A good friend once told me that “a camera is just a box with a hole in it”. What they meant is that you don’t need fancy equipment to make photos. Sure, it’s nice to have good, reliable gear. But the most important aspects of creating photographs is the way you see, being there for the moment and the way you show the world what you saw and felt. The equipment you use is secondary.
This image is one of my favorite recent portraits and it was made with my phone. I noticed Hannah lost in thought while we were enjoying cappuccinos at an outdoor cafe. The lighting was soft and luxurious and I only had a few seconds to capture this fleeting moment so I used the camera that was most accessible, my phone. I had my 35mm DSLR with me but if I had taken the time to pull it out, meter and focus the moment would have passed and the subject would have been more conscious of the fact that I was taking her photo, so the image likely would not have come out as spontaneous and natural.