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Jun Yamaguchi – Extension of the I Mobile Photography Interview With A Very Creative Artist

Welcome to another new series of interviews and insights that we are running on theappwhisperer.com. This section, entitled, “Extension of the I,” goes deeper into the photographic aspects of mobile photography. It delves into the lives, thoughts and influences that our artists experience from their photography. No other mobile photography website reaches the depths and emotions of the mobile photographers as we do in this new series of interviews. If you’ve missed our previous interviews of this series, you can read them here.

We think you’re going to enjoy this, a lot. Today we are featuring Jun Yamaguchi, we recently featured Jun in our Day In The Life series of interviews, if you missed that, please go here.

Jun was born in Japan where he currently lives. As a child he loved to read books and draw pictures but before he knew it, he had stopped drawing or painting.

He then describes his life as ‘living in his own hell for nearly 40 years’, and after he felt release from it, he began to photograph and then to paint a few years ago. He suddenly decided that was what he wanted to do them and didn’t really know why. Around the same time he joined Flickr and has become acquainted with some great artists. And through Flickr he has sold a number of his works.

Jun is not formally trained but has worked with and continues to work relying on his intuition. He surmises that various things he had experienced while being in the “hell” are very helpful to his work.

You can learn more about Jun in the following interview below:

You can find all the links to the apps used or mentioned at the end of this article.

 

First Things First

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© Jun Yamaguchi – “Man In Desert” – Apps Used: Brushes, PhotoForge2, and ScratchCam FX

 

Joanne – How did you get started in photography?

Jun – I had never had an interest in photography for a long time, but about six years ago, suddenly one day, I wanted to record things around me with a camera, I bought a compact digital camera and began to take pictures. And in 2010, suddenly again, I wanted to paint this time. I used to draw pictures as a child, but had not done it from that time. Then I knew the way how to paint with my iPod Touch 3 I had already had, practiced for a couple of months and joined Flickr. At this time I joined in Flickr as an iPhone painter, in 2011 I bought a new iPod touch 4 with camera and began with a photo paint style.

 

Influences

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© Jun Yamaguchi – “Stepping Out” – Apps Used: Brushes, PhotoForge2, PictureShow, ScratchCam FX, and DXP

 

Joanne – Who and what are your influences?

Jun – I have been influenced by many photographers, painters, movie directors, writers, poets, musicians, e.g., Nicholas de Steal, Edward Hopper, Piet Mondrian, Eugene Atget, Saul Leiter, Jean-Luc Godard, John Cassavetes, Federico Felini, Daniel Schmid, Luis Bunuel, Yasujiro Ozu, Wolfgang von Goethe, Soseki Natsume, Emily Dickinson, Neil Young, Sly Stone, Kevin Ayers, Pat Metheny etc. I especially love music and movies very much, I am inspired strongly by them.

Subjects

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© Jun Yamaguchi – “Back To The Good Future Days” – Apps Used: Brushes, PhotoForge2, PictureShow, ScratchCam FX, DXP and Snapseed

 

Joanne – What draws you to the subjects you seek?

Jun – My life itself.

Communication

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© Jun Yamaguchi – “Reading On The Beach” – Apps Used: Brushes, PhotoForge2, and, ScratchCam FX

 

Joanne – What is it about these subjects that you want to capture/communicate and ultimately convey in your images?

Jun – It is about the end of duality, or how our social life and system are just an illusion and releasing from them.

Decisions

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© Jun Yamaguchi – “Back Of Old Man” – Apps Used: Brushes, PhotoForge2, and ScratchCam FX

 

Joanne – How did you settle on this subject?

Jun – I have not been able to become familiar with human life in general from my childhood, I dropped out from various things in my life, and I therefore could not think deeply about it.

Exploration

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© Jun Yamaguchi – “Rain In The Small Town” – Apps Used: Brushes, PhotoForge2, Pixlr-o-matic, and ScratchCam FX

 

Joanne – Is there another are/subject that you would like to explore, if so, what and why?

Jun – Portrait. I had been afraid of humans for a long time, but the situation has been changing recently. There was a big change in and out me.

Influences

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© Jun Yamaguchi – “Tired” – Apps Used: Brushes, PhotoForge2, and ScratchCam FX

 

Joanne – Which photographers (not necessarily mobile photographers) do you most admire and why?

Jun –

Eugene Atget – I love his perfect composition and quietness, and also sympathize with the unique and complex emotions coming through his photos.

Vivian Maier – I love her self-portraits. I have never seen such sad portraits.

JQ Gaines – I believe that her works are supreme in mobile photography, her portraits are especially fabulous among all her work. I did not liked portrait photography very much, but seeing her work, I changed my mind.

Curt Bianchi – He is a great photographer using both iPhone and DSLR. I love his exact framing, signature tone, sense of humor and intimate attachment to his subjects, and also feel something common between his work and mine.

