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Bridging Tech and Creative Photography
Bridging Tech and Creative Photography
Bridging Tech and Creative Photography
Features

It’s Time for Cameras To Become a Lifestyle Accessory

Chris Gampat
No Comments
01/12/2016
3 Mins read

Chris Gampat The Phoblographer Zeiss Milvus 50mm f2 Macro product images (7 of 7)ISO 4001-125 sec at f - 2.0

In the year 2016, society and technology have made photography so incredibly simple and so incredibly good that really anyone can do it as long as they have a creative vision. A while, I wrote about how no one is making a bad camera anymore, and to be honest that applies to more than just dedicated traditional cameras. It also goes to point and shoots, phones, etc. Being a photographer doesn’t mean that you need a million lenses, lights, and high tech fancy gear anymore; it just means that you need a creative vision.

Photography has changed so much and the general public, who used to need dedicated cameras don’t really need them anymore. They’re quite happy with filters and effects that can be done with their phone and an app. Many don’t understand the value of pixel peeping and many don’t care about being able to shoot at an ISO over a million. Instead, what they indeed care about is creating meaningful images to them and to their social media followers.

Chris Gampat The Phoblographer Sony 28-70mm f3.5-5.6 product images (5 of 6)ISO 1001-180 sec at f - 4.0

With all of this said, the dedicated camera, like the watch, has become an item of luxury. Why wear a watch when you’ve got a phone that tells the time? Of course, don’t tell that to a watch snob; and surely don’t tell that to a camera snob–but it’s nothing more than just the truth. The general public and mass consumers care much more about the images that they can create than the device or tools that they’re using. They understand that they can do great things with a suped up dedicated camera with lots of megapixels, a sweet zoom lens, etc. But they’re satisfied with what they have just like folks back in the film days were. Years ago, people used to buy one camera and they’d keep it for years and be happy with them. These days, dedicated photographers upgrade every couple of years. Typical consumers upgrade their phones every couple of years too–and they love the cameras that come with them.

The camera as a luxury item should honestly be marketed as such: you don’t need a crazy DSLR or 42 megapixels, or a selection of more lenses than you’ll ever know what to do with. Again, you don’t NEED them; but you can want them.

Chris Gampat The Phoblographer Samyang 50mm f1.2 product images (5 of 7)ISO 4001-125 sec at f - 2.8

Photographers don’t NEED a Leica to get the photos that the likes of Bresson created, but lots aspire to get them.

Cameras are a lifestyle product: some sit there and pixel peep until their eyes bleed and some just lust over creating images. The two sides never quite see eye to eye–one side is seen as antiquated while the other is branded as part of hipster culture amongst the people who talk about these back and forth. But no matter what side you’re on, photography is something that is very personal and important to all of us. How it’s done is also quite important and personal to us. To that end, the dedicated camera needs to find a way to survive.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not at all saying that photography is dead. In fact, I’m saying quite the opposite. Photography is more alive than it’s ever been with millions of images being taken and uploaded to the web each day. But instead, the camera is evolving; and it won’t be too much longer before it’s a dedicated lifestyle item meant for those that want to genuinely just create art.

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Chris Gampat

Chris Gampat is the Editor in Chief, Founder, and Publisher of the Phoblographer. He provides oversight to all of the daily tasks, including editorial, administrative, and advertising work. Chris's editorial work includes not only editing and scheduling articles but also writing them himself. He's the author of various product guides, educational pieces, product reviews, and interviews with photographers. He's fascinated by how photographers create, considering the fact that he's legally blind./ HIGHLIGHTS: Chris used to work in Men's lifestyle and tech. He's a veteran technology writer, editor, and reviewer with more than 15 years experience. He's also a Photographer that has had his share of bylines and viral projects like "Secret Order of the Slice." PAST BYLINES: Gear Patrol, PC Mag, Geek.com, Digital Photo Pro, Resource Magazine, Yahoo! News, Yahoo! Finance, IGN, PDN, and others. EXPERIENCE: Chris Gampat began working in tech and art journalism both in 2008. He started at PCMag, Magnum Photos, and Geek.com. He founded the Phoblographer in 2009 after working at places like PDN and Photography Bay. He left his day job as the Social Media Content Developer at B&H Photo in the early 2010s. Since then, he's evolved as a publisher using AI ethically, coming up with ethical ways to bring in affiliate income, and preaching the word of diversity in the photo industry. His background and work has spread to non-profits like American Photographic Arts where he's done work to get photographers various benefits. His skills are in SEO, app development, content planning, ethics management, photography, Wordpress, and other things. EDUCATION: Chris graduated Magna Cum Laude from Adelphi University with a degree in Communications in Journalism in 2009. Since then, he's learned and adapted to various things in the fields of social media, SEO, app development, e-commerce development, HTML, etc. FAVORITE SUBJECT TO PHOTOGRAPH: Chris enjoys creating conceptual work that makes people stare at his photos. But he doesn't get to do much of this because of the high demand of photography content. / BEST PHOTOGRAPHY TIP: Don't do it in post-production when you can do it in-camera.
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