I was the first commenter on the Online Photographer story yesterday on the work of David Guttenfelder who, while based in Afghanistan for AP, took a break from his serious coverage of the war to snap shots of life embedded with soldiers. Guttenfelder used his iPhone but then presented it using one of those filters that puts your digital shot within a Polaroid frame and also fades it to give it the Polaroid look.

I'm afraid I might have set the tone for the discussion later when I questioned what the concept was and what it intended to portray.

What really is the point in shooting something on a digital phone and then crafting the trappings of instant film media around the edges. I don't even get the concept behind it. Even in the pre-digital days would a photojournalist even use a Polaroid? What is the purpose of implying that it could have been one?

I suppose I could have been more delicate but I really did want to know.

Other commenters I think filled it in more by suggesting the Polaroid frame implied nostalgia and the 'snapshot' framing separating it from photojournalism. I do agree and I should say I have nothing against the actual images and quite like a couple of them. I wouldn't even go so far as to criticize the use of it as some did, one or two saying that it made the seriousness of the war more detached.

I don't know if during the Vietnam war there were many Polaroids being snapped by soldiers in the theatre but I'm sure many did make snaps with other cameras which would be just like this and would not have any particular serious tone: just life in wartime. As such, there's nothing wrong with it and an interesting document.

I just find it strange that one can use a digital camera and then place a Polaroid frame around the images to put it in another time and place AS IF ONE DAY PEOPLE WON'T LOOK BACK ON iPHONE IMAGES AND NOT SPOT THEM AS SUCH. One day people will go: ahh, iPhones of the early 21st century. How nostalgic. I'm willing to bet.

For the record, I'm interested to see real Polaroid war journalism.

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Denver Post: Guttenfelder's iPhone Photojournalism