The cameras in our mobile phones have made amateur shutterbugs of many of us, but most people who pick up a camera/phone and start shooting have no real training in how to compose their photos. The result is a lot of unusual but not really artistically interesting photos. The Slow Photography Camera is designed to encourage photographers to slow down a bit and take the time to compose their shots.

Photographer David McCourt designed the camera as an intermediate step between mobile phone cameras and professional-grade digital SLR cameras. It gives amateurs a sense of what it is like to actually look through a viewfinder, select the right lens, and carefully compose the shot before firing off that shutter button.

The camera works with your existing camera phone. You just open up the front part of the camera and slide your phone in, then slide it shut and select your lens: macro, fisheye or fixed focal length.

The act of taking a picture takes a bit longer with this method, making the photographer put a bit more thought into the entire process. This is far different from lifting up your phone and casually snapping a picture whenever something halfway interesting is happening near you: it is deliberate, rather than opportunistic, photography.