by Jen Bracewell | Mar 6, 2015 | 1000 Words, FEATURE, Featured Articles, Stories
Welcome to our fifth themed Instagram 1000 words showcase! There are many talented artists on Instagram and we wanted to tap into their creativity and showcase their work here. Fun combo theme this time! My Favorite Things and I SPY. Remember those books? Each one of these images has a hidden element, a little surprise, something beloved to the artist and a great story behind it.
Grryo believes that mobile photographers/ artists tell stories through the photographs/ images and art that represents their families, their environment, themselves. 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 thank you for your contribution to the mobile photography/ arts community.
Korea’s second city has become known for its dazzling skyscrapers, film festival, and popular beaches, but Busan’s hills are not to be missed. To the southwest of the trendy Haeundae district and the sights and smells of the old harbor’s Jagalchi seafood market, the colorful ‘village’ of Gamcheon beckons with its maze of public art and narrow stepped-streets leading to pocket plazas and views of the sea.
The steep terrain was mostly uninhabited until refugees pouring into Busan during the Korean War (1950-1953) began to seek somewhere to call home. Followers of an indigenous religion, called Taegukdo, settled as well, and as they built, they made sure to not block anyone else’s light or view. The result was a poor but vibrant neighborhood of stacked houses that has been compared to Rio’s favelas, Greece‘s Santorini, and even Machu Picchu; due to its colors, Gamcheon has also earned the nickname “Lego village.
In recent years, artists have moved in, setting up impromptu galleries and installations in abandoned homes, along with boutiques and cafés. Photogenic murals and sculptures abound, but this is still very much a working neighborhood, where you may well come upon grandmothers washing vegetables in the street. Visitors are requested to keep their voices down, and to leave by dusk so that residents can enjoy a quiet evening…
I took the photo with my iPhone5s. I used Snapseed for some initial processing, and then the Hipstamatic TinType app for finishing.
Annette W. – @dawa_lhamo
I shot this image out the front of the Palace Hotel in Broken Hill, a remote town in the Australian outback. Several scenes in the wonderful Aussie feature film “The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert” were filmed inside the hotel, it’s main feature being wall to ceiling Australiana slash Renaissance style murals. I took this image just before we walked through the door, so I was full of excitement. It’s interesting to me that the white conservative exterior does not give away any hints as to what lies behind it’s doors. I also enjoy the connection here between the figure on the inside and the person striding by.
Yoshihisa Egami – @YOSHIBOWORKS
The wall in this picture is a thing of optician. The optician is a shop my wife go well. And I had much wanted to take to photograph the beautiful wall sometime inthe best possible way. One day, I went to the optician with my wife and son. When my son stood in front wall, beautiful sight was spread in front of my eyes. Beautiful shades of the wall complemented his charm! I took a photo, engrossed. And I finally got the work convincing!The scene in this photo is a moment of the common everyday life, but a moment like treasure of my life.Time is everything to me.For you?
Title: Buddy
Device is iPhone5s
Taken with iPhone 5S Hipstamatic ( G2 Lens , Ina’s 1969)
No edit
I titled this photo “Museum Series: Interactive Light”. This was part of a number of photographs I took while touring the Denver Museum of Art. The exhibit consisted of beams of light streaming from the ceiling and shown on a screen. These beams were dormant until a figure enters the room and interacts with the artwork. The man in the photo is my husband, who I had dragged to the museum as a reluctant participant. He is shown bathed in light, reluctance forgotten, becoming one with the art, illuminated as both subject and object. As he moves the ropes of light ripple and sway in reaction, a complex web, leading to a total acceptance of his presence.
Ming – @anonymouskraken
I was wandering around Sutro Baths with my friend when this pair caught my eye. Their clothes matched their bikes so I quickly took a photo. I only took one photo and it happened to be when they stepped exactly in line.
A mirror in the window of a rather shabby upholstery shop caught my eye. I took a few pictures using Oggl, doing my best to ignore traffic behind me.
