Pictures Of Silly

Can you remember the last time you felt excited by the fact you'd got a camera on your phone? What was it three, four years ago? Well, according to this press release we - or those of us who fall into the easily pitchable category, "the man on the street" - are still absolutely beside ourselves at the very idea of the whole phone-that-also-takes-pickchuz thing. Or, as an LiS reader with the hi-powered binoculars trained at the very front line of PR wonkery has it:

Hold the font page! Another urgent communiqué from the Department Of Stating The Blinding Obvious:

However:

1. Didn't the "new age in photography" dawn in 2002 when, as the timeline suggests, the first phone camera was made available?
2. As for the claim that "the mobile phone is allowing the man on the street to experiment with creative photography any place, any time" - presumably the same cannot be said of the Kodak Brownie, Olympus Trip, Polaroid et al
3. Who in their right mind would be happy to be described as a "Mo-Pho"?
Duh, duh and again, I tell you - duh


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Begin forwarded message:

From: "Barbara Bajkowski" [barbara@3-monkeys.co.uk]
Date: 27 August 2008 09:35:10 BDT
Subject: Brit's say cheese to mobile phone cameras

Brit’s say cheese to mobile phone cameras, according to 3
New age in photography dawns

The advent of mobile phone cameras has unleashed a new category of citizen snappers. Almost 70 per cent of the UK population (67 per cent) use their mobile phones as cameras when they’re out and about, indicating the rise of a new category of photographers, Mo-Phos or Mobile Photographers, according to mobile phone network 3.

A study into the photography habits of the nation showed that almost half (45 per cent) of the nation’s budding Annie Leibovitz and Mario Testinos are using their camera phones to capture quirky and interesting sights while on the go. However, the mobile phone camera remained less popular for traditional photography subjects such as family holidays (3 per cent), weddings and christenings (4 per cent).

Adam Davis, Head of Devices at 3 said: “Mobile phone cameras are allowing Brits to set their inner David Bailey free and snap away to their heart’s content, capturing quirky and interesting sights on the go.

“While there will always be a place for the old fashioned black and white film camera and the top of the range digital devices, the mobile phone is allowing the man on the street to experiment with creative photography any place, any time.

“With mobile phone usage at a record high with 70 million active mobile connections in the UK** we’re witnessing the dawning of a new age for the art of photography."