1000 Words Facebook Showcase v4, April 2014

Welcome to the fourth edition of the We Are Juxt 1000 Words Facebook Showcase!  Over the past few months, we have seen the group grow and watched their inspiring work being posted daily.  We are happy to be able to showcase some of the outstanding work that is being shared.

We Are Juxt believes that mobile photographers/ artists tell stories through the photographs/ images and art that represents their families, their environment, themselves. This is important because of the level of communication that is portrayed in imaging today.

We want to support the mobile arts community by having a place for artists to share, discuss, and critique (if requested by individual). These dialogues help the individuals and the community to grow.

We look forward to you and your art. We thank you for your contribution to the mobile photography/ arts community. To submit your work click here.

My selections for this month not only display a variety of textures, but a sense of atmosphere and depth. The artists brought forth this sense of atmosphere and depth through the use of composition, and a thoughtful editing process. Portraits, blended images that forge a new reality, and vacant landscapes all leave us wanting to know more. I had the pleasure of getting to know more about the stories and thought processes behind the images, and am excited to have the photographers share their stories with you. – Todd

“Violet” by Erika Carrillo

Instagram // Facebook

In this particular piece I used Superimpose to place the image on a violet background. For a second step to blend in the colors and variety, I used SnapSeed. Then, using iColorama, I was able to accent the image with Flow and Raise, and for texture and final blending of colors, I used Stackables and Mextures. As a result, I was able to acquire my vision of youth, via expression of magical coloration and aura, around the innocence of a child

“?” by Andy Alexandre

Instagram

Apps used: Mpro – XnView – Afterlight – Mextures.

“I love improvisation when I take a pic, and I usually do not make many images with landscapes. This day I was alone in this park. It was the good moment. I tried to use the landscape and create the mood of a lost world.
I use Mpro for some b&w pics as I can play with contrast. To add this blur effect I used XnView, Retro 20 in Retro. I used afterlight to add more contrast in the sky and to have this gray atmosphere with “coal” filter. Finally, I used Mextures to add some scratch. I don’t really remember the filter, but you can find it in the folder grit and grain.

“Ashland, OR: Pay No Attention to the Man Behind the Curtain” by Meri Walker
EyeEm // Flickr // Twitter // Tumblr // Website

“Living in southern Oregon is a paradoxical experience for me. On one hand, this part of the northwest is sparsely settled and naturally beautiful. Ashland is famous for its wonderful restaurants and shops and, of course, the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. Some highly educated people have moved up here from the Bay Area and there are interesting bookstores, lectures, and some good music to serve them and the thousands of tourists that flock here in the summer to see the plays. On the other hand, some pretty abject poverty surrounds the expensive tourist attractions. Few jobs that aren’t minimum wage. Lots of homeless people on the corners. Children living in the woods – without parents. And that’s just the way it is.

Because I was a photojournalist early in life, it’s impossible for me not to see all kinds of things. Even in tourist towns. For the close to seven years I’ve lived in this area, this dilapidated old sign has been part of the landscape as you approach Ashland from the northernmost exit off I5. Not exactly the kind of image Ashland wants for itself. Ironically, no one has bothered either to take the sign down or invest in the vacant land.
For years, I thought I would stop and shoot the scene. March 9th I did it. Late in the afternoon. Bleak light and mud everywhere. I shot with Clear Cam originally because it was pretty windy and I wanted to be sure to get a steady handheld frame. I took all the color out when I got home and used Oggl to square up the composition and add the muddy edge. Not satisfied with the feel of the neutral monochrome I got from Oggl, I used Monokrom to punch up the contrast and add a smidge of green drama to the black-and-white.”

“Within Reach” by Jeffrey Simpson

Facebook // Flickr // Instagram // Website

“The inspiration for this shot, like most of my work is pretty simple.  A strong black and white self portrait to capture and express all that feels just within ‘arms reach’ for me.  Even though it’s not all clear (me, slightly out of focus), I keep a steady gaze, arms reaching and ever ready.

Process…
This self portrait is a pretty typical edit for me and feel it captures both me and my style of work.  I have a ‘less is more’ approach with the apps I use, to achieve the classic black and white look that I love.  I shoot in Pure Shot, which allows me to keep a high file size because it is in tiff format.  (some apps really kill the file size!)  I then used Filterstorm to convert to black and white.  Filterstorm has a great ‘curves’ feature with a dynamic range of contrast and in this portrait, I really brightened the brights and darkened the darks. I also used the Blur tool to enhance the depth of field.

“Pond In Winter” by Paul Cutright

Facebook // Flickr  // Tumblr // Twitter // Website

My inspiration for this image to begin with was visiting this pond. It is beyond some trees in our back yard and we can only see the pond when the trees are bare of leaves. It is in a hollow on our neighbor’s property and from our back deck it kind of glows in the shadow of the trees and surrounding hillside.
When I was at the pond it was small and surrounded by a lot of undergrowth as you can probably see in the image. I just knew that this scene could be the makings for an interestingly mysterious image. But, I wouldn’t know for sure or what the image would be like until I started working on the photograph.
I don’t usually have a preconceived idea of what I want an image to look like when I am done. I work intuitively, experimenting until I get something with which I am pleased. I like to create images that are mysterious, ambiguous and pull the viewer in to wonder and find their own meanings and interpretations beyond the literal. I also like to create painterly images in a painterly, impressionistic style.
I shot the image with Hipstamatic, Yoona lens & Blanko film, and edited it first in Snapseed. Then I opened it in DistressedFX and finished it there. I don’t usually document each step of the process when working on an image, so I can’t always give a step-by-step explanation of what I have done. I used to do that when I first started with iPhone photography, but found it slowed me down and interrupted my “in the moment” inspirations. All images and editing are done on my iPhone 4s.”

