What I See Now

So my New York Times arrives this morning, I take a look at the front page, and I think, “What!? Those are Hipstamatic photos—four of them!—on the front page of the Times.” They’re images by Damon Winter from the war in Afghanistan, with a greenish tint, and they’re raw and beautiful. Could a New York Times photojournalist really be taking images with an iPhone in Afghanistan?

Sure thing.

The print version doesn’t mention Hipstamatic, but if you visit the Lens blog at the Times, you’ll be able to read an article by James Estrin about the photos. Estrin says he usually avoids writing about gear, mainly because the gear a photographer uses doesn’t matter as much as the photographer and the images. This case, of course, was different.

But it happens that Mr. Winter quickly realized — after trying a few shots — that his iPhone would be an effective way to capture the day-to-day trials of the First Battalion, 87th Infantry of the 10th Mountain Division in northern Afghanistan. “Composing with the iPhone is more casual and less deliberate,” Mr. Winter said. “And the soldiers often take photos of each other with their phones, so they were more comfortable than if I had my regular camera.”

Another photographer, David Guttenfelder of the Associated Press, also took war photos from Afghanistan with his iPhone.