A Day In The Life Of Kimberly Post Rowe aka @iPhotoArtist – The Most Incredible Botanical Mobile Photographer

© Kimberly Post Rowe

http://eyepholio.com
Twitter

© Kimberly Post Rowe – ‘beyond structure’ – Apps – native camera, Laminar, PhotoCopier

Joanne – Let’s start at the beginning of the day, how does your day start?

Kimberly – Unless it is summer, I start the day like many moms, staggering out of bed to feed my two children, pack their lunches, and seeing them off to school. Then I usually meditate for about ½ hour, then coffee, email, a quick pass through IPA, Flickr, twitter, Facebook, and as many blogs as I can squeeze in, before getting myself ready and off to work.

© Kimberly Post Rowe – ‘beyond the blooming’ – Apps – Hipstamatic, Laminar, PhotoCopier

Joanne – Do you like to head out and take photographs early on?

Kimberly – Typically no. My creativity doesn’t kick in until after lunch. Usually I try to get as much of the mundane as I can out of the way so as my day progresses, I can enjoy it more. I love taking photos in the late afternoon.

© Kimberly Post Rowe – ‘calla alone’ – native camera, Laminar

Joanne – How did the transition from traditional photographer to mobile photographer develop? (pardon the pun).

Kimberly – Once I discovered that I could take a raw image from start to its processed conclusion in one device, from any location, I was hooked. I’ve always been a photo manipulator, whether in the darkroom or in Photoshop, so the transition was very easy for me, and quite liberating.

© Kimberly Post Rowe – ‘clinging to summer’ – native camera, Laminar

Joanne – Do you like to download new apps regularly?

Kimberly – Unfortunately, yes. I have a gazillion I’ve never even opened. I know, pathetic. I’m like a raven…I’m attracted to shiny things but really only collect them…I don’t actually use them. (I’m slightly exaggerating…)

© Kimberly Post Rowe – ‘conversation’ – native camera, TouchReTouch, Laminar

Joanne – How often do you update your existing apps?

Kimberly – I try to update regularly, but don’t do it to my iPad as frequently as my iPhone.

© Kimberly Post Rowe – ‘curl’ – native camera, Laminar, Photocopier

Joanne – Where’s your favorite place in the world for a shoot?

Kimberly – My garden. 🙂 Winter is really tough creatively for me. Even though I love Maine, I don’t think the cold, dead winters suit me.

© Kimberly Post Rowe – ‘dancer’ – native camera, Laminar

Joanne – Do you also use iPhone photography tool apps, such as The Photographer’s Ephemeris and if so do you use it to plan your shoots?

Kimberly – Nope! Had to google that actually.

© Kimberly Post Rowe – ‘dying echinacea’ – native camera, Laminar

Joanne – What are your favorite, at the moment, iPhoneography apps?

Kimberly – Laminar (had to give up my beloved Iris due to resolution issues), Hipstamatic, Superimpose, Photocopier, Retouch, Vintage, FilmLab, Lo-Mob, Snapseed…I could go on…

Joanne – About Iris Photo Suite, I’ve spoken with the developer about the issues, he has not been well for some time but now says ‘they are back on track’ and they should have a major update coming out shortly. He also went on to say, ‘I am aware of the issues, and we would have the update that fixes the bugs as well as some much need refresh to all our line up shortly. We are still working on the line up, but Iris is being ported with the Laminar engine, which would bring with it support for resolution equivalent to what we offer in Laminar. Plus another major release to complement the same’. So stand by for that!

© Kimberly Post Rowe – ‘found flat’ – native camera, Laminar

Joanne – Where do you like to upload your photographs? Flickr, Instagram?

Kimberly – I’ve found that strictly adhering to a sharing flow keeps me from feeling too overwhelmed. I may get behind but I always do the same thing. As soon as an image is complete, I blog it on tumblr. (That’s how I keep track of everything.) Then when I have time, I upload (never more than 5 at a time) to Flickr. I use Flickr as my backup storage, so I make sure everything worth saving eventually makes it there. I post links of my favorites on Flickr to Facebook and Pinterest.
Then I post my favorites on IPA.

© Kimberly Post Rowe – ‘golden’ – native camera, Laminar

Joanne – Do you take photographs with your iPhone everyday?

