Photographer and product designer David McCourt, from Glasgow, Scotland, has devised this “Slow Photography” Camera to be used in conjuction with a camera phone.
Usually, there’s a careful thought process that goes into taking pictures. Choosing what will be within and without the frame, which objects will appear nitid and which will become part of the background, how the lighting will come into play … Photographers make plenty of decisions of both technical and artistic nature that greatly affect the outcome of their shots, but with the advent of camera phones all of this seems to have taken a back seat.
Almost anyone who owns a camera phone might find themselves becoming a jittery shutterbug from one day to the next, preocuppied with capturing as many moments and scenes as possible without pausing to consider the basics of photographic composition. David McCourt researched flickr statistics and noticed that the Apple iPhone 4, for instance, ranks among the top 3 most popular cameras. There’s no question that people love taking pictures with their phones and showing off the fruits of their work.
Still, there’s no reason why the instantaneity and accesibility of camera phones shouldn’t be accompanied by a certain level of skill. That’s the entire point of David’s “Slow Photography” camera. It creates a chance for camera phone users to slow down their frantic snapping and delve into a slightly more complex realm of photography where composition matters. As David puts it, his camera provides “a natural stepping-stone between using a mobile phone as a camera before taking the plunge into professional grade digital photography.”
The camera has three lenses: Fixed focal length, macro (ideal for close-up pictures of small objects) and fisheye (perfect for registering great fields of view, given its wide angle). It can be put to use in five easy steps. Slide the front face open, put your phone inside, turn the ring to choose a lens, look through the viewfinder to compose your shot and release the shutter.
A peculiarity of this camera is that in order to use the viewfinder it must be held waist high or slightly above, like many medium-format cameras. This provides a non-traditional point of view for those who are used to photographing with their phones and is likely to produce interesting results.
In short, David’s invention equips camera phones with a set of tools they wouldn’t normally have, and allows consumers to unleash their creativity while still taking advantage of the spontaneity their phones provide.
Other novel cameras previously featured on Walyou include Chobi Camera G200: A Pocket-Sized Powerhouse for Travelers, Canon Cross Media Station and The Fujifilm FinePix XP30.
Via Yanko Design.
