A Basket Of Souls: 366 project

This year, I'm attempting my first photographic 366 project. I've chosen to focus on just one place: a meadow next to my allotment garden, down the road from where I live. More specifically: the clumps and rows of Willows in that meadow. It's said that wherever a Willow tree grows, a ghost appears, so I have named my project: A Basket Of Souls. Here is a small selection from the first twenty days.

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Notes Taken In A Village Churchyard

A selection of images gathered during early January 2012, in St. Peter's Churchyard, Leckhampton, Cheltenham, Gloucestershire. Shot and processed iPhone 4S

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Memories Of Lyon

I thought I'd begin the new year by sharing a few images from Lyon.

I've upgraded to the iPhone 4S and have been blown away by the quality of the camera. So much so, that I'm currently keeping my workflow very simple: shooting with the native camera and just one or two apps other apps, followed by very simple adjustments. No heavy apping, just letting the images breathe.

In The City Of Light, Sometimes I Prefer The Shadows...


































































































































































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Will It Go Round In Circles?

My friend Jennifer Bracewell has just asked how to make circle-shaped images so I thought I'd put together a quick tutorial. Amazingly for me, we're going to use just two apps ( I know, please don't faint!)


First, you'll need a square-cropped photograph. I've recently become addicted to Instagram and this has led me to take a lot of square-format photographs with apps such as Hipstamatic, Format 126 and Lomora 2. For this tutorial, I'm going to be working with such a photograph, that has already been through the processing mill, so you'll need to imagine its rectangulariness!


So, first we're going to import this ahem, imaginary rectangular photograph into a cropping app. There are lots that do this but my weapon of choice is still Photogene


After importing our photograph, it will open in this screen...



Choose the scissor (crop) icon and select 1:1
Grab one if the little corner dots and pull out to enlarge the cropping area. Move the highlighted square around to determine the precise area of the crop.




When you're happy with the crop, select the tick button at the bottom left hand corner of the screen




In the DONE window, save your cropped photograph.

Next, Import the square format photo into Tiffen's PhotoFX


Select LENS FX from the menu at the bottom of the screen


Select VIGNETTE...


Here, I've selected BLACK CIRCLE from the Vignette menu...



Photo FX automatically presents a preview of the photo vignetted with a 50 percent blurred edge: pretty, but not quite the desired effect. Moving the SOFTNESS slider to the far left gives the the hard-edged look we're after...


Of course, because I like to play, I can't resist trying another option, so let's hit the UNDO button(bottom far left) to return to the VIGNETTE menu. Select WHITE CIRCLE...


I'm thinking frosty-edged Christmas cards here!
Here's how it looks with a harder edge:


There you go Jen, Have fun!
And here are two more versions of this image, recently posted to my Flickr stream...



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iPhoneography at the London Apple Store

The London iPhoneography Group have invited me to be a guest presenter at an event taking place this Saturday evening, at the Apple Store, Regent Street, London. We'll each be giving a short presentation of our work and talking about some of our creative processes. If you're in the area, pop in and say "hello"!

What: iPhoneography, with Alvaro Arrequi, Nettie Edwards, Matt Brock, Daniel Holland, Robson Santos, Andrew Chapman, Gordon Fraser and Kevin Thornhill

When: Saturday 12th November @ 3.00 PM

Where: The Apple Store, Regent Street, London

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Saturday Night Diva (Aldgate East)

Shot iPhone 3GS, processed iPhone/iPad

I met this gorgeous young woman on the platform at Aldgate East tube station. She and her friend were on their way to a friend's party, and they were finishing applying their glittery make-up as they waited for their train. They looked so fabulous and were having so much fun, I had to ask if I could take a couple of photographs. There was hardly any time and I was in such a rush to get on my train, so sadly, I forgot to ask her name, but she did say I could post her photo on my blog.

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Collages & Contests

RULES OF ENGAGEMENT 02
iPhone 3GS/iPad collage






RULES OF ENGAGEMENT 03
iPhone 3GS/iPad collage






RULES OF ENGAGEMENT 04
iPhone 3GS/iPad collage


Over the past five years, I've had many reasons for giving thought to how family relationships impact upon our Mental Health and I'm now creating a body of work that explores this subject. Each image contains at least one copy of a single self portrait and although some of the issues explored may be autobiographical, there are layers of meaning and each viewer will bring their personal narratives to the table. For instance: Rules Of Engagement 03 has provoked discussion not only about sibling rivalry, but also of self-harm. All feedback most welcome!

Last week, photographer David Rann invited me to visit Fotofilia: his fine gallery space and photographic studio in Birmingham (England) where I made a presentation to one of his groups: The Club. Considering David's loathing of the overuse of sepia in modern photography, he was a gracious host and he's even asked me to give a repeat performance and run a workshop at some time in the near future. Not everyone was instantly won over to the notion of Mobile Photography but I understand that quite a few of them (Including David) have since been spending lots of pocket money in the App Store, so I'm really looking forward to seeing what they come up with.




Talented iPhoneographer Dan Berman is running an exciting new competition: The Mobile Photography Awards, and I'm thrilled to be head of the panel judging Digital Art and Collage. There are 15 categories and some great prizes that include an opportunity to be featured in terrestrial and online exhibitions. Almost two years ago, when I first began creating collages on my iPhone, I couldn't find anyone else who was making them, so eventually, I began a Flickr group in the hope that it would attract like-minded souls. I was the only member for several months and we're still a small group, but there are now many more artists creating stunning Collages and Montages with their Mobile Devices, so I'm sure that the judging process will be a tough one. The closing date for entries is 30th November 2011 and there are entry fees but I must stress that this is a not-for-profit venture: monies raised are to cover the costs of promoting and staging exhibitions. This is a wonderful initiative that Dan hopes will further raise the profile of Mobile Photography and Art, so do please check out the competition site.




http://mobilephotoawards.com/

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