So by now you’re probably a master at texting on your fancy cell-phone QWERTY keyboard, and a pro at downloading ringtones. You’ve also surely taken more than a few pictures with that handy in-phone camera of your kids, your friends, your dog. And while your “Albums” file probably doesn’t have a lot of pictures that rival those you’ve taken with your real digicam, perhaps there are a couple that show some artistic promise, a strange technological aesthetic that can only be achievable in the heat of the moment (when you don’t have your real camera with you and have to rely on the ol’ horn).

Well, now all those who have clicked and captured on the go can get their change to show off their skills to the world with a unique new exhibit being held by the Brandt Gallery in Cleveland, OH. The “At The Cellular Level — Cell Phone Photography as Art” showcase, scheduled to open next month, will be comprised of cell-phone photography from both everyday amateurs and (supposedly) professionals. Interested parties simply have to download images from their phone and send them to cellphonephotoshow @ yahoo.com, or e-mail them directly from their phone.

I anticipate most of the submissions will be from the amateur side, closet imagers who will test their creativity without having to outlay any money for new equipment. I’d like to think most people who own cell phones already have one with a built-in camera, though I sheepishly admit that I just updated my own dial-up dinosaur at the Sprint store over the summer (I was basically laughed out of the store when they saw how old my phone was).

I don’t think many professionals, on the other hand, will be entirely pleased with the quality of their captures, at least compared to what they’re used to getting on a daily basis in the studio or on location. However, there may be some pros who view this as yet another unique visual medium with its own requisite challenges; others may be drawn to the raw, on-the-fly nature that cell-phone photography necessitates.

it should be interesting, at any rate, to witness what comes out of this exhibit. I can’t ever see a pro trading in his or her Canon or Nikon for a Samsung or Nokia, but we could have a new creative outlet on our hands in its own right.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 15th, 2008 at 10:02 pm and is filed under Jennifer Gidman. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.