THE IMPACT OF MOBILE CAMERA PHONES ON PHOTOGRAPHIC PRACTICES

The convergence of photography and mobility leads to the appearance of mobile camera phones. From the first built-in camera phone invented by Sharp in June of 2000 with a camera of 0.35 megapixels to the Nokia PureView 808 (2012) with a 41-megapixels camera, it has been proved these past years that the mobile camera phones have been developed continuously into nowadays ‘smartphone’. According to Heggestuen (2013), one in every five people in the world owns a smart phone and there are 1.4 billion smart phones in the world which showed that how popular mobile camera phones are. Camera phones are not only a device that is used for communication which we can carry around, but also encourage personal photographic practices and allow the evolution of new forms of imaging practices.

According to Sontag (1978), the purpose of taking personal photographs is to ‘construct personal and group memory’, ‘create and maintain social relationships’, ‘self-expression and self-presentation’. The development of mobile camera phones goes along with changes of personal photography in social uses, technology has changed the way we visualize the world and the importance of photographs in our lives. By examining each of the purpose of personal photography, we can evaluate in which way camera phones reinforce and extend photographic practices as well as how the new form of photographic practice was created.

Constructing personal and group memory:

The mobility of camera phone has enabled us to take photographs whenever and wherever we want to. Therefore, it is more convenient to capture our memory that we wish to remember. However, the poor resolution of camera phones sometimes prevents us from memorializing the important events of our lives such as wedding, graduation, birthdays so in some occasions, people still prefer the actual digital camera even when the mobile phone is more convenient.

Comparing the quality of image between mobile camera phone and
DSLR Camera

Personal photographs act as a medium of communication, which are used to share conversation and storytelling. Digital images sharing is different from the sharing photographs in the past. As Sit et al. (2005) found out, the past forms of interaction 'are well supported with printed photographs in communal spaces, such as gatherings around the kitchen table or the living room sofa. In contrast, this naturalness of interaction has not been duplicated with digitally formatted photos published online’. In addition,mobile devices are highly personal devices so it is difficult to create the same kind of interaction with printed photographs.

However, with the development of technology, mobile camera phone nowadays are enabled to send the photos directly to family and friends via MMS and plenty others applications such as Whatsapp, Snapchatand images can be uploaded to Facebook, Flickr or many other websites via privacy-protected area or can be available for general access. In this way, it creates two-way communication where people can engage on contributing to annotate of the images by commenting and sharing which enhances the construction of personal and group memory.

Creating and maintaining social relationships:

As mobile phones are highly personal devices, photos taken by mobile camera phones tend to reinforce the individuality of users rather than their ties to the group. This goes against the purpose of personal photography as photosharing is inscribed to assist the creation and maintenance of social relationships. Okabe & Ito (2006) argue that compared to traditional camera, photos taken by mobile camera phones are likely to be short-lived and ephemeral. As the characteristics of the mobile phones are light-weight and ubiquitous, people use it for more personal viewpoint and just sharing among intimates, mobile phones are used as ‘a kind of archive of a personal trajectory or viewpoint of the world, a collection of fragments of everyday life.’ (Okabe & Ito, 2006).

Some applications allow instant photosharing 

Images by mobile phones capture ordinary things in everyday life and they are shared just among a social group, friends and acquaintances which are far more individualized and everyday than much of the personal photography before. However, the connectivity and ability of communication of camera phones introduce us a new form of maintaining social relationships by photosharing. Instant photo message can enable users share a sense of presence in the shared visual space like Federman (2006) claims that instantaneous and ubiquitous communications allows hundreds, thousands of people come together in a zero space, as if there is no distance between them. 

Self-expression and Self-presentation:

There is no doubt that mobile camera phones enhance self-expression and self-presentation, as well as change the way we visualize the world. Photography becomes easier to access and that encourages us to see the world ‘photographically’, to see everyday ordinary things as beauty and interest. Since the appearance of mobile camera phones, we have more opportunity to express ourselves and show other people how we perceive the world. Nonetheless, the increase of instantaneous communications shifts self-expression away from ‘what I saw then’ to ‘what I see now’.

Images taken right after purchasing to express 'what I see now'
(Everyday ordinary things through different people's lens)

Sontag (1978) also points out that seeing the world ‘photographically’ can be somehow problematic. The increasing use of mobile camera phone has changed the viewpoint of mainstream media organizations in which the value of an event now has been measured by how 'pictureworthy' it is not 'newsworthy'. This change leads to Huhtamo (2004) argument that the misuses of photography and intrusive photographic practices in both personal privacy and public sphere have a de-humanizing effect and anybody could be a target of a snapshot.

In conclusion, mobile camera phones definitely is a huge invention and have a great impact on the purpose of personal photographic practices.  Camera phones enable an expanded field for self-expression and self-presentation to others in a new kind of everyday visual storytelling. As the quality of images captured by mobile camera phones has been improved and the means of photosharing on mobile phone have been developed, we are more comfortable sharing and presenting our photographs to others which enables us mobilize our existing social relationships. It is undoubtedly that the mobile camera phones have changed the way we see the world 'photographically' and they will changes our lives in many ways in the near future.   

References:

Federman, M. (2006) ‘Memories of now’, Receiver, 15, 4-27. Retrieved from: http://www.receiver.vodafone.can/15/articles/pdf/15_08.pdf

Heggestuen, J. (2013). One In Every 5 People In The World Own A Smartphone, One In Every 17 Own A Tablet [CHART]. Retrieved from http://www.businessinsider.com.au/smartphone-and-tablet-penetration-2013-10

Huhtamo, E. (2004). An archaeology of mobile media. Retrieved from  http://www.isea2004.net/register/view_attachment.php?id=6230.  

Okabe, D. & Ito, M. (2006) ‘Everyday contexts of camera phone use: steps toward technosocial ethnographic frameworks’. In J. Ho¨flich & M. Hartmann (Ed.),  Mobile Communication in Everyday Life: an Ethnographic View, Berlin: Frank & Timme.

Sit, R. Y., Hollan, J. D. & Griswold, W. D. (2005). ‘Digital photos as conversational anchors’, Proceedings of the 38th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences, Hawaii, IEEE Hawaii. Retrieved from: http://ieexplore.ieee.org/iel5/9518/30166/01385459.pdf?amumber=1385459