You might wonder why, on a website that’s supposed to be dedicated to storytelling and photography as a language, so much attention is paid to the smartphone camera system. Delving into that can take volumes, but the simple answer is that the smartphone camera, the computational camera, has changed photography forever.

We can talk about all of the technical improvements, all of the quality improvements, all of the advantages of the system, but in the end, the real reason for the gravity-shifting change is that the smartphone system moved photography from a planned, cataloged event to an ambient, communicative gesture.

That gesture is the foundation of modern storytelling.

Photography has realized its deepest potential, functioning as a visual language that parallels our text-based language. Text tells us; photography shows us. Together, they form the grammar of the modern narrative that is the underpinning of storytelling. Simply put, the smartphone camera is the perfect instrument for this expression.

And while this may seem to be keen perception of the obvious, there is a whole level of understanding - both for the camera system and the language - that requires a shift in thinking, approach and practice.