Teru Kuwayama – Basetrack

Whilst looking at Teru Kuwayama’s I came across an interview about Base track,  Base track was a platform fronted by Kuwayama which was comprised of photographers following Marines in Afghanistan, unlike many other platforms images were uploading online to the Base track website providing a new type of open communication through Photography. I came across the video below in which Teru talks about base track and his use of Iphones when shooting in Afghanistan.

” You don’t need to have a CNN bureau and you don’t need 50.000 dollars of gear and you don’t need to have a camera this big to do this work, what were interested in is recording information making pictures connecting people making and recording the things were interested in if that can be done with a camera that fits in my pocket, dust proof and has such a huge storage capacity that I can use it for 6 months its amazing”

I found this video a great insight into the thinking of a modern photojournalist a few comments stood out to me after watching the interview, one of the main areas which interested me was the section about the use of Iphones, unlike some photojournalists Kuwayama talks about the great quality of the Iphone, he talks of the HD video, High Quality camera, Mass of storage space, its lightweight body. After watching the interview the credit Kuwayama gave to the Iphone stood out to me as I had not heard many positives about the rise of simplified technology.

“I don’t think technology is a threat to it I think it enables it and ultimately what is changing with the technology is that it is becoming accessible and a lot of elements we thought as the craft of photography is no longer relevant”

“Its becoming as simple as point and shoot if that’s threatening to professional photographers I think id suggest that maybe their photography was not good enough to begin with if just simplifying the technology is undermining their value”

All quotes taken from interview with Teru Kuwayama