I was just reading a good piece over on Chase Jarvis this morning and thought what will this Melbourne photographer do or say? We knew this day would arrive. It was only a matter of time before everyone, rich and poor, got access to a camera. Now that the snapshot is so ubiquitous, we wonder if we can go back to a time when photography had more value. Do you remember when taking a photo was a “thing?” Someone had to “get the camera.” It’s gone now, and we live in a world flooded with snapshots. We are bombarded with photography every day.

So what of it? Is there too much noise for there to be a signal? Do we laugh at professional photography as it collapses under the weight of these mountains of snapshots? I’ve taken random shots as a Melbourne photographer. Sydney…

Nicole and I ventured out on Saturday afternoon to check out what ACMI Screen Worlds. It was certainly an eye-opener as I discovered some of my childhood during the walk around. And of course I ended up looking at the games and new generation things such as the iPhone. But one thing that I really enjoyed was the old style arcade games from the old C64 with all its old parts such as the tape drive.

As I moved on further I noticed a very interesting large object that you could walk into. At first I didn’t know what it was all about. As we got closer it became apparent that the object was a photography booth. Not the typical booth though. It was more like a Matrix looking. A 3D look at the person or persons that were standing in the middle.

Without hesitation Nicole…

Photography can be a powerful tool for changing the world. David Duchemin knows this. His photographs tell a moving story of the human condition. His images remind us of how we are all different and yet, at the same time, we are all interconnected as members of the same human family.

David’s photography succeeds in making a case for that infinite worth we all possess, one demanding recognition and respect. Wherever we are, whatever we do and however we look like, we are just as human and we enjoy in the same measure our fundamental entitlements as human beings.

From David’s iphone.

Poverty can be totally abusive and dehumanizing. Words on a page or from a speech give us a concept of poverty. But photographs give poverty a face. The faces of the children of the world are a reason for hope in the midst of the harsh reality of poverty.

From David’s iphone.

David gives a voice to the disadvantaged poor in our…

Renowned, award-winning action photographer iPhone photography project. “The best camera is the one that’s with you,” he says, and for Chase, that camera is his iPhone.

Chase takes photos, edits them using applications in his iPhone, and shares them on his Twitter and his iPhone photography site. He takes between one up to a thousand photos in this, and shares the ones he thinks are his best to the world. And if you’ve seen his iPhone photos, there will be no question in your mind that indeed, taking remarkable photos has little to do with the camera you use. Like Chase, all you really need is an eye for photography and a handy dandy camera like the iPhone.

A photo taken by Chase using his iPhone

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Undeniably, it’s difficult enough to hold big cameras (which have proper grips) steady when taking photos and videos, and it’s definitely doubly difficult when you’re using smaller picture-taking devices, like the iPhone 3Gs. That’s why iPhone 3Gs shooters will be happy to know that the rather expensive Zgrip iPhone Pro (worth a whopping $295) now has a more affordable version: the Zgrip iPhone Jr., which is priced at $69. ZGrip Jr. has most of the same features as its more expensive predecessor, except that the earlier version is more adjustable than this one.

The Zgrip iPhone Jr. is made by Zacuto, a camera accessories manufacturer. This tool enables the photographer to take stable photos and videos with the iPhone 3Gs. It has a ¼ 20” thread, where you can attach it to a tripod. The Zgrip Jr. also has the same-sized thread on top, so you can mount accessories, like lighting gears, on it.

You can

Wanna know what true passion is? It’s when you lose something vital to something you love, and instead of giving up, you find ways to keep doing it.

Many people will probably say that a photographer is nobody without his eyesight. But if they do, then they probably haven’t met Alex Dejong.

Alex lost his eyesight because of a brain tumor three years ago. But thanks to technology, Alex’s blindness doesn’t get in the way of doing what he loves best: taking photos. Alex created a visual image from sounds using assistive software (a voice app that his smartphone, Nokia N82, supports), then takes the shot with his Leica or Canon.

Because of his handicap, Alex can’t edit his own photos so he hired an assistant to edit his photos for him. But VoiceOver, which reads the icons the user’s finger touches. Because…

“The best camera is the one that’s with you.”

And for Chase Jarvis, that camera would be his iPhone.

A lot of people complain that the iPhone camera isn’t good, and that it doesn’t take good photos. Well, Chase successfully proved with this project that a “good photo” is not defined by a cutting-edge camera, but rather, by the one who takes the shot. He takes between 1 to 1000 photos every day, he says, and to some that may be a tad too obsessive. Well when someone really loves what he does, and he has the thing he needs to do it all time, why shouldn’t he?

Chase shares at least one photo everyday, taken and directly uploaded from his iPhone, through his iPhone photo gallery contains his favorite shots, completely untouched by Photoshop and are post processed using only iPhone applications.

Here are some photos Chase took using…

I’m not trying to steal anything from Chase here. So today I would like every one of you to find a few photos that you have taken and post them. Here are the instructions from his site.

1. ‘Become a fan’ on my Facebook fan page. (NOT my personal page, but the FAN page. Follow that link…)
2. Under the “wall” tab in the ‘what’s on your mind’ window atop the page, write your name and a url if you’d like.
3. In that same window, directly below where you just wrote your name, click on the ‘add photos’ icon.
4. Upload your favorite mobile image. No limit to the number of entries. Anyone can enter, from anywhere in the world.
5. When you win, I’ll send you my iphone in the mail. Easy peasy.

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I have been debating over this post since late last week, due to the very nature of what I call a camera. But as most people that know me well enough know that I have a love for just about anything Apple. Given that I wrote a small piece on design which featured none other than Johnathan Ive.

So the question remains, “do I think the new iPhone 3G S is a great camera?” And “will it live up to all the hype and expectations?”

I think so. The camera itself is 3 megapixels. Which for a small compact device, it really is enough for me. Of course I wouldn’t use it for any shoots, but rather I would use it for the purpose of impromptu  photo taking. I have hundreds of photos of weird and wonderful things that were taken by my iPhone. They range form some of the best cusine in Melbourne (I love a great lunch) to…