I attended a photography seminar recently and one of the speakers seemed a bit dismissive about the use of an iPhone for serious photography. He’s probably right if you want to compare it to the established value system we place on photography. You know, that perfect static image that is printed in a magazine, large format print, or even a billboard. It’s a trap that we photographers often fall into … comparing what’s new to what’s old. I remember holding Ansel Adams’ prints in the archives at RIT. They were unbelievably gorgeous! I always wanted to create images that were just as crisp, detailed and beautiful. But, most of us don’t shoot with 8×10 cameras and glass plates (yes, I know that some do). Then, I thought about the future of photography. We really don’t know how it will evolve, right? Will prints be a thing of the past? How about static images? Is the future immersive VR? … using plenoptic cameras? Will pictures be made to last forever, or just a blip in time? We don’t know. We think we may know. We have lots of opinions. But we really don’t know. We have technology today to make incredible static images that stun the visual senses. But that may not be our future and our visual capture technologies will evolve to meet those future requirements. I use my iPhone to make pictures all the time. I also use an ultra high resolution Sony camera with an incredibly accurate focus rail for macro work. But, I bet I could make compelling images with any camera from a pinhole, 8 x 10 film, or plenoptic camera. I think the presenter missed an opportunity to encourage experimentation rather than fitting into a mold and a formula for that perfect picture (that looks everyone else’s pictures).