by Brad Puet | May 15, 2014 | Brad Puet, Featured Articles
“Lucifer Rocks On”
The City of Angels by BP
Email / Twitter / Instagram / EyeEm
* [REWIND] Originally published on We Are Juxt on September 7, 2012
Southern California is home away from home.
I took every opportunity to get out and shoot, especially the Streets of LA. It’s my first time to since finding how much I really like doing street. My son’s godmother (who is from LA) always told me I should shoot down there. That if I could get lost (metaphorically speaking) in Seattle when I go out to shoot, then LA will be totally crazy for me. Well my son’s godmother, this is for you!
I shot the streets. This time around I took down notes. Notes that helped me remember the moments I shared with folks when I talked to them, both strangers and family/friends and just my own thoughts and opinions – I wanted to make sure I caught the moments outside of the shots I took. I had the opportunity to walk one of Sam’s routes in DTLA with him. Sam is a street shooter who I totally respect. I got to see his process, his style. It’s great to see others at work. I was so caught up in watching him, that I only took a few shots and then my battery died. Earlier that day, I had shot the fashion district – specifically around Santee Alley. That in itself was a crazy ordeal. Santee Alley is a swap meet of sorts – used to be known to sell bootleg brands until it got broke down by the Feds. Rumor has it it is run by some international cartel. Not really hard to believe. I had a lady chase me down and call me out (I’ve never been called out before. She thought I was “filming/recording.” You just know they still trippin from the Fed raids). After this encounter, I noticed two guys following me and my cousin just about every where. It was nerve racking for sure. That’s definitely a “neighborhood block watch.” It was one of them stories I’m definitely going to share in another article. That one will be about some of the craziness of shooting street.
“The No-Music Ice Cream Man”
Sidenote: For all you street photography purists; only 2 of these photos was where I asked to take their shot. Can you guess which two?
I wanted to see what I could do in LA. Although time was REAL limited, I wanted to take some opportunities to capture what I saw and heard in the City of Angels. The light is real harsh mid-day. I wanted to try for those shots. All of these shots were taken either on Melrose, Venice Beach, Hollywood and Highland, or Downtown LA. All of them were taken between the times of 12-4 PM. The light is truly unforgiving during these times. I saw it as a huge challenge. I tried my best.
“Anyone able to take Spidey back to Burbank? Meet Hitch-hiking Spiderman.”
Hollywood and Highland. The famous Walk of Fame. Full of tourists. I MEAN FULL of tourists. It was overwhelming to be honest. We had just gotten back from visiting the “Wild Card Gym” owned by Freddie Roach, where Jamie Fox, Mark Wahlberg, and of course the pound for pound World Champion Manny Pacquiao train. Come out of the elevator from the parking structure and bam…OVERWHELMED by the tourists. Along with the tourists come the likes of Spiderman, Dora, Bumblebee, Samuel Jackson, Zorro…just a whole mess of people dressed up in these costumes for tourists to take pictures with…at a price. I tried to take a couple shots of these folks…one saying I owe money and the other (dammit all to hell it came out blurry) of Cat woman, flipping me off and calling me a whole mess of names with cuss words in the front. I even saw one of them “taking a break.” She looked nothing like a celebrity. My cousin whispers to me, “all the costumed folks are either homeless folks or drug addicts…you have to choose wisely to who you give money to.”
Ain’t that some shit.
This is not the Walk of Fame you see on the TV and movie screens. The removing of the masks and costumes is pretty indicative of the society we live. Without going into too much social commentary, we are all trying to live the good life, and some of us have to hide behind things in order for it to show some fruits of labor (shoot I’m in this bunch for sure).
“The Mannequin’s Mannequin”
“This photo is going to make you famous.” – Al, DTLA Street Musician
Downtown LA is rich with amazing architecture. Unused and abandoned, its a deserted land full of new highrises shadowing some great detailed old relics of the past. Forgotten to the Staples Center, the Walt Disney Concert Hall, and the new Cathedral, these buildings scream stories to those who try to listen and pay attention. I talked to a friend and his wife about it. They would tell me of stories of coming down with their parents, who owned a business in the area and even back then, remember being scared to come down after sundown. It wasn’t just the people in the area after dark, it was the buildings that shared its anger towards LA citizens.
“It was like the buildings, beautiful by way of architecture, turned into scary horror movie dwellings…the ones only the stupid people would want to break into.”
The city needs to replenish this area to make it vibrant again. DTLA is too beautiful to stay like it is. Who am I to say this though? It’s been this way for decades.
DTLA is where I really saw the parts where not too many tourists want to go. The “Skid Row” in DTLA is nothing to mess with. Sam recognized some of the homeless folks that he had taken portraits with and we took some photos of them. Again I was more enamored with Sam walking his streets. We came across a sidewalk with about 7-8 homeless folks. A couple of them singing songs. Sam approached them and a couple of them obliged with their photos being taken. The guitar player who was the more interesting of the bunch was real elusive. I didn’t want to push trying to snap his photo so I ended up talking to another man away from this bunch. He told me a couple of his stories despite not wanting his photo taken. He said these streets were hard, but since he’s lived on them his whole life just about (27 years) he didn’t really know any better. He just knows its hard because people like me tell him so.
“I’m still alive and thats really what counts don’t it man. I mean, it would be fucked up if you were out here taking photos of dead bodies and shit. I ain’t dead, by no means am I dead.”
“They know of each other, but don’t know each other”
Melrose Avenue was a typical spot for me. Boulevard for urban style and wear. It’s like the anti-thesis to Rodeo drive. I actually think its considered the Fairfax district. It’s supposed to be the alternative area. Reminds me a lot of Capitol Hill or the Ave in Seattle’s U-District. It’s the boutiques and the tattoo shops and other shops like this that give this street character. Street art lace the buildings and alleys that compliment the neighborhood persona. It was just OK for me. It wasn’t like I haven’t seen anything like it in any other major American city.
“Venice Beach 911”
“The Watchers”
Venice Beach. The infamous Venice Beach right?!? It was like I walked onto a movie set. Palm trees line out the beach horizon. Tourists and locals alike all in one spot. The latter trying its damndest to squeeze out a penny. Street performers, muscle builders, store vendors, tattoo shops, skate boarders, the basketball courts…all centered around the police station. I would say that the amount of police in Venice was based on a quota system for sure. Maybe 15-1, 20-1, general public to one police officer. Heavy concentration around the hustlers selling their hip hop CDs south of the basketball courts. Scene of “White Men Can’t Jump” and “American History X” plays in my head when I was walking through this part of the beach.
Many years ago when I had first come to Venice Beach, a friend of mine told me that there were days specified for when the “gangs” of LA would come out. For instance Saturday was the day the Bloods would come out. Sundays the Crips. It’s crazy to walk through and think of the under belly of places, like its a beach, really?!? There are designated “gang days.”
I think from the places I shot in LA, Venice Beach was the one that was like a playground feel for me (as far as shooting). It seemed that everyone really wanted to have their photo taken whether they knew it or not. It would seem that I was taking a candid shot and then afterwards walk away feeling like, “damn, did they know I was taking their photo?” It seemed like a show, a small amusement park at times. I actually heard a tourist tell his wife, “I think next we should go to the skateboarding area. I heard that they put on a great show over there.” His wife responds, “Sure but Muscle Beach is supposed to start with a few bodybuilders and I don’t want to miss that.”
My friend who told me about the “gang days” grew up in Venice Beach. She said this the epitomy of LA (at least to her). Los Angeles is a tourist trap, hiding all of its glory in smoke and mirrors. Sometimes you can tell its fake, other times it inspires you to become what you may think is real.
“The Dodgers Fan”
My friend, Chris, told me, “It’s like the Dodgers, right…either you love them or you hate them…if you love them, you are ride or die…you hate them, you can’t wait to see them falter…Los Angeles is exactly like the Dodgers. Actually the Dodgers is exactly like Los Angeles.” This coming from someone who was born and raised in Los Angeles.
Really it was fun to shoot down there. Possibilities were endless for a photographer. The City of Angels does not disappoint for sure.
So hopefully ya’ll enjoy the photos and enjoy my memory notetaking ramblings below.
___________
It’s this love hate relationship.
Boulevards seperate fast cars and money from street vendors and bootleg DVD’s.
It’s the beauty of America.
Gangsters who are classless, nameless, raceless, and faceless.
Their names can be Aniston or Acevedo. Chavez or Clooney. Kardashian or Kortajarena.
Their addiction can be money.
“We all love ice cream”
“The Frame”
The freeways are the veins; ill-thrust between pockets of countries that carry us – flush inside the ugliness of Pre-Americana and Post-New World Order.
405 to San Diego. I-5 to the Valley. Sunset sleep walkers searching for the next fix – on life, love, and hate.
We walk by them everyday with ticker tape parades and news channel slogans.
Homicide rates up, unemployment rates up, heat index up.
Human consumption up, human compassion down.
“So a hair stylist, his dog, and a photographer walk into a bar”
We became them in another life. I saw myself in the reflection of the window and I disappeared.
It’s the Maserati blazing down the 101; bobbin and weavin past us. Blonde hair, hands raised, celebrating nothing but the gas prices spent on their 6 digit whip.
It’s the Toyota Previa; full to the top with boxes of tourist paraphernalia; slang at the corners of the fashion district, hands raised, celebrating nothing but the chance to haggle down; stealing milk and bread from hungry children’s mouths.
I saw the real citizen. Ugly with dislike for Obama and Romney. 4 for $4 sunglasses, tipped at the point of the nose, slip middle finger – disdain for anything other than Los Angeles. Now I understand the love for the Dodgers and the Lakers. They represent the golden ticket. It’s the stars in their eyes.
I can hear them when they wake up in the morning and tell themselves, “I’m gonna make it someday.”
