I took a walk through the Gowanus Canal yesterday, from Park Slope to Columbia Street. It was an overcast, dreary day, but I knew I'd find some interesting things to shoot regardless of the grey light. I donned myself with my Argus 75, Nikon Coolpix, and of course my iPhone ~ just to make sure I had all my bases covered and could easily shoot on the fly.
Alternating between shooting Through the Viewfinder (TtV) and Hipstamatic I wandered down Union towards Columbia Street. There are good things about each way of shooting. TtV allows you to get candid shots of people who don't realize you are taking their picture. Since you are looking down at some weird contraption that bares no resemblance to a modern day camera people just assume you are weird. On the other hand, the nice thing about the iPhone is you can shoot quickly and candidly without taking time to focus or compose your image and you get to see the results immediately, not to mention that the variety of effects are endless.
I took over 100 pics and couldn't wait to get home to compare the results. Is it even worth taking TtV pics when the iPhone has so many great applications that give you as good or better effects? Well, yes, and no. Although you get a variety of effects with the iPhone the pictures taken TtV are more subtle and have that "old film" look to them. You can't really get that with an iPhone. Also, there's something about shooting with an actual "camera" that makes you feel like you are really taking a picture. Those of you who are too young to remember what an actual camera is will have to take my word for this. There was something so magical about lugging around a clunky, large, heavy device, and then waiting to develop the shots, that we just don't experience anymore. Instant gratification is nice, but that element of surprise is totally gone. Although you don't have to wait very long to see your results with TtV photography, you do have to upload the shots to your computer, crop the images and sometimes do a bit of color editing to get the final image.
In either case, both ways of shooting are so damn easy it almost feels like cheating to take credit for a good shot. I don't think I'll ever graduate to using a DSLR with all it's complicated buttons and long user manuals. The only thing that matters to me is the final result and for now I'm totally happy with my uncomplicated cheater's photography.....For those of you who are curious:
#1 - Hipstamatic
#2 - TtV
#3 - TtV
#4 - TtV
#5 - Hipstamatic
#6 - Hipstamatic
