>>3337215>affordabilityI think cameras are about the same price they've always been. Phones with a half decent camera attached are quite expensive.
<pic related. Working for the minimum wage in the UK it will "cost" 50 hours for the cheapest dslr on special offer. That's fine if you live with your parents and wash dishes part time for the Summer holidays. If you have rent and bills to pay and want a life those fifty hours are going to take a while.
>flooded us with bad photographsTrue to a point. Today in work I was forced to look at photos of a cake a ten year old had baked from a packet and a random baby. I don't do social media so don't see all the other babies, cakes and dresses people want to "share". I don't even believe they are photographs. They are ephermeral moments on a screen that are deleted, lost, forgotten when the new cake is baked. The term "photography" implies some kind of permanence.
Perhaps with so many "bad" photos it makes the "good" ones stand out. Like panning for gold in a river full of shit. A tiny spec of gold will shine regardless of the ammount of crap surrounding it (although you do need the skill and eye to isolate and spot it).
tl;dr A big fish in a vast ocean is still a big fish.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/entertainment-arts-45011397/renowned-film-director-wim-wenders-hits-out-at-phone-photography 