“Hats and Agua”
It’s her love for being in this dirty moment. His want to get that hit passed his costume uniform standing on the stars of Hollywood as a fire truck sits in wait for the next heart attack. It’s chance to give a show to the masses. That Hollywood sign up on the hills hides their addiction real well.
I saw the real citizen. Louis Vutton and Deja Vu sellin’ the same shit to all of us. It ain’t about the backroads, it’s about the quick slant to get the fuck out.
Cat woman by day, stripper by night.
Spider man by day, dealer by night.
Seek the shade, the sun is unforgiving. It’s light will show us the truth and noone wants to hear it. Don’t go downtown in the dark. You may not come out. It’s been dead there for years. Those people been dead there for years.
There was an earthquake the other day in Beverly Hills. It gave the Kardashians type folks a chance to get out to the hood. Ryan Seacrest has another idea for a reality show. It’s him looking at himself in the mirror. It’s pretty fucking dramatic. and real.
It will probably only last one season. The networks don’t want this kind of shit. Leave it to the indie studios. They aren’t in it for the money.
If they do it’s real low so watch you’re back.
“Live for Now”
“The Modern Day Samurai”
The homeless become landscapes and structures. Step over them, or around them. They are mute because when they do choose to have a voice, it ain’t loud enough for anyone to hear.
What you doing man with that camera phone? This ain’t some child porn shit right? It’s not, then take a shot of my good side.
Play me a song again.
Dance man, Dance.
Some angels here choose not to fly anymore, others are always flying above us, they just don’t know where to land.
“Meditations and Lines”
I pieced as best as I could the thoughts and lines I wrote down. I didn’t want to make each line a caption for a photo as I think all the captions could work for any particular photo. I hope ya’ll dig it.
SHOUTOUT to the LA Folks/ Shooters. Next time hopefully we will shoot together.
OH yeah…I love my family!
Peace.
by Anna Cox | Feb 5, 2014 | Anna Cox, Featured Articles
Most of you know I was born and raised in Kentucky. I have a deep love for my home state and am more than a little proud of the bluegrass area. I have traveled all over the world in my thirty some years but I still think Kentucky is one of the most lovely places to be on any given day. The last year has really seen a rise in Kentuckians using social sharing platforms and while going from one username to the next I stumbled upon the Kentucky Project. What I love about this project is that it couples the beauty of an area with the issues that are affecting Kentuckians. I hope you enjoy this quick look into my home state and take the time to explore the Kentucky Project- Anna
A: First things first Chris, tell us a little about you away from social platforms
C:I am 30 years old. I was born and raised in Kentucky. I‘ve lived here my entire life, except during a failed month-long pilgrimage during which I lived in Florida. I am the oldest of eight brothers and sisters. I married the love of my life this past May and couldn’t be happier. I am somewhat of a serial hobbyist but I usually focus on playing guitar, exploring the outdoors, and photography. I camp whenever I can. I try to play guitar every day. And photography usually fits somewhere in between. I do also have a day job dispatching trucks at a moving company. It is less than fulfilling.
A: What spawned the idea to do the Kentucky Project?
C: The Kentucky Project came about somewhat by accident. First I started the Kentuckygram Instagram account, which had a pretty simple premise: to share pretty pictures of Kentucky. That got such a great response that I started thinking, hmm, what else can I do with this? I soon realized that this was an opportunity to do something good for my home state. There were issues in the state that I had heard about through unconventional sources. For example, I learned about mountaintop removal, a method of coal mining that is literally destroying mountains and causing health problems in Appalachia, at a folk music festival. I had heard of the heroin problem through word of mouth; from friends that it had affected both directly and indirectly. But I wasn’t seeing these topics prevalent in the local media. So, I decided to create a website based off the idea of sharing Kentucky’s beauty and culture through photography but also raise awareness of important Kentucky issues that may be falling through the cracks. I have a friend from high school , Amanda Joering, that used to write for the Cincinnati Enquirer. I asked her if she would write a series for the projectcovering the heroin problem in Northern Kentucky, which is unfortunately spreading to other parts of the state. She was excited to write the series and has been a really big help not only with her articles but her ideas for the project.
A: What do you hope to accomplish?
C: I hope that the Kentucky Project can be truly helpful in both raising awareness and helping to create positive change. Right now, the plan is to continue publishing articles and taking photographs that show all the great things aboutKentucky while shining a spotlight on issues that could benefit from some more attention. This includes the countless natural wonders throughout the state and great businesses and organizations that are helping their communities. I am active every day on social media, making phone calls, writing, planning, and sending emails in an effort to build an online community around the Kentucky Project. The more people that I can get to “like” our facebook page, follow the blog, and follow us on Instagram, Twitter, and Pinterest, the more people will hear the messages of the organizations that we are trying to help and learn about the issues on which we are reporting. It’s really all about creating a community of people that care about Kentucky.
A: What are some of the issues you would like to highlight?
C: I already mentioned our series covering the heroin epidemic, and we have more articles in that series planned. But, that series could turn into coverage on other drug problems in the state. Meth is another problem in parts of the state and that doesn’t seem to be getting any better, so I am sure we will address that issue. I am working on research to do a series on the obesity problem in our state, and really our nation. Kentucky is one of the most obese states in the country! We are in the top 10. Now, I recognize that there is debate on the legitimacy of using BMI to measure/define obesity, but when one looks at the upward trend in the statistics, and the correlation between an increase in obesity and an increase in diabetes and other diet related diseases, the data becomes hard to ignore. A related issue that will be addressed is hunger in our state, which will include people that don’t have access to quality whole foods (food deserts), and also people that don’t get enough food at all. Other issues that we plan to cover include the complex problems in Eastern Kentucky, which we have already touched on with our article on the recent SOAR (Shaping Our Appalachian Region) Summit, and education and youth development. Investing in the youth of Kentucky is essential and is how, I believe, we can make a greater and sustained impact on the future of our state.
A: How do you think photography will enrich your project?
C: Photography is really the cornerstone of the project. The whole idea was based on photography and I intend to continue to use it to emphasize the mood behind each issue or topic. You’ll never see an article posted without a photo to accompany it. I also post a photo taken somewhere in Kentucky at least once a day Monday through Friday to the Instagram account. It enriches the project by amplifying the impact. The written word is powerful, but when paired with a striking photo, I believe, it is even stronger. Right now I take all the photos for the Kentucky Project, but I’m finding it difficult to keep up. I would love to continue to be the sole photographer simply because I enjoy it so much. I love travelling to other parts of the state to capture the sights, but if it gets to the point where I need some help I’ll consider finding one or two other photographers who share the values of the Kentucky Project to help me out. I live in Northern Kentucky so I’d probably look for someone in the far eastern part of the state and someone in the far west to balance out the coverage.
A: Do you have any existing partnerships with existing groups in Kentucky?
C: While there haven’t been any formal partnerships made at this point, we have worked with Drug Free NKYto raise awareness for their fight against heroin. People can get involved by donating money to them, which can be done directly from their website or by spreading their message by word of mouth or through social media. Sharing links to their site or facebook page, or sharing our articles about their cause, which includes links to their website and page, really helps spread the word. Social media is an amazing tool for spreading this type of message. In the future we hope to partner with more organizations to raise continued awareness to a number of different causes. We have been contacted by several organizations that would like the added exposure and are currently discussing ideas, doing interviews, and writing for the website.
A: How do you think stereotypes from media, like the show Justified, have impacted our state? I have definitely been asked by some of my West Coast friends if I own a tractor.
C: I’ve never seen the show Justified, but yeah the stereotypes for Kentucky in general are often inaccurate, and sometimes even insulting. I’m from Northern Kentucky so my upbringing may have been different from people in other parts of the state. I lived in a subdivision; not out in the sticks but certainly not in a big city either. My parents never owned a tractor like your friend thinks all Kentuckians do, but I worked on my cousin’s farm occasionally growing up so, I was often around farm life. In my opinion, people seem to have a difficult time separating fact from fiction, and they tend to believe what they want to believe. So, if a fictional TV show makes KY, or any other place for that matter, look or feel a certain way, then people’s opinions on that place are almost certainly influenced. Honestly, It’s hard to comment on this because I am on the inside looking out. I’m not entirely sure what people in different parts of the country think of Kentucky. So, we are not setting out to break down the stereotypes. I don’t think the people that believe the stereotypes will have much of an interest in the Kentucky Project. For all I know, the Kentucky Project may even strengthen some of those stereotypes. That’s because while, sharing the beauty and culture, we are also spotlighting some of the problems in Kentucky. But, everyone in KY isn’t on heroin, everyone in KY isn’t obese, everyone in Eastern KY isn’t unemployed, but the fact is that too many are and that’s what we are aiming to break down; the problems, not the stereotypes.
A:Do you have any specific stories to share with our readers?
C: I don’t have a specific story to tell as The Kentucky Project is young and with our launch in November 2013 and development in December we have laid the groundwork for 2014, which will be our first full year in existence. People can expect to see lots more Kentucky photos, more Kentucky culture, and most importantly information on the Kentuckyissues that we will address so we can all work together to make Kentucky, which is already great, even better. If anyone knows of an issue that is affecting Kentuckians that could benefit from greater awareness, please let us know about it.
// email // web // IG //
by Brad Puet | Jan 29, 2014 | Brad Puet
Members of the Legion of Boom Enters the Loudest Stadium in the World; DeShawn Shead #35, Kam Chancellor #31, Richard Sherman #25
On the Sidelines with the Seattle Seahawks and the Nokia Lumia 1020 by BP
I have had the opportunity to shoot both college and professional football with my smart phone – the Nokia Lumia 1020.
I’ve had to re-read that opening sentence a few times just for it to sink in. It’s crazy talk to say that I have been able to cover a PAC-12 college football game much less also cover an NFL professional team with all access press credentials.
Oh the places that we can let these phones take us.
