Recently, I saw a photo of a squirrel that someone had taken in their garden. It was a lovely little moment: simple, spontaneous and worth sharing. But the person who posted it added, “Sorry for the quality, I took it with my phone.”
That small apology stayed with me, because it hinted at something many of us seem to believe: that a photograph somehow counts for less if it was taken on a phone. It made me wonder when the device became more important than the eye behind it.
I think it struck a chord because most of my own photos are taken with my phone. I do have a digital SLR camera, along with a few lenses, but it is now around twenty years old. It is bulkier, slower to share from, and in some ways less practical than the camera I already carry in my pocket every day.
I also have more than twenty “proper” film cameras, although most of them are vintage and fairly simple in what they can do. So does owning those cameras give me a pass? Does that mean I can call myself a photographer? I’m not sure it is quite that straightforward.
I first got into photography mainly to photograph toys. My subjects are often only a few centimetres tall, so what I needed most was not a powerful telephoto lens, but the ability to get close and capture detail. Later, as my photography moved into more real-world settings, I found that a simple fixed-length lens was often enough. In fact, it made the camera easier to carry and encouraged me to focus more on composition than equipment.
The vintage cameras joined the collection when I started going to more vintage events. When everyone has made the effort to dress in period-appropriate clothes, a modern camera or phone can look a little out of place. Those older cameras are great fun, but they are also more challenging. Some involve a lot of guesswork, and I have learned the hard way that using the wrong film can leave you with images that are far too dark to see clearly.
At the same time, phone cameras were getting better and better. As they improved, I found myself reaching for the SLR less often. The phone was always with me, the quality was good enough for most of what I wanted to capture, and sharing the image afterwards was much easier because everything was already on one device.
These days, I still enjoy using my digital and vintage cameras, but my phone has become my everyday camera. It is the one I am most likely to have with me, and that matters more than we sometimes admit.
So, if my phone is now my primary camera, can I still call myself a photographer? I think the answer is yes.
For me, photography is not about owning the most impressive piece of kit. It is about noticing something worth capturing, understanding the tool you are using, and making choices about framing, timing and perspective. A phone camera still asks those things of you. You still have to see the moment. You still have to decide what belongs in the image and what does not. You still have to care enough to take the picture.
There is also something wonderfully freeing about having a camera with you all the time. The best camera for the job is often the one you actually have with you. We can all imagine the perfect lens, tripod or lighting setup that would have made a photo better, but those things are not much help if they are sitting at home while the moment is happening right in front of us.
Modern cameras, including the ones in phones, also do a lot of the technical work for us. They can help with focus, exposure and colour balance in ways that would once have taken more conscious effort. That does not make the photograph less valid. If anything, it lets us concentrate more on the image itself: the light, the composition, the subject and the feeling we want to capture.
So yes, I think I can call myself a photographer — not because of the camera I use, but because I notice things, frame them and choose to capture them. Whether that happens through a vintage film camera, an old SLR or the phone in my pocket, the important part is still the same: seeing the image in the first place.
Perhaps that is the better question for all of us: not “what camera did you use?”, but “what made you want to take the picture?”
Frog's Pad 