I had taken this shot with my Lumia 1020 of these two old TV sets at an abandoned shoot a few weeks back. After a little editing and cropping in Snapseed I didn’t do anything with it. They were kind of boring. I wished I’d had someone to put in the scenes at this shoot to make it more interesting.It was valentine’s Day and I’m thinking about how to do something a little extra for my sweetie. Hmmm…why not put us on TV? So I pulled up those televisions in PS Touch, found our anniversary photo from a few months back, and layered it over the front set, and blended it into the dust and shadows. Now we are a romantic comedy appearing in our 33rd Valentine season!
Suzanne B. -@_suz4nne_
This photo was taken in Bolinas where I spent an unusually warm. January morning watching my son surf. I really like the two torpedo-shaped silhouettes mirrored here–the guy and his surfboard walking in the background and this unlikely beach-bum dachshund in front of me. It was taken with Hipstamatic (Lowy lens, BlacKeys Extra Fine film, no flash). I warmed it up a bit in Snapseed after.
I took this picture at the M. C. Escher: The Mathematician exhibit, currently mounted at the National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa until May 3. In the picture is my daughter, Maia – running around as usual no matter where we are or what we are doing, and another museum goer, in front of one of the exhibit walls.
Maia and I visit the Gallery fairly frequently – it’s a beautiful place where there are things for each of us to do. She loves doing arts and crafts, running down the Grand Hall to her heart’s content (I have a couple of photos of her running down this hall on my feed), and simply just wandering with me from exhibit to exhibit – she particularly loves Janet Cardiff’s 40-part motet in the reconstructed chapel (photo on my feed).I of course enjoy the artwork, but am also fascinated by how others ‘interact’ with the artwork and the space, and how they interact with other visitors… Here, an almost 4-year-old was ecstatic to spend a day with her mommy. It didn’t really matter what we were doing – she was happy just running around, stopping when she spotted something of interest to a 4-year-old which was frequent. (The artwork in this exhibit in particular are smaller and therefore hung above her height so they didn’t capture her attention in the same way as the much larger pieces.) At her age, the things that are of interest are other kids, ice cream, lollipop, and shiny, sparkly things, etc. In this instance, she spotted the shiny red motorized scooter. And she wanted to get her hands on it. She ran toward me and asked if she could play with it. To her, it was a a shiny ‘car’. It is not much different from her car toy at home, except her car toy is made of plastic and lacks that sparkle of shiny metal, and she has to ‘walk’ her feet to ‘drive’ it along. This shiny red car drives on its own.
To her, the vehicle looked like fun and absolutely fascinating. To the man, that scooter is a necessity, a must-have in order for him to wander the Gallery freely and take in the artwork – something most of us take for granted. Unlike my daughter, the man slowly and methodically made his way from one room to another (the exhibit comprises several rooms), looking at each of the displayed work. To me, there is a variety of opposing ‘motions’ at play in this shot.
I take photos of things that speak to me.
Pia – @contentwithsilence
My Name is Pia, I’m from Germany and I’m 35 years old. The story behind the “selfie” of my dog and I – I saved him and he saved me:
Since I was little I wanted to have a dog at my side. There was always something that spokes against having a dog: Parents, time, landlords, money.
Early in 2011 was diagnosed with depression. I had a difficult time. So I thought about my life and about what my heart is longing for. It was a dog. So I started searching for a new apartment where I could have a dog, I found one, too expansive, but I didn’t care. I reduced my working hour from 40 to 30 hours a week. And didn’t care. Then I visited the local shelter in April 2012 and totally felt in love with Cody #herrkotmann. He was a one year old, wild, chaotic, had no manners and is supposed to be dangerous just because of his breed – it is called “Kampfhund” in Germany. But I didn’t care. He taught me, and still teaches me, lessons in patience and confidence and makes me smile so much. He still helps me through my bad days, when I totally wanna isolate myself from the rest of the world. I took this picture in 2013 on a rough autumn day in the fields, with my smartphone and edited it in Snapseed and VSCOcam.
