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Photographers vs. iPhone Users vs. Android: The Snobbery of Modern Photography
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Photography today is more accessible than ever. But do you judge others by the camera they use? Are you a secret camera snob? Everyone has a smartphone and anyone can snap a shot and share it instantly. Yet, despite this democratization, the photography world hasn’t managed to shed its musty old habits of snobbery. It seems that no matter where you are on the ladder, there’s always someone higher up looking down on you.
At the top, we have the professional photographers — the ones dressed in wrinkled black polo shirts lugging around heavy DSLRs, high-end mirrorless gear, and lenses that look like they belong in a science movie. They see, beneath them the iPhone users, who, because of Apple’s relentless push into computational photography (marketing, marketing), have become a force to be reckoned with. And at the very bottom (depending on who you ask) are the lowly Android users — often dismissed by both the pros and the iPhone crowd as the underdogs in this odd hierarchy.
So, what’s the deal? Why do these layers of elitism persist? And does it even matter?