Kimberly – No…but I try to. That was the primary reason why I started a 366 project this year. But some days my creative juices are sucked up by other things. I guess that’s just the way it goes.

© Kimberly Post Rowe – ‘I pursued nature to her hiding places’ – native camera, Laminar, VintageScene

Joanne – What are your favorite subjects to photograph?

Kimberly – Botanical specimens in all stages of living and dying.

© Kimberly Post Rowe – ‘magic trio’ – native camera, TouchRetouch, Laminar

Joanne – How did the teaching side come along?

Kimberly – I’ve worked in education for most of my adult life. I’m a teacher by nature.

© Kimberly Post Rowe – ‘milkweed pod’ – native camera, Laminar

Joanne – What are your top five tips for iPhone photography?

Kimberly – 1. Take lots of shots of your subject. They’re free and you’d hate to sit down to app and realize you didn’t have a shot you were happy with. 2. Delete! Get rid of all the crap. 3. If you’ve tweaked an image a little and you’re happy with it, LEAVE IT ALONE! Over-apping is a common mistake. Sometimes simple is best. 4. Give yourself time to get to know an app. Watch youtube tutorials if you need to. There’s nothing wrong with RTFM. 5. Share! There are so many great iphoneographers out there doing tremendous things. Get into the fray and be prepared to be inspired.

© Kimberly Post Rowe – ‘multitudes’ – native camera, Laminar

Joanne – Do you edit images on your iPhone or do you prefer to do that on a desktop/laptop?

Kimberly – I primarily edit on my iPad because my eyes suddenly decided they were aging. I never edit on a laptop. iOS only!!

© Kimberly Post Rowe – ‘nature alone is antique and the oldest is a mushroom’ – native camera, Laminar

Joanne – Do you enjoy videography with your iPhone?

Kimberly – Not yet…but it’s an area on my list to explore.

© Kimberly Post Rowe – ‘orchid’ – native camera, Laminar

Joanne – Where do you see the future of iPhone photography?

Kimberly – I see it as becoming less about the iPhone and more about the unique qualities of the operating system. The social media aspect has pushed the medium so quickly that an immense body of work now exists that is strikingly different from photography. I can’t claim to know the future, but I do see that because of these two things, iphoneography (or whatever it ends up being called) is now an established art genre.

© Kimberly Post Rowe – ‘platanus occidentalis’ – native camera, Iris

Joanne – What do you think is the most popular area of iPhoneography?

Kimberly – I used to think street was, but I’m seeing more and more collage work out there…perhaps that’s the most rapidly-growing area, not necessarily the most popular.

© Kimberly Post Rowe – ‘revealed’ – native camera, Laminar, PhotoCopier

Joanne – Do you think it’s country specific, are some nations more clued up?

Kimberly – It seemed that early on Spain and Singapore had a lot of ground-breaking artists, but now I think the playing field has been broadened to include most of the developed world.

© Kimberly Post Rowe – ‘seedhead’ – native camera, TouchRetouch, Laminar

Joanne – How are you finding the iPhone 5, is it everything you hoped it would be?

Kimberly – I love my iPhone 5! First of all, it is lighter and thinner and there’s more usable screen space…which makes it very easy to hold and work with. I love the back of it (I got a black one) but I don’t get to enjoy it much because I do use a case. Ah well. The battery life does seem slightly improved but not as much as I hoped for. The new lightning connector is very cool, although I hated spending the extra money to buy an extra. I have not had any issues with the flare that some have, so I am quite happy with the camera and it’s mystical sapphire thingy. All in all, the 5 is a WIN in my book.

© Kimberly Post Rowe – ‘tomatillo remix’ – native camera, Retouch, Laminar, VintageScene

Joanne – What do you think of Joanne and theappwhisperer.com?

Kimberly – Well I’ve never met Joanne but I love her icon and she must be very industrious, since theappwhisperer.com is chock-full of reviews, tutorials, and more. I really love reading about other folks’ processes in particular.

© Kimberly Post Rowe – ‘umbels’ – native camera, Laminar

Laminar

PhotoCopier

TouchRetouch

Vintage Scene

Iris Photo Suite

Hipstamatic

Superimpose

Film Lab

Lo-Mob

Snapseed

NB: All images were shot with the iPhone 4s and processed on the iPad 2 except for “found flat” and “magic trio,” which were both shot with the iPhone 5.

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