Cell Phone Use Photos

This is my favorite photo from my documentary on the use of cell phones in public spaces.

I began my project questioning how has cell phone changed the character of public space and quickly realized that people regard public space as something they can now use as private as they hide behind their phone. I was so surprised not only to see the masses of people on their phone but hear the things they were willing to talk about despite they were in public. I heard people talking about the fungus the doctor found in their ear and who their roommates came home with the night before.

I decided to use my cell phone to take photos of people using their cell phone to show the uses of the cell phone and its omnipotence in our world. At first I was frustrated with the limitations of the camera, but despite the limitations of my medium, I think the final images captured some moments and interesting composition like in the image above.

The most rewarding part was coming home, sitting down with my phone and individually downloading the images and as they showed up on the screen, seeing what the camera had captured. It was extremely difficult to see what I was taking when I was taking it (most of the time). The camera phone gave the images a unique and consistent quality to them.