Removed: Photographer Removes Phones From His Photos To Show How Terribly Addicted We’ve Become

American photographer Eric Pickersgill photoshopped away the smartphones and digital devices from his portraits of everyday life. The project “Removed” aims to show our addiction to modern technology, social media, and hyper-connectivity. Pickersgill knows that he’s also amongst the addicted.

The photographer was inspired by a chance encounter in a New York cafe. “Family sitting next to me at Illium café in Troy, NY is so disconnected from one another,” Pickersgill writes in his notes from that day. “Not much talking. Father and two daughters have their phones out. Mom doesn’t have one or chooses to leave it put away. She stares out the window, sad and alone in the company of her closest family. Dad looks up every so often to announce some obscure piece of info he found online.”

He achieved the surreal effect in his photography art by asking strangers and friends to remain in position, taking the shot and then removing the devices in final photoshopped pictures.

Scroll down to check the eye-opening photos on social media addiction below.

More info: removed.social| Facebook | Instagram (h/t: ufunk)

The project inspiration came from a chance encounter in a NYC cafe

A black and white portrait of a couple in bed showing phone addiction removed from their hands by the photographer.

“Family sitting next to me at Illium café in Troy, NY [was] so disconnected from one another”

Family portrait with phones removed from hands, highlighting our terrible addiction in everyday home life.

“Not much talking. Father and two daughters have their own phones out”

Woman and child sitting on a couch with devices removed from their hands, illustrating phone addiction by photographer Eric Pickersgill.

“Mom doesn’t have one or chooses to leave it put away”

Bride and groom in wedding attire leaning on car, digitally edited to remove phones, illustrating phone addiction in portraits.

“She stares out the window, sad and alone in the company of her closest family”

Three boys sitting on a couch with phone-sized voids in their hands, illustrating phone addiction in photography.

“Dad looks up every so often to announce some obscure piece of info he found online”

Two men sitting apart on a bench, hands empty, in a black and white photo highlighting phone addiction removal.

“Despite the obvious benefits that these advances in technology have contributed to society, the social and physical implications are slowly revealing themselves”

Black and white portrait of a man and woman removed phones, highlighting addiction in modern life by photographer Eric Pickersgill.

“In similar ways that photography transformed the lived experience into the photographable, performable, and reproducible experience…”

Black and white portrait of family interacting outdoors with phones digitally removed, highlighting phone addiction in modern life.

“…personal devices are shifting behaviors while simultaneously blending into the landscape by taking form as being one with the body”

Black and white photo of two people on a boat, with devices digitally removed to show phone addiction impact.

“This phantom limb is used as a way of signaling busyness and unapproachability to strangers while existing as an addictive force that promotes the splitting of attention between those who are physically with you and those who are not”

Two men standing by a grill holding invisible phones in their hands, illustrating phone addiction removal concept.

Four women photographed without phones in their hands, illustrating phone addiction removed by the photographer.

“I’m not attempting to tell others what to do with their time, I’m just hopefully offering up a moment of realization”

Man and woman in a living room sitting on a couch, phones removed to highlight our terrible phone addiction in modern portraits.

“I just personally need the reminder to put it down because it is an addiction”

Couple sitting on wooden porch chairs, edited to remove phones, highlighting smartphone addiction in black and white.

Thank you Eric Pickersgill for the interview!

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