New York - How can you tell the photographer’s eye (and brain) from the power of the camera? Don’t even try.
But do take a minute to see what professional photographer Benjamin Lowy shot on the streets of New York with the iPhone 7 Plus before its release.
Apple let Lowy borrow the phone so he could put it through its paces. He had some criticisms, among them the device’s mischievous habit of turning things pink or brown through underexposure and - even more annoying - zooming in when you’re trying to use the exposure slider. The controls are too close.
Still, Lowy was smitten with the machine’s massive storage capacity (256 gigs, if you max out your purchase) and the App Store’s robust lineup of editing programs. Edit your shoot on the subway home, right on your phone.
He loved the device’s pair of lenses, too - one a telephoto that transports you to your subject across space and time. Well, that’s what it feels like, and it's certainly how it looks when you’re checking your photos on the train.
As with most smartphones, you don’t have to block your face holding a camera up to it. Lowy loves the intimacy this gives him with with his subjects. Indeed, the portraits he shot seem ready to walk over and talk to you - or, as the case may be, give you a piece of mind. One image captures four lives in an instant, setting them at the corners of the frame, as if stuck in amber.
In others, the saturated reds, yellows, and greens of an urban farmstand vibrate with life. A sunset seen through a scuffed and dusty plastic scrim turns a carousel golden. You are there.
Watch the video below to see the results of putting this powerful tool in Lowy’s hands...
BLOOMBERG