The other night, at a gala dinner, I dropped into some fashion models. With the camera at home, the iPhone was completely overwhelmed. It resulted in a totally failed image that breaks about all known rules of photography basics — but has kind of something to it. Made me think of Edgar Degas’ Danseuses Bleues. The French impressionist wasn’t concerned with razor-sharp detail and spot-on color, and his technique doesn’t lessen the experience. On the contrary.

Be it back then in the 19th century or today, good visuals evoke something in the beholder. Degas painted several versions of blue dancers, knowing he was onto something. Below’s my preferred one. Now this derived contemporary iPhone impressionism is not all that far-fetched, or is it. Right, the juxtapositions are nowhere near Degas’… What if those masters would have had iPhones? We’d probably never enjoy Danseuses Bleues today.

First the original, then the modern-day “interpretation” — or asked differently, is this still photography?