12s: Cheering on the Greatest Team in Franchise History
My Football Story
I have been a football fan and fanatic since I was 4 years old. I remember my first football given to me by my dad before he went out to sea for the Navy. It was a San Diego Superchargers football. I loved that thing and carried it everywhere. At the age of 6 I fell in love with the Miami Dolphins. I loved watching Dan Marino make plays by throwing to Mark Clayton or Mark Duper – the “Marks Brothers.” From kindergarten to 8th grade, my best friend and I would play school ball everyday, whether on the school playground or the neighborhood street or running across to the high school football field. I played in high school and played shortly in college until blowing out my knee literally in the first few weeks of the season. I never played organized ball again.
I still remain a fan.
I’ve lived in the Seattle area since 1987. Steve Largent, Curt Warner, Jacob Green, Kenny Easley, Matt Hasselbeck, Marcus Trufant, Lofa Tatupu, and Walter Jones were my new heroes of the gridiron. I fell in love with the Seahawk logo, incorporating the native american culture in an appropriate way. I was a fan even during the 2-14 season (1992), a fan during the last 13-3 season (2005) and a FANATIC this season.
I am a part of the 12s. My 5 year old son is a part of the 12s.
Although he doesn’t understand the game fully, the excitement that he sees from me enables him to participate by showing his own enthusiasm. After the Seahawks lost to the Arizona Cardinals, I was a grumpy wreck. I came home and there he was in his Hawks gear; wearing his Marshawn Lynch jersey and carrying his Seahawk football. He came up to me, gave me a hug and a Hi-5 and said, “Dad, don’t worry. The team won’t let you down again. It’s only one game.”
As a father, this is what football has become.
My childhood is now shared with his childhood. Our love for the game makes watching it that much more beautiful.
Football is a family affair
The Game
In order to shoot the game of football with your smart phone you really have to prepare yourself for the game. Whether it is taking photographs of your child playing flag or peewees, high school football, college or professional level, you have to understand the flow of the game. By knowing the flow and paying attention to the direction of the game you’ll be able to stay ahead of a very fast moving game. I position myself according to the flow.
When the team is on offense, I position myself in between the team and the end zone. The game play will be coming towards you and you get a chance to capture not only the action, but the players. If you’re able to get a shot of a players face, you’re working towards a really good photo. On offense you should know that the quarterback is going to do a few things; hand off the ball to the runningback, throw the ball to a receiver, take it himself for a run, or get pummeled by the defense.
Jon Ryan #9 and Stephen Haushka #4 are Special Teams Heroes
When the team is on defense, I stay behind the defense. The other team’s offense will force the defense to react and your photos should reflect that. Much like on offense, you’re going to look for certain things; they are going to tackle, intercept, or cause/recover a fumble. You’re the person to try and capture those things.
The game doesn’t just consist of following the actual game. The game is nothing without the storylines. The fans, the interaction of coaches and players with fans, the cheerleaders, the mascots; all of these things make up the game of football. Because a smart phone has some limitations and you’re just not going to be able to get great action shots close up, this component is crucial for folks to be able to capture the game of football. Tell the story of the game, the players, and the fans, and you’ll accomplish telling a great story of the great game of football.
Taima the Hawk: Taima leads the team onto the field every home game!
Football and the 1020
Make sure to bring gear to support you throughout the time of the game. I brought with me a couple battery chargers one of which being the Nokia cameragrip. The cameragrip is crucial because it has the attachment for putting the phone on a tripod or in this case a monopod. I always have my monopod with me. Like all cameras, camera shake can make or break a photo. The 1020 has great stabilization but having a monopod helps in diminishing the chances of camera shake and blur in your photos.
I used the native Nokia camera app for these photos. The manual controls for this app are great and I’ll show you photos along with the settings I used to capture the photos.
*Note: The 1020 saves in RAW format. The Nokia .DNG files respond really well in post process.
Sports photography can be done with mobile phones
The Settings
The manual settings that I used for shooting the play on the field are; white balance, ISO, and shutter speed.
All of the above are variables and are inter-related since changing one requires changing at least one of the other two and, in some cases, all. Since trying to deal with these variables is very confusing its best to choose one as a “constant”, leaving only a few of the variables more manageable. I suggest setting an ISO and then not touching it unless absolutely necessary. I went with 1/400 since it was an overcast day. Raising the ISO on your camera will allow you to shoot at a higher shutter speed, giving you a better chance of getting the perfect shot – which for me was freezing the action. The higher I went with the ISO, the more noise the camera captured. I want to diminish the amount of blur but not compromise the shot with a bunch of noise. 1/400 was perfect for me.
The light sources in Century Link Stadium change at every view and angle. The looming artificial light from the stadium and the natural light from the sun and clouds made it difficult to capture the true colors on the field with a smart phone. The 1020 helps in making it easier for the photographer to get the best color and true whites from the sidelines. I set my WB on the cloudy setting. It seemed to keep the natural whites and colors that I saw away from the lens.
We Are Juxt has many tutorials in using the Lumia 1020.
I suggest perusing these tutorials here for more details on maximizing manual settings for your perfect shot.
The Pile Up: As you can see from the shot, I was pretty close to the action. These guys were literally 8-10 feet away. The action was so quick that if any of the players continued to run through, I would’ve been a casualty.
Shutter Speed: 1/904s, ISO: ISO400, White Balance: Cloudy
Marshawn Lynch #24: This is another shot that was close to the action. The incompleted pass almost sent the ball towards my head. Luckily it didn’t and luckily Beast Mode didn’t run me over.
Shutter Speed: 1/490s, ISO: ISO400, White Balance: Cloudy
Russell Wilson #3: The amazing Mr. Wilson is known for running around defenses. Although this wasn’t a scoring run, he stifled the defense with moves like this all game.
Shutter Speed: 1/257s, ISO: ISO400, White Balance: Cloudy
The Final Score
It was an honor to be able to document so many great events this past year. From MTV’s Video Music Awards Red Carpet to the Seattle Seahawks, I never thought in my wildest dreams that I’d be able to cover these events with my camera phone. My friends, Daniel Hour (formerly of University of Washington Athletics), Jordan Stead (Seattle PI photojournalist), and John Lok (Seattle Times photojournalist) have both supported me and the community of mobile photographers in Seattle. They understand that photography is about telling a story and people can do it with their camera phones as well as their big cameras.
12s: Scaring the Opposing Offense, Energizing our Amazing Defense
Again, “Oh the places that we can let these phones take us.”
In just a few days, the Seattle Seahawks will be playing in the biggest game of the year; the Super Bowl. For this “final score”, I wanted to wish them a great game and to come back home to Seattle the champions that the city, this region and its citizens (as well as all the 12s around the world) know they are.
Go HAWKS!
*UPDATE (February 2, 2014): THE Seattle Seahawks are World Champions! The “Final Score” was 43-8!
Football is not just about gladiators, it’s about brotherhood.
Other Seahawk Posts on We Are Juxt:
Hipstamatic: The 12th Man (2012)
Go Seahawks: The 12th Man Sendoff (2012)
by Anna Cox | Dec 19, 2013 | Anna Cox
Finding My Sanity with Smart Cam by Anna Cox
I am standing in the middle of a battle zone. A handful of parents are jamming their kids into tights, tutus, sweater vests and bow ties. The kids are screaming, clawing their way out of patent leather shoes and page boy hats. The parents are pleading, begging, and often times bribing their kids to just stand still. All too often the phrase, “if you will just put this on and take a picture, I will get you a toy, ice cream, a trip to disney world, and maybe I will even throw in a pony” is heard around me. I am pretty sure my eighteen month old is swinging from the lights, throwing wrapped boxes from the prop closet at the little girl in the tutu. My ten year old is pulling on my hand and tugging at the collar of his shirt. I feel totally panicked when I hear the photographer, that can’t be out of training pants, call our name. I round up my boys, suck in my breath, and walk towards what feels like a firing squad. I cannot describe the next twenty minutes save for the fact that I am pretty sure my boys employed guerrilla tactics and both the photographer and I now have PTSD.
Welcome to the world of photo taking with kids.
What, in theory, should be so easy is usually a dreaded task. I mean, all we have to do is buy a reindeer sweater, gel their hair down, stuff them in said sweater and drive to the studio right…?
Riiiiiiiight.
If you are anything like me, with kids anything like mine, just the thought of pictures makes your heart race and your jaw clench. I am not a drinking woman but the thought of pictures makes me want to grab a shot glass. So how do we take the stress out of photo taking? How do we look back at each photo of Christmas or Thanksgiving and think, ” man, that was a good holiday!” instead of thinking that your children are little dictators?
This year I decided I was going to take the pressure off and find a better way to take photos of my children.
What I found when I started this project is that I had a set of expectations for my boys that were not derived in reality. Love their hearts, they tried to be good and they were, but not to the impossible standard I had set for them. I cannot stress this point enough. The photos you end up with once you remove the expectations will mean more 10 years down the road than photos that do not reflect who your child was at the time.
After multiple shoots with my own children and clients, I have compiled a survival guide for parents like me that want to take the stress out of pictures. The best part? You don’t need a fancy camera or equipment you just need your Nokia Lumia, Smart Cam, or the native phone camera and you are set. For this article I am going to focus on Nokia Smart Cam and introduce you to some of its features that will come in handy while photographing children.[ Keep in mind though that the Smart Cam shots do not save in high resolution but do save in 5 MP so editing needs to be kept minimal. If you want a photo that you can edit and print larger than 8×10 you will need to use the native camera that saves in a higher resolution. ] I use this app mainly for close up portraiture and not wide shots as the pixel sampling causes break down in the image quicker.
First, let’s get to know the Smart Cam so we know what to expect during and after the shoot.
