Especially when one considers the computational abilities of phones to take very good pictures with “inferior” camera sensors, the prospect of using your phone for photography is more appealing than ever. Moving forward, I am making a conscious effort to take more photos with my phone. Hopefully with some good results I feel compelled to share.