NYTs: Is iPhone Photography “Serious” Photography?
Posted: August 6, 2012 Filed under: Current Events & News | Tags: cell phone photogrpahy, histamatic, instagram, iphone photography Leave a comment »Ben Lowy: Virtually Unfiltered
By JAMES ESTRIN
Who is Ben Lowy?
The answer depends partly on how you feel about cellphone photography, Hipstamatic and in-camera digital processing.
If you believe that Hipstamatic and Instagram could inspire tens of millions of people to become more interested in “serious” photography, then think of Mr. Lowy as a prophet urging others to abandon outdated and elitist ways.
If, on the other hand, you believe iPhone photography — and the Hipstamatic app, in particular — are the work of the Devil, then you can think of Mr. Lowy as his messenger.
However you see him, Mr. Lowy, 32, has become a prominent photojournalist, represented by Reportage by Getty and featured in The New Yorker, The New York Times Magazine, Time and Newsweek.
Last year, Mr. Lowy won the Duke University Center for Documentary Studies/Honickman First Book Prize in Photography. Memorably, he appeared on the “Daily Show With Jon Stewart” to promote the book that emerged from that project, Iraq | Perspectives.
And Wednesday night, he will receive the International Center of Photography Infinity Award for Photojournalism.
And soon there will be a Ben Lowy Hipstamatic lens.
Mr. Lowy does not shrink from controversy. For the last four years, he has been ardently defending cellphone photography on Twitter, Facebook, his Tumblr and in real life. READ ENTIRE ARTICLE
