Cell phones with their embedded digital cameras provide the opportunity for anyone (almost) to be a photographic artist.  The three galleries assembled for the Contact Photography Festival exhibit pictures captured on my cell phone.  These pictures, though short of the calibre of those taken with professional cameras, compete in terms of interest and spontaneity.

The invention and mass adoption of the cell phone results in more digital photographs taken in one year than the total captured in the 220 year history of film. The vast majority of this artistry remains hidden within the medium. The cell camera (medium) also influences the interpretation of the message with the camera roll viewed at a speed controlled by the viewer and potentially with less inspection than a print photograph hanging on a wall.

My exhibit provides a glimpse of this phenomena with gallerygoers employing cell phones to view three ‘galleries in a pocket’.