| Let's stop saying, 'Photography is dead' "We're all taking billions of pictures so photography is more alive than ever, and at the same time it's more dead than ever," says German film director and photographer Wim Wenders in an interview with the BBC. For Wenders, who was in Berlin to promote a new gallery show of his Polaroid images, the smartphone camera is responsible. "The trouble with iPhone pictures is that nobody sees them, even the people who take them don't look at them anymore and they certainly don't make prints." Wenders has a point — our relationship with photography has changed drastically as the means to take photographs have become more attainable and commonplace. Photography is not just an act of freezing a moment in time anymore, it's become a real-time mode of communication. We speak in images, often choosing our camera as the best way to convey what we see, what we think, how we feel. And yet, as I watched Wenders express his displeasure in the impact smartphones have had on the medium of photography, I couldn't help but remember the summer of 2012, when Wenders was on stage at Samsung's Unpack event, praising the firm's new products — including a smartphone — and how they would inspire creativity in its users. Maybe it's time for all of us to stop remarking on the tools we use, and focus on what we do with them — whether the results end up on gallery walls or not. After all, when the Polaroid was first released, it also was seen as a lesser medium. Today, it makes it to the walls of Berlin galleries. - Olivier Laurent | 
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