When using Smart Cam, you will focus on your subject and click the shutter button. The app only shoots in manual mode but you can play with the focus some. The lens depth that sets this phone apart from the others is still applicable within the app. Once you have depressed the shutter,it will take a series of 10 shots in rapid succession. Make sure to steady the phone on something while it is taking the series of shots or they will be blurry. The rapid fire shots are terrific for the ever changing faces of kids. I would catch a range of expressions, which came in quite handy with the Change Faces feature in post-processing. Another bonus to this camera is that you can shoot and it automatically saves the series of shots so you can look at them later. You do not have to sit there and fiddle with the app while you are in the middle of taking photos.
When you are ready to process your shots open the photo in Smart Cam. You can do this one of two ways. One, open it by clicking on the underlined title underneath the photo or click on the 3 dots and select it from the menu. Alternately, you can access the photos through the camera itself by touching the box with your photo in it.
This will open the photo the camera has decided is “best” from the series of photos that were captured. By double clicking on this photo you are able to swipe sideways to see all 10 shots and save from there if you find one you like before venturing into the other features.
In app features:
Best Shot: the nominated best shot of the series. This may or may not be the right shot. Click through all your images in the series before deciding on the shot or shots you want to keep. Save shots by touching the save button at the bottom of the screen.
Action Shot: use the series of 10 shots to create an action sequence. Add or take away from the photo by touching the white dots on the bottom of the screen. This feature compiles the series into one photo. The above is not a good example but as it is not my focus it will do.
Motion Focus: add blur to your shots while maintaining a focused subject. You can turn the blur high or low using the odometer button .
Change Faces: Swap out the face from another shot in the series
Remove Moving Objects: one step tap on the screen to remove moving objects
For this article I took advantage of the 2.5 second series of shots, change faces, and removing moving objects the most so I will focus on those features.
Having a series of shots to choose from is a great thing for a couple reasons. One, they are taken so quickly that the subject doesn’t have an exorbitant amount of time to move around so it makes swapping faces easier if needed. Children’s expressions change so quickly that it is easy to miss the shot you are trying to get. It wasn’t my purpose to get smiley photos but more so capture the true personalities of the children. It also allowed for small changes in expressions while maintaining the same background.
To use the Change Faces feature within Smart Cam scroll down to the screen that says Change Faces and tap the screen to get to the editing screen. A box will appear around the face of your subject. Double tap it to bring up the series of faces to choose from to replace the original. Keep in mind when you are trading faces that the position of the subject must be the same otherwise you will end up with a character that looks like it was taken from a child’s flip book. This is where having a rapid succession of shots really helps. The subject usually will not move very far therefore making it easier to swap faces seamlessly.
I also found the the feature to remove moving objects helpful in a few shots. It was an easy short cut compared to other editing apps i have used in the past. The background behind the subject was filled in flawlessly and easily.
You have to love a brotherly photo bomb but with the remove objects feature its so easy to remove the motion and tweak the photograph in one click.
Notice also that you can change the position of parts of my subject after I removed the photo bomb by touching the minus sign. Notice the arm and leg placement in the last two photographs.
This was the final shot and while it isn’t a shot I will pursue any further I did think it was a great opportunity to flex the muscles of the app. I’ve said it before but I will say it again. This feature was SO easy to use. The Smart Camera suit really is a fabulous tool to perform basic maintenance on a photo in a few easy steps.
So the survival guide? Here it is in a few easy steps.
- Forget what you want your kids to do and capture their personalities instead. It may not be a cookie cutter holiday photo but odds are you will love a photo where your kid is actually acting like your kid and not a martian. Your kids will take their cues from you most likely. If you are relaxed and having fun then they will be relaxed.
- Find easy to use tools that will help and not hinder your shoot. Practice before hand so you are well versed with your weapon of choice once the real shooting begins.
- Find a spot with a lot of character to let the kids roam around in. My favorite shots are the ones that I didn’t have to say stand there, try this, or I will buy you a pony if you will just smile.
- Take your time. Make sure you have left enough time for the kids to get comfortable in whatever place you have chosen to take their photo. Remember this isn’t a one shot deal. You can take your kids out anytime for a shoot.
- Be confident in yourself and have fun with your crew. They are, after all, the reason the photos are so important.
A big thanks goes out to my crew in Texas! I love you all and will miss you immensely.
by Anna Cox | Nov 14, 2013 | Anna Cox, Featured Articles
The Moment of Goodness: The Art of Stickrust by Anna Cox
Like many of us, my interest in art goes past photography. In fact, in college I studied oil painting and still to this day paint on a regular basis. I guess you could say that painting is my first love and all of my other ventures stem from that love. When I stumbled upon Stickrust a couple weeks ago I was instantly moved and dug into his work. His work is guttural and raw and each one spoke to a soft part of me. As I moved through his feed, I was drawn to how open and friendly he was with all of the people who commented on his feed. When I approached him for an interview I had planned to play up the sharing side of his work to help it fit into We Are Juxt but I found out quickly that the creating and instagram are married within his process. He wouldn’t do one without the other, so really, as far as mobile photography goes for Stickrust it is a tool, an enabler, and source of encouragement. – Anna
Stickrust: I really only started painting two years ago. My undergraduate degree was in art and illustration, but I stopped making any artwork for fifteen years. So really, I guess I took a fifteen year break.
A:Was it hard to come back or did you know exactly what you were going to do?
Stickrust: Starting again was a total accident.
There wasn’t a plan that I was going to start. Truthfully, it was one of those moments in life where everything falls apart and changes. I was left asking myself, “What is left?” The answer was painting. It is hard to explain, I just knew it was time to start painting again.
A:I totally understand what you mean. I feel like art is very cyclical creatively and there are just times you slide into a new genre or medium because that is where you are supposed to be at the moment.
Stickrust: I hadn’t painted in so long that the beginning was really a process of remembering. My whole goal in the beginning was to get back to where I was fifteen years ago. Day after day, I practiced. I truly wasn’t planning on showing anyone.
The sharing on Instagram was a total accident. I thought instagram was just for people sharing photos of kids, food, and pets. I really just started posting because I was bored. Amazingly, sharing on instagram turned into this incredibly great thing.
A: I agree! I was blown away with the community on IG and other sharing sites once I got into it.
Stickrust: I never have had an online experience that is as positive as IG. This was the first time I actually feel connected to people online. In the beginning, when a few people would “like” a painting I posted – it was so encouraging to me.
The pattern of how I work is quantity.
In one sitting I will make 5-7 paintings. After a few months on IG, I began posting the images live as I was making them. The instant feedback I received was simply amazing for me. It is such a rush to have people responding to a work I just finished. Having this open channel of communication has been especially motivating to create a habit of working, creating, and sharing.
In the truest sense, I am practicing. I am doing it and doing it and every so often something small changes within the process. There have been these waves of growth week after week over the past two years.
A:So we know you work by quantity, could you share your process with us if possible? I think that is what caught me in the beginning.
Stickrust: The process itself is simple.
I have a piece of plexiglass and black acrylic ink. I put my hand in the ink and draw on the plexiglass and then transfer it to a piece of paper. All my work begins in this way as a monoprint. I cannot imagine doing it any other way.
I do not have a lot of control over how the end product looks. I like that. I want to be surprised. When everything is working as it should, it feels like the process is not entirely under my control. At the heart of it, for me, is the balance of control and uncontrolled expression.
Once I pull the paper off the plexiglass, I start deciding whether I like it. If I like it, I leave it as is. Other times I go back in and add color or small line work. I usually do this with my hands. But I also drag color on top using things like a clipboard. I also will use pastels for the small line work.
When I am not painting I am an acupuncturist and massage therapist I use my hands all day. The directness of using my hands when painting feels so natural to me. Brushes will too distant, like an abstraction. I like the pigments on my hands.
I mean really, if I had a superpower, I would want to pigments to come directly out of my hands.
A: So from what I gather your style is free flowing and gestural and changes from time to time. Do you have anything to add to that?
Stickrust: I think the better ones are the ones that are more actualized, more “real”.
To me that “realness” is what is interesting. Not visual realness. Not a rendered realness. But a “real” quality of spirit. I want faces to hold a degree of spirit and light.
The faces I like best are hovering in a moment of transformation – an internal moment of change, insight and power.
I really hope I capture that and that it comes across.
There are definitely bad days where I am just grumpy, and they look angry or sad but when it is working well within the strokes there is something bigger.
A: The day I found you I looked through a ton of your work and the one thing that struck me and seemed to be a reoccurring theme with your portraits is the exploding eyeball. Can you explain the symbolism behind that?
Stickrust: To me, it really is a kind of spirit – a manifestation of personal power. I think about it as a light or a glowingness. The eyes in my paintings are an expression of power and wonder and change.
I am really interested in the moment when people see themselves in a bigger, more wonderful, more powerful way.
That moment, when it is happening is a difficult moment to embrace.
It can be hard and scary and painful. But that moment is also beautiful and full of power. I think that is the experience being expressed in the eyes… and really, in all of my work.
Peoples eyes are so super expressive. In Chinese medicine, there is this thing called “the shen”. It is the person’s spirit and emotional state. You can see it in the eyes and face. We all have this. We all have that light coming out.
A: Are you drawn to one thing more than other?
Stickrust: The faces are the main thing and then everything else has grown out of that. I did flowers for a while and now the birds. I did an elephant recently. Now I am working on more four legged creatures. I feel like the faces will always be the foundation from which everything else builds.
A: Where do you draw your inspiration from?
Stickrust: Truthfully, the work. The work is what is what inspires me.
Without sounding all Buddhist/meditative, if i can get out of the way of my brain… I feel like if i can just get out of the way, the work will create itself. That is why I work in quantity. If I make a bunch of images my brain gets bored and then the good ones happen.
What’s exciting to me is when I get done and I have no idea how I created the piece. There are four or five pieces that I don’t even know how I made it. I look at them I do not see my hand in them at all. Those are the ones that I am inspired by. That is what inspires me.
