Life@Random: “Would Henri Cartier-Bresson use an iphone to capture decisive moments if he lived in this day and age?”

Renaissance in Street Photography (part2)

Why does iphoneography make many of my contemporaries nervous about the future of photography in Australia and beyond? The iPhone and online sharing are no longer just about mediocre photos of pets, flowers and sunsets. In this fast moving world of technology a new horizon in street photography is evolving and the lines are shifting rapidly as moments are captured, shared immediately and followed online by large international audiences.

Henri Cartier-Bresson had a dance of stealth as he moved deftly like a spy with the grace of a ballerina with his hidden Leica's capturing the world around him. Would the ‘father of street photography’ use an iphone and instagram to capture and publish his decisive moments if he lived in this day and age?

Watching Michael "Misho" Baranovic, a Melbourne based iphoneographer, work is like watching a piece of visual magic unfold. I was sitting across a table from him at the European cafe in Melbourne last month prior to the opening of the G-street Photography exhibition we had both judged. Eric John Kim from L.A. who had been teaching workshops to the next generation of street photographers in Australia was also there and he was telling me about street photographers around the world returning to film, not megapixels. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the subtlety of using a small device that cloaks the conspicuous photographer with big cameras and lenses into the invisible graceful street photographer. Watching Misho, the potentiality for street photography with an iphone widened and converged before my eyes. A beautiful woman had walked into the cafe and she sat alone waiting for someone. The air was filled with tension and anticipation as she watched the door. In this fleeting moment he captured the beauty and energy at the next table with his camera discreetly on his phone.

Photographers I know around Australia are currently strongly divided on their opinions of iphoneography (the current iphone4s supersedes all other phones for quality of image): one opinion has a vehement disdain for this version of photography, the second opinion doesn't care what camera or device a photographer uses as long as the photos are good, the third opinion has absolutely embraced iphoneography, its immediacy, and an audience of online followers.

There are so many cameras in people's pockets and everyone is documenting their world. This is the true "democratisation of photography," said Baranovic. He and Sydney based Oliver Lang are two young Australians who have mastered the art of iphoneography with a large international following. They are founding members of the Mobile Photo Group, formed in 2011, the first substantial international collective shooting primarily with mobile phones. "MPG is very new and simultaneously it is starting to feel very established," admits Baronovic. Although the members of the MPG collective use iphones to capture the images of daily visual poetry, they are not locked to any one device. In naming the collective Mobile Photo Group they had the foresight to realize that phones may be superseded by other devices in the future. Mobile photography has challenged what Baranovic calls this "gear race" and it makes people very nervous.

If you were not told, you would not know particular images were shot on a phone. "More data does not mean a better image," he said. He likes the fluidity of using an iphone and feels it is more accurate than digital when he can "touch" expose using the "procamera" app. Closely examining the A3 prints in the finalists exhibition at G-Street, no one could tell the difference between the images shot on film or digital versus the photos shot on mobile phones . Many of the young photographers who entered the competition, however, had never seen any of their photographs printed. This is the day that I began seriously questioning the new horizons in photography and the possibilities of the medium as tool of expression. I also wondered if a traditional dinosaur like me could effectively use iphones, and online sharing without looking like a middle-aged photographer having a creative crisis. The drawbacks, in my opinion, to using iPhones for shooting are the small file size, lack of depth of field and the weak battery life of the phones. Many iphoneographers rarely use their phone to make calls, which is an interesting and novel thought.

Baranovic pulled back from a photographic career in his mid-20's and went back to university to study International Development. In 2009 he was shooting on the streets of New York when he discovered the beautiful, haunting work of Robert Frank at the Met. The following year, he moved from Brisbane to Melbourne and on the very long drive he used an iphone and apps which liberated him from his traditional camera gear. He started to again feel the magic that draws visual people to become photographers. He began shooting every day on his commute to the city where he looked at the seasons and felt the light that defines and guides Australian street photography. His phone gave him the freedom to not obsess about images as he quickly edits, shares online and thereby lets the images go. It's an effortless photography that is different from going out with a big camera.

Many iphoneographers use the huge array of filters, borders and apps to define the aesthetic and style of their work. Baranovic creates his voice using a natural quiet approach. He claims that "The more I shoot, the less I use the filters." Instead he waits for awkward, mysterious moments in the ethereal light that creeps through alleyways and buildings in Melbourne and suburbs to show his world and create his magic naturally in the "phone". He admits that mobile photography is making professionals with film and digital cameras nervous. Iphoneogaphy has become a community building and knowledge sharing exercise for Baranovic and Oliver Lang (who is currently overseas shooting on the streets of New York). Beside their role in the collective Mobile Photo Group and the feeding constant streams of images online viewed by their immense audience of followers, they have spearheaded groups of photographers in Sydney and Melbourne who go out to shoot regularly. They share their knowledge in person and online to assist the broader mobile phone community to capture a decent image on an iphone. They have also created a book on suburbia showcasing the work of photographers shooting on iphones in Australia. "I've always had a thing about suburbia and the role that plays in our national identity," says Baranovic. He pitched the idea to Blurb and linked it to Instagram and co-curated the book. It was like a river of photos and he helped fish them out of the water and into the book "Instaburb" which was launched last month in Melbourne. http://www.blurb.com/bookstore/detail/3075172

Baranovic said that he was the "lone" Australian iphoneographer online for a year and then around 2010 a guy called Oliver Lang from Sydney kept commenting on his photographs and asking questions. Baranovic says that going on a walk with Olly Lang is like a mirror as they search for light and life on the streets. They are both committed to quality street photography and the art behind the process. They encourage others to use what is at hand to shoot, edit and share. Iphoneography has a certain “Australian” quality with the ethereal light illuminating daily life in the theatre of the street. According to Baranovic, there are strong iphone and instagram, communities throughout Asia. Many students come to Australia from Asia to study and he sees a whole new generation of passionate street photographers wandering the streets of cities like Sydney and Melbourne from places like Singapore and Indonesia.

Regarding Henri Cartier- Bresson, Baranovic said, “I'm not sure if he'd use an iPhone. He'd probably stick to a digital Leica and secretly shoot on the phone just like @davidalanharvey ;)”

What do you think?