What makes the image

CEBU, Philippines — These past years, the term “phoneography” has beeen the subject of arguments and debates among photography pros and hobbyists.

A portmanteau of the words “phone” and “photography,” the term essentially refers images that are captured using a camera-equipped phone – stills that are either shot on-the-fly or processed with image editing/enhancing software.

Attributed to have initially cropped up in the mid-2000s when mobile phone manufacturers began developing handsets with fixed-focus-lens cameras, “phoneography” discussions have since evolved from questioning its validity as a form of photography to that of identifying where it stands in the field.

A recent exhibit in Cebu was kind of a take on such discussions. Titled “Eksibision Dos” and presented by the Cebu Mobile Shutterbugs in partnership with SM Seaside City, the exhibit staged at the Upper Ground Floor Level, Cube Wing of SM Seaside City featured a series of stills that were captured using smartphones.

Timed with the Cebu Mobile Shutterbugs’ second anniversary, the show presented a diverse range of photographs which ranged from landscapes, portraits, creative macros and artistic montages – stills that were composed with a smartphone camera’s manual-control functions, on-the-fly image editing software, and the dynamic utilization of light to tell a story.

Equal parts illustrative and demonstrative of the types of shots that can be taken with a smartphone camera, the show effectively framed “phoneography’s” dynamic prospects and potentials – altogether proving that images taken with a smartphone can comparably be as detailed as those taken with a DSLR.

Not one to blur dividing lines, the exhibit opted to focus on the relationship between a photographer and whatever device he uses to capture stills – invariably saying that what a photographer sees is ultimately what makes the image, not just the device used to capture it.