A:Tell me how instagram and sharing across sites has changed the way you work
Stickrust: Out of all the questions, this one is the most important to me to explain. This was never something I planned. There is no separation between sharing on IG and my artwork. It wasn’t like I was painting first and then I started sharing it. I started painting and sharing at the same time. The work was born on IG.
I wouldn’t be painting without the community I have on instagram. None of this work would exist. It is a symbiotic relationship. The sharing and my work are not separate. Posting is more like the DNA of the whole thing. I don’t think I would be painting the way I am or at all without instagram.
People have been so nice to me. They were the motivating fuel to the engine. I am incredibly grateful and thankful to anyone who has ever followed me. I never thought people would follow me and my work. It is such a gift. I really wish I could buy them all dinner.
I share everything, good or bad, on IG and let people follow my process of growth and change. I try not to be precious about the work. I try to show the warts, the growth, the dead ends, shifts, and changes.
A:Thats fantastic! I love the way you described the relationship between your work and IG. It is really interesting to see how one is dependant on the other. I don’t think I have come across an artist that shares in the way you do.
Stickrust: The paintings evolved with my Instagram friends. Not just my paintings, my whole identity as an artist has grown because of the people encouraging me on Instagram.
I try to say it as often as I can. I am truly thankful to all the people who look at my work. For the longest time, I didn’t do anything. It is just astounding to me pay attention.
A: I think it is always astounding when people respond to something that means a lot to you. But it seems for you, that this goes hand in hand. You paint because they respond, and they respond because you paint.
Stickrust: I don’t know that I have the right words… so much of the fuel for me working and painting has been the sharing on Instagram.
One of the aspects I hope that comes across is a bigger story about work and growth.
It isn’t like I woke up making these paintings. It was night after night. I am not magical, this is work. I do this, and I do this, and I do this. I try to show that part.
I try not to censor that process. I will post images I like and images I truly dislike. I do not only want to post the “good” ones. I post all of them.
The “bad” ones are the ones I learn from. I have posted images I hate and then if people respond positively I have to ask myself, “Ok. What am not seeing?” It is interesting. It gives me whispers of directions to explore.
That feedback is crazy amazing.
My life is entirely different because of the kindness of my IG friends. I am tremendously grateful.
Want to see more?
// Web // IG // Tumblr // Twitter //
by Brad Puet | Nov 8, 2013 | Brad Puet, Featured Articles
“The mobile photography and arts community is life in Technicolor. I hold all these little frozen moments in time in my hand every day. I get to experience the thrill of discovery, the pain of loss, or the joy on a child’s face as if I was there. This community of artists pushes me in ways I’ve never been pushed. To create, to capture, to evoke emotion. But also to tell my story. To share my own victories and defeats, to be open and bare on a regular basis. Our lives are a beautiful, living creature and because of mobile photography I am intertwined with people I will never meet face to face.” – Anna Cox, a mother and an artist from Central Kentucky. You can see her on Instagram and EyeEm as @starklifephoto.
Mobile photography: Built on community by BP
The community of mobile photography has broadened how we communicate with one another. Our interests are now shared with an increasing amount of people, followers or audience (however you choose to define it). Our reach to others has been extended on a global scale while our interactions have evolved on an emotional scale. We are able to build relationships, based on support and our common ground.
We are now part of a world in which mobile technology touches almost every aspect of our lives. Innovative, connected devices have fostered a community of “creatives” who learn, teach and consume the art of mobile photography. The idea of connectivity is centered in the here and now, helping us interact with people impulsively and instantaneously.
In June of 1997, Philippe Kahn invented the camera phone as we all know it. The premise for this invention for him – to document and share with family and friends the birth of his daughter – also marked the beginning of the mobile photography community.
“I think from the beginning, the mobile phone camera was created as a way to share immediate, ‘disposable’ images with close friends. I don’t think anyone really planned for the App Store and for a bunch of stubborn photographers — professional and non — to consistently create these really outstanding pieces of art. It wasn’t that photography was new. I think a big part of iPhoneography’s early success was that it was the first camera of decent to good quality that was always with you. It was the first good camera that could photograph a scene without really affecting the subject much. Above all, the iPhone was and still is a very personal camera.” – Marty Yawnick, freelance graphic designer from Dallas/Fort Worth, and the editor for Life in LoFi
This burgeoning community has been enthusiastic about sharing their work from the start, first through small, individual blogs and the innovative (at the time) Flickr share site. The creativity they exhibited with their camera phones was amazing. There were many people creating stunning images, curating their art on these accounts and building relationships with like-minded creatives. They began to develop the core functions of the mobile photography community: sharing, engaging and consuming images. From inception, it was about the art, but more importantly about the camaraderie surrounding the art.
Enter social photo-sharing platforms Instagram and EyeEm, and the doors to this small but growing community were opened to the rest of the world. Sharing became instantaneous, and the community discovered a new addiction to engaging and consuming photographs. Images were uploaded at an astronomical rate. What once was a slow process of downloading to a desktop, then posting onto a web-based site, became shoot and share immediately. The community began to broaden. There were a million stories being told.
“Within the rapidly growing community of mobile photography, amateurs and professionals alike, from around the globe, document, share and relate. These communities foster friendships, engender support and facilitate their members to push the boundaries of what mobile photography can be as well as what it can hope to accomplish.” – Matt Coch is a New York-based photographer who goes by the moniker Brooklyn Theory.
Exploring the meaning of ‘community’
Community means a “unified body of individuals,” says Merriam-Webster. It connotes inclusion and similar beliefs within a collective context. We find ourselves identifying as part of the mobile photography/iPhoneography/Droidography/ Windography community.
“The most important thing to me is seeing happiness and emotion in a picture. I have missed a lot of that since my mom died. When I met my husband, I started to see the happiness again. And then my son and daughter were born. But when I discovered photography especially with them, I just try to capture moments. Whether they are happy or sad. Or mad. Whatever emotion it may be. Nothing means more to me than my family.” – Melanie de Krassel is a mother from Los Angeles, California. She found photography through her iPhone and her favorite subject matter are her children.
Community is actually individual-specific, with an individual at the center. You, me and everyone else: we each have our own community.
At first blush, this may sound like a modern, individualistic, self-centered definition of community. For one thing, with this understanding comes the new understanding (for me anyway) that every individual I interact with today is the living, breathing center of their own community. This makes everyone significantly more connected, influential and powerful than they appear (and often know) in their individual forms. Every individual is the center of their own community.
“When I became involved with iPhoneography in February 2010, the community was active, smaller and more ‘underground.’ Then, Instagram hit, and then a lot of the activity moved there–away from Flickr, but it’s really hard to say. I know I noticed changes in traffic patterns for where people were spending their time as informally measured by comments, not just image sharing. Also, as Instagram became popular, more people were coming to Facebook to share photos. This was a big shift.” – Star Rush is a documentary and street photographer, writer, and educator from Seattle, WA.
We are living in a time when most of us are so flooded with imagery and information as individuals that we have no idea which end is up many days. This can cause us to over-rely on the published ideas of distant experts and to undervalue those we’re directly connected to as well as our individual selves. Sure there are technical aspects that we can learn from others. Sure there are new discoveries that can help us hone our craft. In the context of community, we all have a stake and a contribution to make.
We are so much more than we can know we are or be as individuals. Community wraps us in the surprise and delight we need to laugh, play, relax and to come to know more of our whole, true, beautiful selves. This hasn’t changed since the word community was first spoken, because this doesn’t need to change.
I think that’s why community persists and why it will continue to persist, despite our precarious piles of individual fears.
“The mobile photography community, to me, has become an essential part of my creative process. I don’t know where I’d be as an artist if there wasn’t one, I’ve learned so much from others I’ve met along the way in this game that has helped mold me into the photographer I am. It’s really cool to have found so many people who share the same interest through a cell phone app, kind of crazy when you think about it and how far the technology has come. I’m curious to see where all this will take us in the next few years, we’re already off to a good start and I’m honored and proud to be a part of it.” – Mike Hill, mobile photographer originally from New Orleans, Louisana.
Community is who we are. It’s why we last. It’s always with us, like the found, smooth and treasured stones in my jacket pockets that show up to surprise and delight me again and again.
My stones have names. Your stones have names.
These stones provide us friendship, mentorship and inspiration. They provide us a glimpse of humanity through a technological window.
We develop these relationships on behalf of a community that loves to create, learn, share and connect. We are touched by all these stones on the basic human level. I hold mine close to me, in my pocket, and get excited when they share with me the joys, the heartache, and the humor of their daily lives.
How can I even quantify how they participate in my definition of community?
That’s just how we roll.
That’s community.
“The community and the sharing are key answers in my idea of being ‘connected’ worldwide. You grow your passion looking at a billion of photographs everyday, and that is the biggest silent, hidden change for me. More ideas, more interactions, more self-confidence. Your passion grows. Your addiction to the ‘art’ grows. Your ‘eye’ begins to see what was hidden before.” – Alessio Castaldo, late and great photographer amd original Juxter from San Benedetto del Tronto, Italy. He was an advocate for mobile photography and was co-founder of The Minimals, which seeks the use of fundamentals in the mobile genre.
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*”Mobile photography: Built on community” was originally posted on DPR Connect on November 21, 2012
by Anna Cox | Nov 6, 2013 | Anna Cox
image edited with fotor and picassa
[Tutorial] The Luminous Landscape by Anna Cox
Landscape photography is easy, right? Just find a field and shoot. I kid, I kid. Yes, it is easy to find a pretty place to shoot but it is hard to find a perspective that makes it interesting for the viewers. They, obviously, weren’t standing next to you to experience the calm atmosphere or the golden clarity dusk brings to a scene. So how do you communicate that to your viewers? And more so, how do you communicate that to your viewers on the Nokia Lumia 1020?
