@Frank: I appreciate your view on this subject. If you don’t like the pics, that’s fine. Photography will always be a subjective thing and I do appreciate people who dare to say they don’t like my images. My expensive pro gear is much better than a compact or an iPhone and I’m happy I can take good equipment on the job. But that’s not what this post is all about. And neither it’s about self-praise. It’s about encouraging people to go out and take pictures with whatever equipment they have instead of doing nothing but wishing they could afford better gear. From many comments and e-mails I know that these kind of posts encourage people to get the most out of their equipment.
But again, I completely agree that as a pro I want the best equipment I can afford.

1. i like bert’s blog and work for the fresh ideas !
(even i don’t think that all of the photos he took during that bounce squad session are great, i still think the IDEA behind it ist very good and a good inspiration to freshen up everybodys work.)
2.i do NOT think that Avedon was not stupid because using the much heavier and more complicated-to-use 4×5″ camera instead of a point and shoot.
3. i don’t think that we can NOT say a lot about quality when we just look at 600×800pixel pictures
4. i like the narrow depth of field on Bert’s 5d II fullframe-pictures much better than the ones above. (for example just have a look at the wedding pictures Bert took of Daphne and Katrien – BIG difference i think – you can even tell that from that small 600×800px-sized pictures !)
5. do you really use a phone-camera when you are on a job ?
6. can you really control the depth of field with an iphone ?
… what about setting the exposure time ? … changing lenses ?
is this all less important now ?
7. i completely agree that the quality from the compact is getting better every year, but so does the quality you get from the SLR and bigger ones.
8. no rules without exceptions
9. this is just my opinion … don’t take that too serious

all the best
frank

btw. nice portrait work on your website, john.

Bert didn’t say anything about it being ‘cool’ to use a phonecamera, just that you shouldn’t let a lack of equipment put you off trying to take great photos. I happen to agree with him. I’d still go out and take photos if all I could afford was a secondhand compact camera.

You don’t like Bert’s pics? I do. Photography is a subjective thing.
As for finding more interesting things to write about-if you don’t like reading it then look elsewhere. There are plenty of us who DO find Bert’s blog interesting. Lots of choice on the internet. So go find another photographer whose work YOU find interesting.

i am working professional with a professional camera and i love to work with that camera with all that different lenses in my camera bag ! i still believe that better cameras deliver a higher quality. and i still think that what we should try to get the highest possible quality.
(please don’t get me wrong. i do not have the most expensive camera, but if i could afford it it would get one. … at the end you want a reliable camera that delivers the result, that you want. so i really do think that the camera is important. but that is all. not more !

but all this “i-can-shoot-great-pictures-with-my-iphone” is just a self-praising how cool and creative you are … i think that it is not cool going for extra low quality and it is not very creative to use cheap cameras like anybody else ! … and i don’t think that those pictures are great. sorry. ( just look what guys like Avedon, Cartier-Bresson, Newton, etc. did allready … years ago ! that is great ! )

so please become a bit more serious and put more energy into your pictures instead of thinking about what camera is cool to use !

don’t you have other more interesting things to write about ?

When I left my staff job many years ago, I tried to prove the same point by shooting every single assignment on a Yashica compact film camera.
It all went well, and nobody noticed until I got to the last job-it was a rugby match!

Some days have been pretty sad, others I am truly proud of. My creativity does flourish within my limitations.

Thanks for this post.

(Oh, and for those with some Photoshop-type editing skills, the app Photogene is a great tool for adjusting levels, WB, and several other things.)