Figure B shows how a real estate agent might preview a house to prospective buyers.

FIGURE B

A camera phone might take a quick picture of a house for a potential buyer. Click picture for a larger image.

Figure C provides an example of a motor vehicle accident, where on-the-spot recording and reporting can provide a real-time view of the situation and a long-term, at-the-moment record for future litigation.

FIGURE C

We're really hoping Ian didn't stage this one for his article! Click picture for a larger image.

If you're suspicious of your partner, camera phones could help a private eye monitor a "straying partner" with instantaneous transmission. Of course, this application of on-the-spot camera phones, shown in Figure D, also strays dangerously into the terrain of privacy violation (or at least some pretty inappropriate behavior).

FIGURE D

Is your partner straying. Do you want to know right now? Click picture for a larger image.

What property do you own? If you have a digital camera, you should definitely go around your house and augment your insurance records with photos of your posessions, as shown in Figure E.

FIGURE E

Prove your ownership with a few carefully snapped shots. Click picture for a larger image.

A camera phone is a quick way to snap a picture of something new, without digging out the main camera. In fact, you can easily snap a picture of everything of value as you buy it, making a very powerful on-the-fly record of your posessions.

Got a furry little friend who shouldn't be there? Take a picture and send it to an appropriate service. An actual picture will help them prepare ahead of a formal inspection, as shown in Figure F.

FIGURE F

Identify pests pre-inspection. Click picture for a larger image.

Whether you're the contractor or the person needing repairs, a camera phone can help snap a quick picture as an aid for discussion and getting or giving a repair quote for a job.

FIGURE G

Get or give plumbing and house repair quotes before accepting a job. Click picture for a larger image.

If you're a farmer, a camera phone is a great tool for sending a picture of an animal's symptoms, as shown in Figure H, to a far-flung veterinarian, possibly short-circuiting an epidemic (and getting help for the animal sooner).

FIGURE H

A quick, on-the-fly picture of the animal might get better informed help, faster. Click picture for a larger image.

We're seeing more and more creative, positive applications of having a camera with you at all times. Here are a few more examples:

• Hairstyle previewing before the locks get shorn, dyed or permed
• Mobile blogs (MoBlogging)
• Design/layout approval direct from the meeting room
• Car-rage number plate reporting

All these besides the obvious snapping and sharing of the new boyfriend/girlfriend for peer approval or jealousy.

The ideas are endless and the innovativeness of the mass usage population will take the concept to areas we simply cannot imagine today. Will this result in the demise of the professional photographer (or gifted amateurs)? Not at all; having a camera doesn't make a photographer.

Using on-the-spot camera phones to capture our world in new and creative ways will give us lots of new ways to communicate, and hopefully we will begin to recruit more talented people to the domain from the growing ranks of these multitudes. Almost everyone has access to a pen or pencil, but great writers are too few. So, also, will the advent of digital cameras for (almost) everyone not result in the diminishing of the aura of great photographers like Minor White, Bill Brandt, Imogen Cunningham, Man Ray, Eugene Smith, Alfred Stieglitz, David Hamilton and Ansel Adams; but rather the induction of new names into their hall of fame.