Photography website mobilephotographyblog.com has published the winners of their 2013 Mobile Photography Award, and there are quite a lot of gorgeous images among the winners!  Click the collage to view more…

Over the past few years, cell phone photography has grown exponentially in popularity.  Some people have wondered, …why?  Small, compact point-and-shoot cameras have been available for a decade now, and (some of them) have much higher image quality and far more advanced control options.   So, what makes a camera phone so special?  Why, in a contest / award scenario such as this, would a regular compact digital camera be un-qualified?

After all you still prove the point, the cliche-yet-true “It’s not about the camera!” mantra.  Well, I think what sets cell phone cameras  apart from the general crowd of compact, relatively restricting cameras is the simple fact that a cell phone is the one device you already carry with you.  It is the device that you almost don’t even need to remember to take with you when you go out; these days it is as automatic as grabbing your wallet and your keys as you go out the door.  Whereas anything else, from a full-blown DSLR to even the tiniest little compact P&S camera, ….has to be remembered.

The whole concept is, “taking photos with whatever camera you happen to have in your pocket at the time”, which for 90% of people out there, is just a cell phone.  It is not an intentional discrimination against other types of small compact camera, nor is it an elitist “iPhone lover” club.  It’s just a new “category” in photography.

I think that as a fad, cell phone cameras will have their rise and fall as far as popularity and “hype” are concerned.  Eventually the techie geeks will find something new to obsess over.  However just like digital photography in general, these cameras are here to stay.  So is the new genre of photography that cell phones have created.  The “I can’t believe this was shot on a cell phone!” category.

Enjoy this sampling of the winners and honorable mentions, and then click the link to view the rest!

Take care,
=Matt=

http://mobilephotographyblog.com/