Hello and welcome to today's independent travel podcast with me Simon Calder.

It's Thursday the 12th of March.

And with everything that's happening in the world, I think it's a good time to look ahead to the summer and focus on taking pictures, both still and moving.

I don't know about you, but I'm one of those people who bought a digital camera when they

first came on the market around about 2001.

I remember paying £500.

And yet a quarter century on, a smartphone costing roughly the same in real terms is infinitely better in terms of

image quality and flexibility. But how best to make the most of this miracle technology in your

pocket? Well, today and tomorrow I'm talking to a true professional, Douglas Bolchin. Doug and I have worked together

for 20 years on many projects, mostly films, but he's also done photography for the

independent and other people. What fascinates me is that although Doug uses high-end professional

equipment, he can also get extraordinary results

just using his smartphone. So I've been talking to him about how that works. Doug, first things

first, I've got a phone, it's got a button, I press it and take a picture. That's it, isn't it?

End of podcast. Hey Simon, yes, and it's

great to talk to you again. The development of the camera phone has just gone leaps and bounds

over the last few years, especially on the iPhone. I mean, I remember getting my first

Nokia phone back in the early 2000s, with the first camera on it and it was

great but that was only just as like a gimmick now with the latest i mean i don't have the

latest i have like an iPhone 15 the pro version and i believe they're up to the 16 or 17 now

but just the quality of just what you can take still image-wise and the

different lenses that are on there and the wides and the zooms that are just phenomenal.

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