Silhouette Friends – This photo was taken end of January, the first day of winter, when there was snow and beautiful sunshine at the same time. Cody and I met our friends Noma (a ten year old sheepdog mix-breed) and her human Kati for the first time in 2015. We had a great three hours walk together, talking, giggling and playing. Cody adores Noma and she’s is so patient with my big chaotic boy. I took this photo with my Olympus OM- D E-M10 + M.Zuiko 45mm 1:1.8 and edited it in Snapseed.
Stef – @sanikdote
We traveled to west coast of Florida and were able to catch the last few seconds of the sunset.
My husband -the one with the hat in background ,said-‘we missed it ‘.
I had no clue what he was talking about because from my POV- this was good enough.
I loved the way the water and sand contrast and the remnants of sunlight.
This photos does not justify the actual scene. However, I was pleasantly surprised in the heavy contrast of land and humans.
It wasn’t my intention to capture people. Their presence was the benediction of keeping my eyes open.
There is no edit on this other than a crop to fit IG. Taken with a Samsung Galaxy S4.
by Jen Bracewell | Oct 31, 2014 | Jen Bracewell, Stories
1000 Words, Instagram vol. 4 by Jen Bracewell
Welcome to our fourth themed Instagram 1000 words showcase! There are many talented artists on Instagram and we wanted to tap into their creativity and showcase their work here. ‘Tis nearing Halloween and Dia De Los Muertos, so I chose “Spooky” as the theme for this showcase.
Grryo 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.
I chose these images for their scary, creepy goodness.
Image by @theljilja
First I want to thank you for featuring one of my images. I really feel honored to be a part of this family.
This image is a part of a series inspired by inner alchemy and the nigredo process. It speaks about the awareness of dark realm. Deep down in blackness there are hidden mythical monsters. We can learn from them if we shed the light on every single one of them. Repression is the heritage and we need to break that cycle!
Image by @_joanna.h_
This image was taken was taken during one of my fairly recent nosebleeds (sorry if too much information!?!), also I now feel a little weird that I took a photo of my nosebleed but I felt like documenting it at the time. Anyway I took the photo with Hipstamatic app on my iPhone; Burke lens and Blanko bl4 film. I used Mextures app to give it a more grungy, grainy appearance. I’m currently reading Dracula by Bram Stoker and found the particular excerpt (used on my Instagram post) inspired to this photograph.
Image by Caren Drysdale (@carenzo96bnw)
As I was closing the door to our home office late one night, I noticed that the night light in the room created the “spooky” shadow of my hand as I reached for the doorknob. I thought it had potential to be an interesting photo. I shot it on my iPhone 5. It took me a few attempts to get the shadow looking the way I liked and to keep it sufficiently in focus while shooting with my left hand (I’m right-handed). I originally converted it to black and white using the Snapseed app, then used the Willow filter when I posted it to Instagram to capture the final look I was satisfied with.
One final side note to mention is that it may look like the wood on the door is inlaid, but it’s a cool cheat done by my fella, Paul. It was pencilled in, taped, then stained with a darker stain.
Image by Daniela Ubide (@4thieves)
Most of my pictures, I take with my iPhone, in different locations when on holidays and most of my self portraits at my home like this one. I use selftimer and/or a small remote ISnapxRemote, with the limitations, I prop my camera in creative ways. My edits are very simple always in my phone or iPad, using apps like Snapseed, Picsart, Repix, Sizeit…
I called this one Clytemnestra’s torment and I based my inspiration loosely in the classic Greek drama, the double edge sword used as weapon of her murder revenge, I represented with this double pointed cross. The hands or lack of them are very important for my pictures, I tried to represent here with my hands the resignation and despair at the realization of her own acts ( The murders) still keeping a sense of pride, as she never repented of it.
