There is an amazing amount of  hand-wringing going on these days about the 4 billion cell-phone cameras out there in the world. “It’s going to ruin photography.” “We’re doomed.” “Nobody appreciates quality anymore.” High-end camera sales are going in the tank!”

Get a grip people.

170 years ago, only a few people had cameras; then Eastman came out with roll film and put photography into the hands of millions… and doom “DOOM! I say!” was predicted. Didn’t happen, did it? Those who practiced photography as art or craft grew, not shrank. Wedding photographers went right on about their business, taking images that were important to people.

Ditto, friends – ditto.

More cameras means nothing more than, uh… more cameras.  In fact, it means that more people will end up appreciating what the craft and art of photography really is.  The only photographers hurt by the plethora of pocket cameras these days are news photographers. 

Fine artists; commercial photographers; wedding photographers; fashion photographers – their number will continue to grow, and they will continue to buy the “heavy iron.”

 It doesn’t have anything to do with the graying (aging) of the current crop of photographers, any more than typewriters or word processors changed the art of writing.

Yes, for a while, big, fancy, expensive equipment sold well under the mythology that better equipment somehow enabled you to make better images. Microsoft Word doesn’t make it easier to create a great novel either. That little fantasy has come to an end.

Look: image quality was never a big deal to the average snapshot shooter, from the 1920’s on. The person who owned a Brownie, or  110 Instamatic, or Polaroid wasn’t after fine art they could hang in a gallery back then, and the fact that now they are using cell phones for the exact same purpose doesn’t mean diddly squat.

We didn’t compare mom pulling out her Kodak to memorialize Mary’s birthday with Yousuf Karsh back then, and there’s no reason to do so now. 

People take photos for money, for love, or for fun. That hasn’t changed a bit.  Get a grip, quit worrying, and go out and take some photos.