Here are five things you can do before taking your photo:
Do use the light at dawn or dusk. This is called golden hour. The light at these times of day is diffused and golden or rosy hued. You will find this light not only brings out details more but it also creates atmosphere.
Do find a point of interest for the eye to rest on.
Do utilize lines within your composition. Diagonals that cut the picture plane or leading lines that draw your eye through the photo create a more dynamic composition .
Do get creative with your perspective. Get high or get low.
Do use objects in the photo to create back ground and fore ground. This creates depth. The lumia was made for these kind of shots because of the focus depth. Play around with your focus. You will get some interesting results.
Image taken with Oggl
Now that you have your photo lets talk post processing. Let’s start with apps and what I use. I am a huge fan of Oggl and hipstamatic so for my photos I want square I go there but be aware that it only saves in 2 mp. We have heard that they are working on a fix to up the res so that is something to look forward to in the future. Although I prefer to work in black and white I am drawn to the long colorful landscapes the Nokia Lumia produces. I am starting to really enjoy working with color and adding a tinge of age to the photos.
Original unedited image
My go to shooting app is Nokia Camera. It has a range of options to pick from when you are shooting. You can adjust white balance, focus, speed, exposure, and ISO. You can shoot manually and keep it simple but I have enjoyed the ability to tweak the settings as I shoot. Recently I went out to shoot for the day. I started early afternoon in harsh light and continued through sunset. I was pleasantly surprised at the versatility this camera app offered. I found the smart burst function to be the easiest way to capture my son or other moving objects like seagulls.
For me, the hardest part of shooting, processing, and posting is the post processing. I find it very easy to blow edits out and in the process lose the details of the photo on the Nokia. Most nokia apps are filter heavy without the option to back them off. I have found that the app Fotor allows adjustments within the filter strength and maintains most of the photo resolution. I have also started uploading photos to Picassa through G+ to use a couple basic tools like straightening and adding a controllable vignette. Picassa is also a free tool for those of you that want to edit your high res images but don’t want to buy an editing suite for your computer. Below i have walked you through an edit of the photo above of the Galveston Pier using apps found on my Nokia Lumia 1020.
This is the opening screen of Fotor. From this screen you can choose from rotate, enhance, crop, FX effects, borders, adjust, and tilt shift. The photo was a tinge dark to start with so I headed to the adjust screen to increase the brightness to 31 and increase the saturation to 55.
I then went to the FX effects and chose blue set at 59 to set off the water and also to bring out the tones in the buildings on the pier more. From here I headed to the adjust tab to Sharpen the details.
I then cropped a little off to have the photo fit the rule of thirds loosely. The rule of thirds basically means that the picture plane is broken into 9 equal parts and you put the points of interest on the intersections of lines or along the lines. This effectively sets your focal point off center. After cropping, I added some texture. Textures can be found under the FX effects in the Scratch tab. Some of the textures are a bit heavy handed but like the filters they can be dialed back. For this photo I chose Old Wall set at around 30 percent. After all of this, I saved the edit and opened Fhotoroom which has an adjustable vignette.
You can pick a color and the type of vignette you would like to use. I used the soft filter to just get a tinge of black around the edges. The purpose of the vignette is to help draw your eye to the end of the pier.
I was pleasantly surprised with the apps I used to edit, My main goal was to bring out the color of the buildings and draw your eye to the end of the pier which I think I accomplished.
by Brad Puet | Oct 21, 2013 | Brad Puet
We remain forgotten if we choose to be.
A choice that is made on the cusp of who we are, what we do, and how comfortable we are in our own skin. When was the last time you felt the sun on your forehead? The last time you felt serenity in the reflection, the still mirrors that surround us. When was the last time you felt wanted? When was the last time you chose to be seen?
You see an abandoned building, an abandoned soul is only abandoned when it has been chosen to be. Empty eyes are mistaken for being unoccupied.
That is the beauty of being invisible.
The veins of the city are full of us. The sheep. The people. The babies, burnt souls, knocked up round and lonely. Invisible.
They continue, we continue, to move in hopes of being invisible. Often we hope that we do not lock eyes with passers by. I don’t necessarily want to know how you are because I don’t want you to know how I am. I’m not that interesting. My day is not that interesting. My wish is to be invisible like the buildings. Let me disappear like the stories written in notebooks of the writers who fold them in half and put them in their back pockets. Maybe, just maybe, they read these stories to ears not deafened to train tracks, honking horns of cab drivers and ambulance sirens.
We can be that if we choose.
Where do you lie in the river? When it is quiet? When it is raging?
Where do you hide yourself when the abandoned buildings are silent with voices of stories longing to be heard. There is a voice. You can help write the story.
If you choose.
*This prose was written as a collaboration between Alessio and myself over time. We both always wondered what it was like when the art and images we love so much are shared to the world. Does the image truly elicit what we would like to have? Does the story, the 1000 words, actually get translated during this time of “followers” “likes” and “seeking fame”? It is important to showcase the image and not the image of ourselves. We’ve both always felt that way. He always felt that way. He always asked me if it was important for me to hit x amount of likes and followers. He always asked me how important each shot was for what I wanted to portray. He always asked me to see if I ever straddled the line of seeking fame or loving my art.
I let myself marinate in those questions. Where do you live in all of this? Do you straddle? What is your choice?
by Anna Cox | Oct 16, 2013 | Anna Cox, Featured Articles
The Emotion of Jahsharn by Anna Cox
Fading Slowly
My soul is overwhelmed by so many emotions.
Yet my eyes have mastered the art of concealment.
My mind relives the pain that consumed me as I heard those words.
Yet my voice is as calm as the sea breeze through your window.
Tears overflow within me, drowning all that should be said, questions that cannot be answered.
Yet I stare clearly into your eyes, revealing my false strength.
You lay there, no longer strong. Your voice is silent, your humour is gone. I hold your hand that cannot hold mine, even my kiss is lost to you.
Yet my arms reach out to embrace the memory of you, while my heart cries out to a reality that is cruel and unforgiving.
Slowly you are fading…….
Anna’s Introduction *Originally posted on August 5, 2012
I came across Paula Gardener (Jahsharn) while working on a showcase and was immediately drawn to her portraits. Each held such depth that they the drew me in to wanting to know more. The raw emotions captured in the eyes of the subject is what was so moving. Portraiture is hard to begin with but Paula seems to capture an array of emotion flawlessly. Paired with her beautiful writing, these portraits are heart wrenching. Grab some coffee and come sit down with Paula and I as we explore her influences and craft more in depth.
Sons
A: Anna P: Paula
A: Give me a sneak peak into who you are away from the camera.
P: I am a wife, a mother of four and a child of the universe. I own a small photography business by which my preferred specialism is portraiture. Alongside my photography I love to express myself through creative writing, I currently have a blog that fulfils that compelling desire to write. Usually I compose a piece poetic literature to accompany my work.
My foundation is very earthly, I try to give back to the earth as much I take out. So through this consciousness my family and I have embarked on Urban Farming. We have two plots of land where we grow organic vegetables, while teaching our children about the values of sowing and harvesting. I also work a few days with the London Ambulance Service, at their HQ in London.
If I Could Forget
A: How did you mobile photography journey begin? How has it changed your craft?
P: During the latter part of 2011, I happened upon a blog on iPhone photography apps, I was amazed at the photographic examples given for the applications. Well every creative bone inside me could not wait to buy my first app called Hipstamatic. Like hundreds before me I was hooked! However, I’m a self confessed control freak when it comes to lighting and composition. After awhile the constraints within the Hipstamatic’s filters and square format stifled me. With this said I embarked on finding the apps that would complement my style and help me evolve creatively. My art is my life! I wrote once before that through mobile photography my interpretation of life has been revolutionized. I am like a child at times, (which is great since I’m forty). I just can’t stop downloading every visual aspect of my surroundings and transposing it into my mental creative log. This is only possible with the iPhone. I can capture my children playing, someone walking, a reflection of myself, nothing I see is ever missed. Life for me is an evolving journey of the choices we make, Art for me is a visual interpretation of those choices, captured in a moment of clarity.
A: Your portraits are amazing. Each one conveys such raw emotion. I am blown away by the depth of each one of them.
P: Portrait photography for me is a relationship that needs to be nurtured from the soul! Every portrait I have taken whether it be of myself, family or friends, was composed from an emotion so deep it was spiritual. I know to some of you reading this, it might sound a bit far fetched. However I can’t just take a photograph of someone and say look here or smile there. I need to feel that connection that makes me scream Yes! That’s the shot! If I’m experiencing those emotion while capturing the portrait, hopefully the viewer will relive that moment too.
Light and negative space plays a fundamental part in my work, when I photograph someone I’m capturing the semblance of that individual. I’m trying to replicate that spiritual sense I’m feeling from them into an image. So if the light is to harsh or soft, whether there is too much negative space or colour is very important. There has been situations where the light has been less than perfect or the space was inadequate. That’s when apps like Snapseed, ScratchCam and Camera Awesome become invaluable.
The Eldest
A: Tell me about a series that is close to your heart.
P: The series that is closest to my heart is the one I did on the human emotion. During the time of this series a close family member was diagnosed with brain cancer. There was nothing that could be done, all we can do is be there for them until the end. The emotions that ran through my family and I were immense and at times uncontrollable. I suppose doing this series was my way of understanding my own emotions as raw as they were.
The Youngest
A: How does your life influence your art?
P: The core foundation of my creativity is my life, I’m driven by my wonderful family. My typical evening is spent writing songs with my children as my husband plays the guitar, just watching them is an inspiration overload. I am constantly amazed by my friends on iPhoneArt and Flickr, Wow! They truly inspire me to a new level! Life pushes me everyday to create, I suppose it’s my way of giving back the beauty I’ve been privileged to see.
If you intersted in delving more into Paula’s portaits go 
here.
