Photography: Ben Lowy's iPhone4 Photo Makes the Front Cover of TIME Magazine

Ben Lowy's Time Magazine Cover photo of Hurricane Sandy. 

33 year-old Ben Lowy takes a photo of Hurricane Sandy using his iPhone 4, and makes the cover of Time Magazine. The shot depicting the raging ocean on Coney Island in Brooklyn was taken on a humble iPhone 4S and was edited using iPhone app Hipstamic. He says that he feels no embarrassment using the iPhone for big assignments but laments at the device's poor image qulaity in low light. More recently, Lowy took a series of pictures in libya for the NY Times magazine and documented this summer's political conventions for the New Yorker. In terms of social documentary, it might be easier to take sneaky photos and work incognito, Lowy supports this as he states that he is often mistaken for an amateur or tourist because of it. 

So this begs the question, can Lowy be considered a 'real' photographer for using the iPhone? I believe it does take a photographers experienced eye to effectively communicate a great image. The camera should merely be a tool, not the defining feature or the hallmark of a good picture, but rather the catalyst. It'll be interesting to see what happens to photography and documentation as time goes one. So I pose this question to you, with my recent blogpost on the digitization of film and photography, how do you think this effects the integrity of the art/profession?

For more on Lowy's work, check hit up this link.