moblog.co.uk, the thinking person’s phonecam site, is running a competition which I think presents some rather interesting points about the nature of the artform.
Working with a phonecam is completely unlike an approach to normal photography – the lower quality is made up for by an immediacy, the spur-of-the-moment effect (I’d never carry a “decent” camera around with me at all times, but I always have my phone on me). The best moblog shots I’ve seen are ones that opportunistic and fun.
[ There's also the problem of lenses: my T610 has a 33mm lens, designed to capture the faces of drunken friends a couple of feet away, but largely useless for landscapes or things that are 'over there'. I don't have a zoom, so some subjects simply don't work if they're not big/close enough. ]
The m3log competition has the theme ‘fourteen days‘, with entries sent to the shared moblog. It’s this theme that’s got me pondering, since it’s a little too, er, devisive? If it was ‘happiness’, or ‘urban decay’ or something then that would be fine, but pics of ‘fourteen days’ strikes me as the sort of thing that phonecam’ers will have to either actively seek out or devise, rather than stumble across. The fourteen lines and fourteen pillars both make a good stab at it, but what if the best images submitted have nothing really to do with the actual theme? Would that disqualify them?
The very fact that ‘days’ are mentioned would, to me, suggest multiple images – perhaps combined in some way. Is that allowed? Does post-processing, like using scissors in origami, violate the artform in some way?
So, I suppose I’m just going to have to wait and see if anything appropriate pops up if I want to be in with a chance.
All whinging aside – moblog.co.uk is great, and full props to Sony Ericsson for sponsoring this fantastic competition.
[ TV update: new-ish Channel 4 "sitcom" Green Wing is terrible. Despite the fact that's it's crammed full of C4's finest comic actors (and the wonderful Julian Rhind-Tutt, not seen since Hippies) it insisted on doing that ridiculous fast-forwarding thing (completely unseen in the trails) until I had no choice but to turn over to Battlefield Earth. It was that bad. ]