To read more of Paula’s writing:
Twitter: Jahsharn
Eye’em: Jahsharn
by Anna Cox | Oct 14, 2013 | Anna Cox, Art & Critique, Featured Articles
This month we are looking at the work of Crystal @faithmichael for the genre of Minimalism. On it’s face, minimalism seems like an easy task to accomplish but it is actually a very exact science. A minimal work needs to be distilled to just show the barest forms and color to allow the viewer to experience the work without distraction. The Minimalist movement became more popular in the 1950’s although minimal works existed as early as the 1700. Minimalism has close ties to pop art and conceptual art.
Critique written by Rose Sherwood
I will attempt to write about a subject that I know very little about, minimalist photography. I had to do a bit of research on the subject of minimalism. There is a plethora of information about the subject, so much time was spent reading, taking notes and actually stripping away unnecessary information to only leave the important essential core of what minimalism is. The three photos that I am critiquing all present different subject matter. I do not know if they are by the same artist so I will not make the assumption that the three images are shot by the same person.
The first image is of a slatted fence. The fence is stained with a red-wood color. In the image there are three darker shadowed shapes that are a darker shade of red brown color. Two of the shadows present diagonal direction into the image and the third is vertical and emphasizes the direction of the wooden slats. There are nails present in the wood and the stain is weathered and enhances the texture of the grain of the wood. The spaces between the slats is very narrow and what is behind the fence remains a mystery.
The artist describes this fence as being one of the alleys in the neighborhood. It is photographed head on so that the spacing of the slats provides a rhythm to the piece. The background does not provide any information to this image. You can see bits of green if you look closely. Because I photograph detailed compositions, I have the response of wanting to tear this fence down to see what is on the other side or, at least, to punch a hole in the fence to peep through.
The quality of the image is such that it has a low contrast which flattens the total surface of the picture. I would have liked the artist to play with this aspect a bit more. More contrast or ambiance in an editing app like Snapseed would have brought both the shape of the shadows and the texture out a bit more. I do not know, however, the intention of the artist.
As a minimalist image, it fits. It has a limited palette with limited scale, direction, and texture. It is simple, but is it too simple that it is not as engaging a subject as it could be? In researching minimalism, I encountered much writing by Steve Johnson. Mr. Johnson writes a lot about the minimalist photographer. He writes about its perspective from a graphic design point of view and also from a reductive process point of view. I really liked the reductive view of working with an image because you, as the artist have complete control over what the end image looks like; the artist has the ability to strip away all the distractions and frills demonstrated by the image leaving only its essential characteristics and what you were attracted to originally as the photographer.
The fence photographer has specified that he/she was attracted to the texture and the gentle slow collapse and aging of the boards but the repetition of the wood was also important. This image is successful for presenting the graphic rhythm of the fence but I wish that the shapes of the shadows and the textures could have been pulled out a bit more. But, perhaps, in doing that, I would have pushed the image out of the genre of minimalism.
What Crystal had to say about her image:
The alleys of my neighborhood are my favorite place to practice composing compositions. The gentle collapse of this fence and it’s delicately weathered texture were just so elegant. I thought there was a chance to describe some of the subtle depth of this detail without losing the graphic quality of the repeating boards.
The second image of the surface of water presents us with a full swirling color field of gray-blue. Reminiscent of a Helen Frankenthaler painting. There is the barest amount of color, texture, and detail in this image. It is minimal in its subject and the little light and shading that break the blue surface are not construed as focal points. If the artist had pushed the contrast and heightened it to get more darks and lights, and also more texture, would it be a more engaging image? Well, taking a screen shot, editing through Snapseed and increasing the contrast was what I did and I liked the image more. I also sent the image into the B&W arena. I was able to better focus on the detail of the submerged rocks. I liked the image more. Has this artist gone far enough with the reductive process? Taking an image and pushing out the elements that are there so that there is something more to be seen? I am not the artist of either of these images. My judgement might be disabled by learning more about the artist and what style their body of work contains. In this case knowing more about the photographer would enable me to know if their work is successful in the minimalist world where “… less is more…”!
What Crystal had to say about her image:
For me to feel like an image I’ve produced is truly “minimal” I need to apply those principles to the entire process (the shot and the edit). I have spent most of the summer working on more complex and descriptive compositions with light and shadow in monochrome shooting with hipstamatic, cropping sparingly, and then editing in VSCOcam. I wanted to utilize a similar process utilizing VSCOcam only for some 3:2 color images. For this photo I wanted to focus on the texture of the water with hints of what lay just beneath the surface.
The artist’s image of the fire escape is the most playful, lyrical image of the trio of pictures received to critique. This image, for me, is the most engaging of the three pictures. It has a strong composition based on the lines created by light, shadow and real object. The textures and lines of the brick wall play well with the solid black lines horizontally and vertically set by the banister in front. But it is the lighter shadow that plays above the banister’s rail that, for me is the most enticing and interesting. I don’t know where it originates from. The object that is producing this gentle shadow is completely out of the picture. Yet, here it is like a sheet of music appearing, connecting and touching four round black notes, regularly spaced, becoming part of the banister. The rules of light source, light direction and production of a shadow do not compute in this area of the image. Why and how this light shadow is in the picture remains a mystery. This is intriguing. Is there an extended balcony that is above that is projecting the shadow onto the brick wall? There are no other shadows except for the shadow present under and at the bottom of the brick wall. So the light source must be from above. Perhaps, it is another fire escape but the rhythm of the lines has changed rather than lines that are evenly spaced, these lines travel in triplicate. This is the most perplexing and engaging image and I keep looking and thinking about it.
If these images are shot by the same person, then I do believe that they fit the genre of minimalism. The artist has stated that these images were 3:2 and edited through the VSCOcam app. They all have a similar look but I would not gather them together as a series. The subject matter separates them from each other. They must stand on their own merits. They are minimalist images. Are they successful as minimalist images? As stated above, I want to know more about how (in regards to both process and intent) the artist works and see a body of work that encompasses the understanding of minimalism. I have a feeling that there is more to it than photographing “…less is more…”
Minimalism has rules that artists follow. Some attend to them with rigor and others are looser in their adherence. Many of the articles that were read mentioned the importance of composition (the rule of thirds and leading lines) , simplicity in the subject matter photographed , the use of bold, strong color, an awareness of the background, strength to engage the viewer(s) of the work, paring the photograph down to its’ essential elements and the ability to tell a story.
What Crystal had to say about his images:
When I first started taking pictures with my phone I would (literally) have dreams about this fire escape shadow at night. I was still pretty shy about standing in the street taking pictures of walls with my phone but eventually managed to grab one. I walk by this building often and decided it was worth revisiting. Particularly since the light on this occasion illuminated this wonderful play of lines between the shadow of the wall and the bannister just in front of it.
Critique written by Stephanie
So much detail. Yet so simple.
An interesting portrait of a fence: color, texture, the hint of what lie behind the fence. Hinges nails shadows….o my!
I found myself having to zoom in so I could peek into the sliver.
It was fun being able to see so clearly the brick wall and items.
It’s not easy to make the ordinary stand out.
The shadow on the hinge and borders adds dimensional. Choosing to capture this with the shadows shows a discerning eye. Gorgeous!
There only one thing that sort of throws me off. The center shadow feels displaced.
I can’t help but wonder how this would look without it claiming attention.
I suppose if it’s a fixed object and can’t be avoided.
I think in contrast to the lineal aspects of this fine composition it’s an oddity.
Again…that my own personal taste.
You obviously have some good dreams! This is such a spot on composition. Its good to question how something would look if hung on a wall framed. I learned that early on determining whether or not a photograph was worth keeping.
This has texture and color and patterns. It’s subtle but interesting. A good example of minimal which proves to be more. A modern statement for ones walls.
The subtle flow of colors are very appealing. The overall tonal values work well. I appreciate the various shades of blue. The foreground of rocks are what really bring life to this. It’s very interesting to zoom in closer on them. Doing such creates more depth and texture. The minimal yet strong contrast of the coral and kohl rocks provides an interestingness to the whole composition.
You definitely have accomplished your goal to focus on the waters texture.
Yet for me personally, I found it a challenge to appreciate.
Having to really look see I was able to define what really worked for this.
Again, that is just my POV.
The purity of a solid shot without the fanfare of post processing is the backbone by which one can have license to edit as they see fit.
While it is best to frame ones image straight in camera without having to crop, sometimes a nice crop can work well.
Our Panelists:
Rose Sherwood Rose is a retired art teacher. She taught art on the elementary level for 22 years. She also taught on the high school level and in a museum setting too. She enjoyed teaching and misses the students. Before teaching she worked in brain research because her first college degrees were in both the fields of Biology and English. She met and married a great guy and when their son, Matthew, was born, she went back to school to study art. She continued her education at RIT and earned an MFA in painting and photography and then returned and acquired a MsT in art education.Her teaching career was very full but one of the memorable times was being honored to be a recipient of a Fulbright Memorial Fund Fellowship to study in Japan. It was a pivotal experience that changed her and her teaching practices. Her students benefitted from her experiences. Their daughter, Laura, introduced Rose to IG and returning to all things of photography has occurred. IG was a way to communicate with family and friends about T., her husband, and his bone marrow transplant. She has been as active caretaker for him.
// IG // Juxt //
Stephanie I am just another person trying to stop time. Photography helps.
Going mobile makes sure I don’t miss a second.
Well…at least it could, if I see(seize) it.
Our Artist:
Crystal is a creative hailing from Ohio. She works mainly in color showing her audience that less is more on a regular basis. She has an eye for detail and engages the every day objects to create a portfolio of minimalism.Her work is currently available for purchase in the Cincinnati area.
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As always, We Are Juxt and Anna would like to say thank you to our panelists and submitters for their willingness to take part in this forum. We couldn’t do this without you.