“Departure” by Anthony Hutchinson

Facebook // Flickr // Google+ // Twitter // 500px

“This ship was abandoned about ten years ago along the shores of Lake Ontario. Apparently it is a replica of the “Grand Hermie” used by the famous French explorer Jacques Cartier during his explorations of Canada between 1535 and 1542. Living in Toronto I have made numerous trips to Niagara Falls where you can clearly see this ship from the highway, but I never had the opportunity to stop and explore it until I finally decided to make a special trip. During the winter, because of the frozen shallow water it is standing in, you can get right on the ship and I therefore had the opportunity to explore it from every angle. It was a very rewarding hour I spent, including having to run back to the car to recharge my phone! (And I have to thank my wife as she patiently waited for me). Given that it is only a replica of a historic ship, it does’t have a lot of stories to tell, but you still can’t help but wonder what life must have been like for the original explorers on a ship such as this. How did they survive the harsh conditions of sailing such a small ship across the Atlantic to a land they had never been to, known then only as “The New Word”, not knowing what they would encounter? You can’t help but think about what stories the original sailors would have told. It’s all somewhat eerie.
This image was processed in Leonardo and Handy Photo, and because of the minimalistic nature of this image, processing was fairly straight forward. I use Leonardo almost exclusively for the bulk of my processing because I like to work with multiple layers and masking of details. After converting to black & white within Leonardo, I first went about adjusting contrast and brightness in specific areas of the image and in particular I wanted to bring out the contrast and depth of the rocks in the background and darken the ship. Fog was then added using Handy Photo. I had to play with this quite a bit to get it just the way I wanted it. The reason for adding the fog was not only an esthetic one but for me it was a way of emphasizing the “mystery” of not only the ship, but the mystery the original sailors must have felt when heading off for the New World.

“Behind These Walls” by Ginger Lucero

AMPtCommunity // Flickr // Instagram

-Behind These Walls-

Tattered and torn in the state of confusion, she hides behind these walls, it’s just an illusion.

She puts on a brave face and takes cover behind her smile, she’ll tell you she’s okay, but is dying all the while.

It’s not the first time he’s made her feel this way, her happiness depends on his mood, for it changes every day.

He’ll tell her he’s sorry and didn’t mean to cause her any pain, and she’ll tolerate his lies so others won’t think she’s insane.
But the walls are crumbling down, the sheet rock is wearing thin, and soon she will see that this is the beginning of the end.

She can’t take it any more, for it’s all just too strong, she’s beginning to feel like she doesn’t belong.
Behind these walls all torn and tattered, a woman is being abused, a woman is being battered.
“When I created this image, there wasn’t any idea in mind. The inspiration for the image came after it was made. It spoke to me of abuse, abuse that is either physical, emotional or mental. The kind of abuse that no one should ever feel. Women, men, children – we all feel, we all matter.

The photo was taken using ProCamera7. Snapseed to make the image black and white.I then used Faded to get the squares in the corners. Added texture from Camera Awesome, and used Imageblender to blend the texture to the squares themselves. Repix for the black drip. Finally finished with Stackables for added grit and final touches.”

“Toxic” by Rob DePaolo

AMPtCommunity // EyeEm // Instagram // Website

“This image was created out of the synthesis of two different creative impulses on my part. On one hand, as anyone that has followed my work for a while will attest, I have a bit of a “thing” for photographing people (mostly myself) in various masks. There’s something about how the wearing of a physical mask calls attention to the fact that we are all wearing “masks” of some sort throughout most of our lives. On the other hand, I also set out to make a statement about working life and how, for so many people, the corporate environment is a toxic one, and the mask (notice it’s missing a filter) represents our honorable, yet ineffective attempts to shield ourselves from the “toxins” that we are exposed to daily.
Like most of my mobile work these days, this image was shot with an iPhone 5s using PureShot in TIFF mode and edited exclusively with Filterstorm Neue (preserving the image file as a TIFF throughout the entire process). As far as the editing process, it is actually quite simple. I cropped the image square, converted to B&W, blacked out the eyes using the Curves feature of FS Neue along with the masking brush tool, then tweaked the overall contrast and brightness, added some heavy vignetting, and that’s about it.

“Blue Hotel” by Emma Amar
EyeEm // Facebook // Instagram

I was taking my self-portrait with the native camera on the iPhone4S, with stand by. I also took a pic from my city Cannes (french riviera) with the hipstamatic combo Jane and BlacKeys supergrain. Then I tuned the image in Diana to make a blend. I chose the filter ‘rave on’ and that’s it. I love to try different apps. It depends on the mood of the day. Thanks again to wearejuxt for helping me to find inspiration.

“Untold Blasphemy” by Ioannis Sidiropoulos

Facebook // Flickr // Instagram

“Untold Blasphemy is the result of a challenge that I’ve put myself to do – edit with more of a romantic touch than my usually dark edits. The apps that I used are blender to blend the main subject that is the portrait with other images like flowers, walls, woods etc. and the result is that. I used iRetouch to crop the image, and I used filterstorm to adjust the contrast.”