Thank you again for this opportunity
Image by @columnsovsleep_
“Hyde” was part of a series I had done awhile back called “The Grotesque”. It’s an obvious take on Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde but with my own twist of having both sides dark, just one a little less than the other. Sometimes the duality isn’t as clear as I’d like it to be. This is my expression of that.
Image by Jim Perdue, @jimsiphone
Who is on the outside? Who is on the inside? Who is the real outsider?
My photo submission for the #grryo_spooky challenge is titled “The Outsider”. This is a re-edit of a photo that I did a while back. What appears to be a person communing with an ominous specter is really my son and daughter playing in our garage. The bulk of the editing was done in SnapSeed. The distressing was done in ScratchCam and SnapSeed. The dodging & burning and blurring effects were done using PhotoToaster.
Image by @maritahodges
I was out taking pictures and found this beautiful abandoned farmhouse.
I edited it entirely in Snapseed, going back and forth between tune image/details and grunge until I was happy with it.
Image by Eitan Shavit (@strongcomet)
I was living in the Countryside at the time, and everything was so mysterious and haunting. The forest, the fields, paths, trees, all so quiet, lonely and dark during winter time.
I would travel 10 minutes from my house and be completely embraced by nature, with no one around.
I love ghosts and ghost stories, and after seeing this beautiful scenery of magical flowers, I knew something must be added to complete the mystery.
There’s one ghost figure I’ve been using a lot in my gallery. She’s a mysterious girl with long black hair. You never know if she’s looking at you with her hair all over her face, or you see her from behind, and that’s creepy 🙂
Shot taken with Hipstamatic / John S / Blackeys Supergrain. Ghost (from the strange app ‘Scary Camera’) added with Superimpose.
This photo is my most popular one on IG, and one of my personal favorites 🙂
This shot is a composite of two photos, the droplet/web being from the fantastic @pickledgoose, the girl/sunset being mine. I edited with Mextures and VSCO. The original intent wasn’t to make something creepy, but that’s how it turned out, so I just went with it.
by Jen Bracewell | Sep 21, 2014 | Jen Bracewell, Stories
Gretchen Grace
I am a designer and a typographer, as well as a photographer. Letterforms have always spoken to me. This picture was taken in Manhattan. I saw this word painted on a construction fence and I waited for this shot. I couldn’t remember what the actual word was, SOT?, SOY? but as I look back I see that it was SOW?. I really like how the two people in the shot are both on their cell phones; are they speaking to each other? Are they saying “SO?”.
Dina Alfasi
The picture was taken in the train, with iPhone 5. This Photography is part of a series of train photos #mydtrainphoto The story behind it – It was taken during the last days of the war took place here recently. The Photograph shows a soldier returning from the front and in the newspaper was written in the title: “Salute You”
And over the title images of the soldiers who were killed during the war.
Paula
I’m based in Australia. This shot was taken and edited on my iPhone 5S using Procamera 7 during Vivid Sydney at an instameet (arranged by @vividsydney @igerssydney and @visitnsw amongst others).
Although there was a light projection randomly appearing and disappearing on the wall to the right, it was the arrow that drew me to this shot, as well as the silhouettes of the people walking past. I took a shot, just a second earlier, of the same man when he was right in front of the arrow. Normally I’m a big fan of pure silhouette shots, but I felt that the image lost it’s power as his outline totally broke up the shape of the arrow, blunting the tip! Thankfully, I took this slightly later shot. It doesn’t matter that he’s now broken up the typography of the Museum of Contemporary Ar (!), because the arrow is seen, glowing, and exuding its odd, contradictory message. Here, the silhouetted people serve to substantiate its full height and size as they emerge from the darkness and into the light beyond.
