It’s one of those perfect autumn mornings that one only sees in stories & movies. Rays of sunshine streaming past the curtains and the distant chirping of birds composing a pleasant noise. You realise with a sigh that it’s time to wake up and head to work.

You flip a switch and just like that, steaming hot water is ready for you to shower. A click of a button and you have a fresh cup of coffee in your hand, a few taps on your phone and your ride to work is here.

Life does sound easy when you put it like that.

It’s not a stretch of words or logic to say that some of mankind’s greatest inventions came to be because we want life to be easy, we despise the long way and we love shortcuts. Whether it’s a water heater or a coffee machine or even the smartphone you’re probably reading this from, many of our technologies stem from the desire to create shortcuts and make life easier.

Where am I going with this?

Well, no other smartphone brand has made capturing high quality photos/videos easier than iPhones. They are bridging the gap between professional & amateur photography/videography faster than your friend saying “Don’t worry bro, I’ll pay you back” on a night out. 

So here the question rises, “Are iPhones a shortcut to great content?”

Here’s what Apple’s legendary marketing campaign has to show us

https://youtu.be/jELeFXNJUOE?si=PhPMG7FpcdxwKGe6 

The ‘Shot on iPhone’ campaign brilliantly showcases the content quality one can have with just an iPhone by turning their customers into creators themselves. It transcended from a mere user-generated campaign to an act of creating art.

https://cdn.musebycl.io/2019-07/Shot%20on%20iPhone%20on%20Tour%202.jpg 

From Olivia Rodrigo’s latest music video to  BTS shots from Travis Scott’s tour, the quality of the content seems to make the answer as obvious as the sky is blue or water is wet, iPhones are a shortcut to great content!

If you’re one of those readers who were patiently waiting for a catch, then don’t worry I’m not going to disappoint. There is a “but” coming here.

Despite being visually impaired;  Beethoven produced some of the finest musical masterpieces the world has ever known, tunes that will echo through eternity, whereas given a piano, the best I will be able to conjure up is a random cacophony of noises. 

What we have missed to account so far is whose hands & mind are behind the piano, sorry, I meant the iPhone. The quality of the content is directly related to the nature of the person capturing it. In other words, it depends on who’s shooting and how.

Let’s take one last example, of a chef in the heart of culinary combat. The stakes are higher than ever, with the mission to come up with a dish to win the show, and the worst part? There’s only 2 hours on the clock to claim the title of Masterchef. The ingredients are all there, so are all the equipment one can dream of.

The only thing that our chef is missing to win the show? Creativity and a plan.

Just like cooking an amazing dish, capturing great content is a matter of creativity and the necessary skills to do it justice. The point is that iPhones are a tool of great capability, but a tool nonetheless.

For the right person with a creative plan in their mind and at least a basic understanding of photography/videography, there’s no doubt that iPhones are a shortcut to great content. But will it replace the camera? Now that, is debatable.