Mobile Street Photography

With the rise (ok, it has risen since a few years back...) of smartphones and improving technology of a shorter shutter-release lag, mobile photography has taken a new meaning. I have seen on forums that some people are ditching their (real) cameras for smartphone cameras.

Everyone's on their phones

To me, mobile photography has a few advantages:


1. Stealth. Because it is a phone, people do not usually associate it with being a 'camera-first' function in the first place. People will think that you are playing shooting pigs in Angry Birds or slaying monsters in Demon Hunter. But in actual fact, you could be taking a picture of them without them noticing or making a fuss out of it.

Only one in the sun

2. Convenience. Have you ever counted the time your phone was on your hand during a day? I would say my phone is on my hand half the time my eyes are opened. Nowadays, we see people sticking their eyes and hands on their phones on the train/bus, crossing the road (be it red or green man! OMG!), in the toilet (yes, I have heard people playing games in the next cubicle and staying there from the moment I entered the cubicle to the time I exit the toilet), going from Point A to B and many more! I'm sure you can relate to that. So you can imagine why it is so convenient to embrace mobile photography. The camera is in our hands most of the time. But this is not so true for real cameras. Do you hold the camera in your hand for half the time you are awake? Not really (at least for me...). And being a smartphone, it can do so much more. Make a call, play a game, check the weather, monitor the stock market etc... All functions in one device! So with convenience, mobile photography certainly has a place in today's society.

Hitching a ride

3. Connectivity. I am sure with a smartphone, you will couple it with a data plan. So that makes it easy to share your photos online the moment you snapped it, be it Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Instagram and more. But with a real camera, you need to have a laptop or get home to transfer the pictures and the spend the time editing and uploading them onto the web. Editing on a smartphone, no doubt is very basic with free apps, but it is more than enough to create a decent image. Editing can be done on the go, meaning you save precious time for your own leisure when you reach home instead of staring at PhotoShop or LightRoom through the night.When you share instantly, you will not tend to forget to upload your pictures. For me, I tend to leave my images in my cameras until I have the time to transfer them from the SD card to the PC.

Everyone is waiting...

I am sure there are lots more reasons for mobile photography, but this 3 points are the main factors why I am in it as well. I have been following a couple of street photographers who are taking street shots using their mobile phones. One of them is the internationally acclaimed Mr Aik Beng Chia (Mr ABC as he is commonly known) (@aikbengchia), local SGIG founder Mr Ivan Kuek (@ivankuek and @phonenomenon) and celebrity performer/singer Mr Ric Liu (@gogomonster). Do check them out on Instagram! Also check me out @kaxdd! (^__^)

Away we go, no matter what mode of transport we use

Up and beyond the clouds

P.S. All images are taken by me using iPhone and edited using Snapseed. Just basic conversion to black and white and adjusting some contrast. Copyright is MINE!