Julienne
Story: My husband and I wanted to check out the raved-about Food Truck craze going on in downtown Knoxville during the popular Saturday morning Farmer’s Market that opens in early May and runs until November. There’s about 4 of them all in a row on Union Avenue and it’s jam-packed with lines of people plus their well-behaved, well-groomed pets. Mister Canteen serves fresh southern fare with ingredients sourced straight from the farm a non-GMO food truck. The amazing story behind the three women who run it can be found in The Southern Food Issue of Garden & Gun Magazine August/September 2014 Issue. Just people watching around the food trucks was a photographers dream itself! Patience was key for cropping the shot and finding the right moment in between crowd surges. This was shot with Hipstamatic app using Yuri 61 lens and T. Roosevelt 26 film from The District HipstaPak on iPhone 5.
by Jen Bracewell | Aug 19, 2014 | Jen Bracewell, Stories
Chloé fell asleep. Her head pressed hard against the train’s window, the Leica bound round her neck, a metal albatross bouncing in time to the reverberations of the train track.
She dreamt of a male hustler named Paul who she had met on the streets of Istanbul. He was English and smelled of cheap, drugstore cologne and clove cigarettes. Paul had been stabbed to death, through his ubiquitous plaid scarf, with a pair of scissors that pierced his vocal cord.
by Jen Bracewell | Aug 10, 2014 | 1000 Words, Stories
Welcome to our third themed Instagram 1000 words showcase! There are many talented artists on Instagram and we wanted to tap into their creativity and showcase their work here. I chose “Still Life” as the theme for this showcase. I’m very impressed with the images that were submitted. It was difficult to choose just a few!
Grryo 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.
Welcoming Committee
Inspiration came to me for this image from 3 spherical shapes that stand sentry at my entryway. They rest in a concrete sculpture of a large rhubarb leaf that I created years ago. I love the peaceful face that hints at whimsy, and welcomes everyone who enters.
The editing process was very simple. Originally I thought I would take it to black and white until a Mextures formula seemed to bring it to life. Then I added a simple VSCO filter and it was complete. – Tricia
. . . and the call never came
On a recent venture, down a dirt road in rural Perry County, Arkansas, I came to a favorite place to photograph. This wasn’t my first time at the old abandoned farmhouse. It was a fantastic setting, complete with outbuildings, junk cars, and other ancient artifacts scattered about. I had only shot from the front of the house before but this time wandered around to the back. I took a few shots of the old cars and the back window of the house before sticking my head in the open door of an old shed. There it was. An old black rotary dial phone lay covered in dust and grime. The natural light coming in through a side window made this a great shot. Using the Camera FV-5 app on my Samsung GS4 I snapped a few angles of this great find.
Like some other “great shots” in my gallery, it sat there for months. Recently going through some old stuff I pulled this one up into the HandyPhoto app. I dropped the saturation to make it a black and white and adjusted contrast and sharpness slightly. I then decided to add some very slight cloud texture to give it a little bit of a dusty feel in the air. This photo reminds me of the days of my boyhood when rotary phones were the way we stayed in touch . . . or didn’t. – Tommy
Untitled
This image was taken a few months back on Isla San Miguel, Panama back when we had just begun our vacation. Now we’re back in Panama with only a few days before going home! It was a blast! Met many super people, saw some great places, bought a house, and can’t wait to do it again sometime! – Frederic
Untitled
This is a photo of Hopkins Marine Station located in Monterey, California. The original photo was taken in December 2013.
History: Hopkins Marine Station was founded in 1892, making it the oldest marine laboratory on the US Pacific Coast, and the second-oldest in the US. I work directly across the bay from this historic building and I have had the opportunity to photograph it through the changing seasons. On this particular day, I was watching some storm clouds approach and though it would make a pretty impressive picture.
Technique: Taken with my iPhone5, the photo is a two-exposure HDR rendered in ProHDR. The “looking glass” image was added using Juxtaposer and colorized using ColorFX. The dodging, burning and blur effects were done using PhotoToaster, and final touchup was done in PS Express- Jim
Still Life, Number One
“When I once read about still lives I happened to find out about Vanitas still lives.
Vanity might kill us all.
Or America.
Or we do it ourselves.
Or we live forever.
Or we buy space rockets and find a special box which has a glowing pink gem in it. The gem gives everybody on earth the power to fly while sleeping.
