(embiggenable) • iPhone
DON'T TAKE PICTURES is a site I visited on regular basis. The site's ABOUT statement Is to my liking:
...The title, Don’t Take Pictures, references the language of modern photography. Over the years, the term “taking pictures” has begun to be replaced with “making photographs.” The change signifies a distinction between the widespread use of cameras in the modern world and the more systematic, thoughtful process of creating photographic art. At Don’t Take Pictures, we strive to celebrate the creativity involved with the making of photographs.
In particular, I appreciate the fact that most of the featured pictures-those that appear it a variety of regular catagories-are made without a heavy layering of art sauce. That is, the pictures are primarily made without the application of visual effects.
In a video in today's entry, filmmaker Wim Wenders stated, “I do believe that everybody’s a photographer. We’re all taking billions of pictures, so photography is more alive than ever, and at the same time, it’s more dead than ever.”
In the process of explaining his position-re:Mobile phones have killed photography-Wenders stated:
"...The troublee with iPhone pictures is nobody sees them. Even the people who take them don't look at them any more and they certainly don't make prints.:
IMo, that idea is simply not accurate-if not out-right wrong on so many points-if for other reason that I have made multiple-100s of prints / 10 photo books (and counting) of my iPhone pictures-either from online POD sources or on my wide-format printer. And, I am certain that I am not alone in that undertaking inasmuch as there are quite a number of online sites that are devoted to the making of POD mobile phone pictures and photo books. In most cases, prints can be ordered / photo books can be made directly from a mobile device.
Are the majority of mobile phone picture makers making prints / photo books? Probably not. On the other hand, it's quite probable more prints are being made in today's digital world than in the the analog picture making era. I believe that to be the case inasmuch as the current estimate of pictures uploaded every day (somebody is seeing them) is 1.8 billion (657 billion a year).
Another statistic claims that, of those 657 billion pictures, 36 billion prints are made a year. That is a hell of a lot of prints. And, as to Wenders' "nobody sees them" (pictures) idea, a hell of a lot more than 36 billion people are looking at them.
On a personal basis, it's also worth noting that my blog is curently averaging 3,800+ page views a month. Every page on this blog has at least 1 picture. That number of picture views is most likely more-in just one month-than the number of views my pictures have had in all of my many exhibitions over the years.