Next month we will be looking at architecture if you would like to submit work or be a panelists send an email to juxtcritique@gmail.com
by Anna Cox | Sep 10, 2013 | Anna Cox, Featured Articles
Satisfying Your Palette with Olia Hercules by Anna Cox
Meet Olia, not only is she absolutely fantastic but she is also a fantastic and innovative chef for a sweet little start up called the Recipe Kit in her hometown of London. I am constantly amazed at the people I get to meet through mobile photography and Olia is no exception. From the first conversation there was an ease to our conversations. She even took the time to coach and encourage me through weaning my son. That right there is one gooooood lady. You all may or may not know that, one, I LOVE to eat and, two, I love a good still life. [Enter Olia’s IG feed stage left] I was blown away and hungry all at the same time. It is a feast for the eyes and palette with little snapshots of Olia’s sweet boy thrown in.
A: Tell me the basics about you, where you are from, what you do etc
O: I was born in the Soviet Union, in a tiny town in southern Ukraine. I was fortunate enough to have the hardest working parents, who made it possible for us to move to Cyprus during the dodgy 1990s. I then moved to the UK to do a BA and Masters degrees in languages, and lived in Italy for a year. I am now based in London, but still consider myself to be a complete cosmopolite. I live here with my husband Tom, who is also a chef and is originally half Thai half Laos, and our son Sasha who is turning 16 months next week.
My main hobby is taking photos with Hipstamatic. I do not use anything else, I tried but it did not feel right. I love black and white photography, but when I shoot food I often go for the somewhat lurid Watts-BigUp combo, it really makes the colours pop. Instagram kept me sane and gave me an outlet for my creativity, especially after giving birth and staying at home with my son. As amazing as it was, babies can’t talk, and often I felt lonely. Having an enormous amount of incredibly supportive Hipsta friends was incredible luck.
A: How did you end up with your current job with The Recipe Kit?
O: I worked as a film journalist for a couple of years, then the economic crisis hit the industry upside the head and so began the redundancies. I survived five rounds of redundancies when I had an inkling that I may be next. I then quit my job, retrained to be a chef, got a divorce from my rather oppressive first husband and went to work in the kitchens. I’ve always wanted to be a food writer, but being as obnoxious as I am, I decided I had to prove myself I could conquer the hardcore 18 hour-day, low pay, misogynist world of professional kitchens.
I ended up at Ottolenghi, a rather famous restaurant in London. It was hard, so hard I swear giving birth to my son seemed more bearable than it could have been had I not raised my stamina as a breakfast chef-de-partie, banging out 100 covers pretty much on my own on a busy day. I met Tom there, we fell in love and had our little boy very soon after we met.
I worked all throughout my pregnancy, pretty much up to my due date. Next time I’m pregnant – fudge that. I will be sitting on my behind eating custard tarts from day one, thank you.
I was a stay at home mum for a year (with a short stint in a wicked cookery show Red, Hot and Yummy for the Food Network) and then unexpectedly I was offered a full time job as a recipe writer and food stylist for a cool little start-up called The Recipe Kit.
It’s incredibly tough trying to juggle a full time job (my parents are in Ukraine), being a mum and having a life. But I keep saying – I can do it. Rosie the riveter-inspired head scarf helps to remain strong.
I love all food. I am crazy about underused, obscure cuisines. One of the dishes I made up at work was based on my research on the Mapuche people.
At home we eat a lot of Thai and Laos food, I cook Middle Eastern and Georgian dishes. We love Indian and Caribbean food, Greek and Italian.
My son never had purées. I gave him real food (sans salt) from 6 months. My dream is to raise awareness that children do not have to be fussy and be fed special kids meals. Sasha went from breast milk to chicken gizzards and grilled squid, and not once complained. But of course, maybe I am just lucky. I was a terribly fussy eater when I was a child.
A: What does a normal day look like for you?
O: My normal day starts at 5:30 am as this is when Sash is up and ready to pull my hair, pinch my nose and give me a couple of smacks across my face to wake me up. We listen to some Pixies or Jazz FM, I cook him breakfast (porridge or blueberry and banana pancakes are his favourite), then I cook lunch for him and his child minder. Then I’m off to work where I…cook again. I write recipes, then I test them, develop and edit them for our recipe cards. On Fridays we do a photo shoot which is the hardest but also my favourite part of my job. I come home, put Sasha to bed, and more often than not crawl into bed myself. Rock and Roll.
A lot of my recipes mean a lot to me personally. The Kao Soi (Chiang Mai noodles) styling was inspired by a dish we had when visiting Tom’s family in Thailand, Nahm Dtok is Tom’s favourite dish. A couple of recipes passed down to me by my mother have recently been published in The Guardian, one that was published is contained below. That brought a tear to my eye. Born in an obscure tiny Soviet town, now living my dream in London – sometimes I want to pinch myself, or maybe I’ll just let Sasha do it tomorrow morning.
Sasha tasting picture is a game we sometimes play – I lay different veggies and edible flowers on a tray and he helps himself.
If you are in the London area check out The Recipe Kit for Olia’s awesome creations to be delivered right to your door!
Crispy aubergine, mejadra with a peach, cucumber and celery salad
250ml sunflower oil
4 shallots, thinly sliced
150g green lentils
2 tsp cumin seeds
2 tsp coriander seeds
1 cinnamon stick
150g basmati rice
50ml olive oil
1. Preheat the oven to 200C. Slice aubergines into 2 cm rounds, brush generously with olive oil, sprinkle over the garam masala and season well. Roast in the oven for 30 minutes or until soft and slightly caramelised on top.
2. Meanwhile heat 5 tbsp of veg oil in a pan and shallow fry for 1 minute. Drain on some kitchen paper. Place the rice, lentils, spices, salt and pepper and add 300ml of water. Cook on a low heat for 15-20 minutes. Serve with crispy shallots as a garnish.
3. Mix the nectarines, cucumbers, mint and lime juice, season well with salt and pepper.
by Anna Cox | Sep 4, 2013 | Anna Cox, Featured Articles
I struggled to write an introduction worthy of Erin so I turned to friend and fellow photographer Josh to lend me a helping hand. – Anna
To be an artist, takes more than just creativity. It takes passion. Erin truly exemplifies this combination and adds in a heaping dose of love for the community. In getting to know her, I’ve seen more and more how much of herself is in her work. She brings thought provoking and surreal images that draw you in and challenge you to understand the message. Erin is a teacher by trade and a true artist through and through. – Josh St Germain, fellow AMPTcommunity member and _uxter
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Soundtrack: Royals by Lorde
A: Do you have any influences within your work?
E: Many…too many which is probably why my style is so varied.In high school I was turned onto art when I discovered Expressionism and Surrealism. Later through university I was constantly exploring all forms of modern art including photo-based artist like Andy Warhol, Barbara Krugger and Sandy Skoglund. Surrealists photo-manipulations by Man Ray or Jerry Uelsmann have always fascinated me as well. Most recently I have discovered the environmental and photo-based artwork by artists Andy Goldsworthy and Chris Jordon. Both of these two artists marry the message with the media perfectly, engaging themselves in the environment then photographing the results of that engagement. To make art that is both beautiful and really thought provoking is my lifelong goal… and I still have to achieve it.
There have been many “real” people recently who have influenced a new found passion for creating through my interactions with them on places like IG and AMPt community. Some of these mobile photographers impress me with their skills and techniques, while others inspire me with their expressionism and creativity, but the list is long and varied.
A:How long have you been creating?
E: Creating? Since I first drew or colored as a child I guess. From a very young age I enjoyed arts and crafts of all sorts and I think like most children I was always keen to “create” something. By high school I knew I had to pursue something that allowed me to be creative, so I studied Painting and Drawing in university, and then went on to get a degree in education . Now I teach high school art….which I absolutely love, but there’s always been some creating going on in the background, when time permits. Painting was my main medium for years and for I while I enjoyed some success exhibiting and selling.
I started using my phone to create in November of 2011. I stumbled upon Instagram downloaded some apps and away I went. It has become my main form of creative expression for the past few years. I enjoy it as a hobby and an outlet for creativity but would like to see it develop into something more. Although I’m not sure what my come of it I am working on something! Top secret though…wink wink!
A:Do you have a favorite subject matter?
E: Nature comes to mind first and most of my images revolve around nature but often I edit my pics…sometimes to extreme. Its not enough for me (usually) to just be a pretty landscape. I’d rather create something with a meaning or message, even a story to it. I like to add text at times, or layer several filters to create a painterly effect. Always I want my images to feel clean and crisp though, and they are dominated by my favorite color blue. I also really like surrealistic images, so juxtaposing seemingly unrelated objects/things is a favorite technique of mine.
A: I recently read an article that said filters killing photography. Do you agree?
E: Absolutely not! That’s like saying did the paint brush kill the pencil? Cameras, mobile cameras, apps, filters etc, these are just the tools used to create something. It cannot replace the need for high quality, professional (mostly) unedited photos that are needed for large format print. However images shot with a mobile camera and edited with various apps and filters is a relatively new art form. I think that we all want to quickly define it and place it into its category to be studied in the future, but its still too young. Funny enough most of the artworks mobile photographers create are strongly influenced by some art movement from the past. It is too fresh to define and fully understand but something is there and its exciting to see it evolve. Recently I discussing this topic with some friends and came up with this; photographers tend to be technical and editors tend to be expressive, for me as a mobile photographer/editor its about finding the balance between them both.
A: What is it that makes this community of photographers so special?
E: I think what makes the mobile photography community special is that the very tool we use to create is also a tool for communication. So we are a very well connected group and because of that we are sharing ideas and developing trends fairly quickly. What also makes the mobile community great is that people come from all different backgrounds…it’s not just a group of exclusive artists, so the artsy fartsy attitude isn’t there (most of the time)
// IG // Twitter // G+ //
Buy Erin’s work: Instacanvas and Ink361
Thank you so much for your time Erin I truely enjoyed getting to know you and your work better <3