After the fourth flying dream all people got a letter in which they found a message:
“That would be such a senseless thing to be able to do! I never explain what I mean with my pictures.”
But here are two facts about the ashtray:
No. 1: my parents stole that thing years ago.
No. 2: since I can remember I loooooooooooovvvvve Coca-Cola so much – everyday!!!!!!!” – Michel
A Tattered Room All Undone
The last time I visited Bodie I was 19 years old but it has stayed with me till I returned last fall over three decades later. I can’t believe I waited so long to return. The last ten miles in is now very rough road, but worth every bump and all the dirt and dust. Pack light, but bring water and full tank of gas, no over night camping.
These rooms are fascinating and not open to the public. This photo and a series I photographed were taken by pressing my I phone against the windowpane and shooting. As I peered in the windows I was struck by fragments of life left in each room and the stories they tell, of family, friends, love, loss and history.
The park rangers and volunteers that look after this amazing old town refer to the state of affairs here as arrested decay, nothing is repaired or painted, but an occasional board to prop up a wall or roof line will be done as needed.
I remember reading a story about the little girl who moved to Bodie, she had written in her diary: “Goodbye God, going to Bodie” when her family moved there from San Francisco. Apparently back in the day – it was a pretty tough, and unforgiving mining town, and at one point boasted a lively population of 10,000 folks.
I had an amazing week in the beautiful Sierras, visited Manzanar, Lone Pine, Big Pine, Independence, Bishop, Mammoth Lakes, June Mountain, Bodie and Bridgeport – the 395 is a gorgeous stretch of highway filled with mountains, nature and history layered and inspiring on so many levels – a perfect brew.
Photo taken fall of 2013 / Bodie Ghost Town
About me – A Modern Maverick/Karen Baxter
I have a passion for the new, the old, different cultures and far away places. I am in love with the creative process, and consider myself an idea person with strong visual and conceptual influences. I am drawn to the underdog, the forgotten or voiceless and have been advocating on behalf of criminal justice reform, Brandon Hein and The Innocence Project for many years. I am motivated by my deep care and concern for humanity, social responsibility, planet earth and her environment. My favorite city is my hometown Santa Monica, California. My first love and influence was my Grandmother Martha “Mattie” Burkett Baxter born in 1890 in Oklahoma (formally Indian Territory) for her late night storytelling that lasted into the wee hours of the night, and throughout my life – she claimed as a child I did not care much for fairytales or storybooks, and that I often said “Grandma tell me only the true stories”….not much has changed since then. – Karen
Untitled
I hope my editing description isn’t too vague. I did most of the editing months ago and can’t remember everything I did. Haven’t been able to get out much to take new photos lately so I’ve been going back to older ones on my camera roll.
I took the original photo using ProCamera. I applied a couple filters in Afterlight. Then I used the blur tool in Filterstorm to blur everything except the flag. – Dave
Last Days
I shot this image just recently whilst on holiday in the Aveyron region in southwest France. I’d picked a big bunch of lavender the day before and put a few extra loose pieces in a glass on the windowsill. The old cottage we stayed in with its ancient rough-cut stone walls served as a perfect backdrop for many still life images during my stay. I chose to use the Tintype SnapPak from Hipstamatic as the antique feel of the lens and film complemented the stone as well as the faceted crystal of the glass. I was really happy with the amount of focus on the surface of the water and the light glinting off the glass. This hipsta combo is recommended for portraits but I shoot landscapes, still life and everything else with it. It’s very atmospheric! This image is unedited, so I guess it’s a purehipsta shot! – Jennifer
Protect the animals
This once majestic creature hangs high on the wall in a busy bar in North London, forgotten and surrounded by lights and human paraphernalia. In Native American symbolism the steer/bull head respectively stands for courage and protection. The ironic way this beautiful steer skull is placed, still and with no voice; in the busy bustle of a bar, haunts and inspires me to have a voice.
Apps used Hipstamatic (Lowy, Blanko BL4) Snapseed and Mextures – Karla