Street Photography

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© Jun Yamaguchi – “Double Man” – Apps Used: Brushes, PhotoForge2, Pixlr-o-matic, ScratchCam FX, and DXP

 

Joanne – Henri Cartier-Bresson is in many ways, the Godfather of street photography, even in the 1930’s he enjoyed using a small camera for discretion in order to capture people and tell a story – do you feel this way regarding mobile photography?

Jun – Yes. His distinct ways were timeless and universal, even if a mobile photographer doesn’t know his works and ways, the photographer has been under his influence in one way or another.

Technique

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© Jun Yamaguchi – “Square With The Statue” – Apps Used: Brushes, PhotoForge2, and ScratchCam FX

 

Joanne – Tell us about your photographic technique, do you rely on intuition or do you believe in a more formal/trained approach?

Jun – Intuition! I have never received art education, in fact know nothing about the traditional techniques of photography.

Evolution

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© Jun Yamaguchi – “Jail To Jail” – Apps Used: Brushes, PhotoForge2, and ScratchCam FX

 

Joanne – How has your photography evolved?

Jun – With my intuition and getting tired of my own former style.

All For One

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© Jun Yamaguchi -“Hair Salon” – Apps Used: Brushes, PhotoForge2, Pixlr-o-matic and ScratchCam FX

 

Joanne – Many of the great photographers, Jacques Henri Lartigue, Robert Frank , Henri Cartier-Bresson described only shooting images for themselves; do you see this attitude with mobile photographers?

Jun – Half yes and half no.

Risks

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© Jun Yamaguchi – “Stillness” – Apps Used: Brushes, PhotoForge2 and ScratchCam FX

 

Joanne – Do you take risks with photographs, push boundaries? If yes, please give examples, if no, why not, would you like to?

Jun – Yes. I want to unite various styles, such as photography, painting, drawing, design etc and make my distinct style. And actually, I have been carrying it out.

Favorite Image

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© Jun Yamaguchi – “Double Man 2” – Apps Used: Brushes, PhotoForge2, and Pixlr-o-matic

 

Joanne – What is your favorite picture, of your own and why?

Jun – love all my work and also don’t like it all. I feel a strong attachment to all my work, at the same time I tend to find what parts I don’t like or didn’t go well.

Emotional Involvement

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© Jun Yamaguchi – “East and West” – Apps Used: Brushes, PhotoForge2, and ScratchCam FX

 

Joanne – Do you get emotionally involved with your photography?

Jun – Partly yes.

Entwined

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© Jun Yamaguchi – “Percolator and Reading Man” – Apps Used: Brushes, PhotoForge2, and ScratchCam FX

 

Joanne – Does your life become entwined with your subjects?

Jun – Surely!

Post Production (Processing)

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© Jun Yamaguchi – “Farewell To The City” – Apps Used: Brushes, PhotoForge2, Pixlr-o-matic, ScratchCam FX, and DXP

 

Joanne – Do you have a special post-processing style?

Jun – My style is “photo painting”, so firstly I paint or draw over the photo I took.

Tips for Processing

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© Jun Yamaguchi – “She Is Transparent” – Apps Used: Brushes, PhotoForge2, and PictureShow

 

Joanne – Do you have any tips for post-processing?

Jun – Yes, I have, but I would rather not say about those, sorry…

Workflow

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© Jun Yamaguchi – “Cover Girl” – Apps Used: Brushes, PhotoForge2, and ScratchCam FX

 

Joanne – Do you have a digital workflow system to sort your images, if so what is it?

Jun – I don’t have such a system.

Development

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© Jun Yamaguchi – “Permanent Calm” – Apps Used: Brushes, PhotoForge2, Pixlr-o-matic, and ScratchCam FX

 

Joanne – How do you think photography has changed over the years?

Jun – I think that the equipment for photography have only changed, the basics of photography itself has not changed.

35 mm FIlm Days

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© Jun Yamaguchi – “Upstairs” – Apps Used: Brushes, PhotoForge2, and Pixlr-o-matic

 

Joanne – As a mobile photographer you’re at the cutting edge of technology, do you ever hanker for the 35mm film days?

Jun – Yes! I basically don’t like digital art (photography, movie, music, painting, illustration etc). But mobile art is so cheap but has kind of a good old mood and analog feel, I love it.

Links to all Apps Used and Mentioned In This Interview

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© Jun Yamaguchi – “Time For A Book” – Apps Used: Brushes, PhotoForge2, and ScratchCam FX

 

Brushes
PhotoForge2
ScratchCam FX
PictureShow
DXP
Pixlr-o-matic

Joanne Carter, creator of the world’s most popular mobile photography and art website— TheAppWhisperer.com— TheAppWhisperer platform has been a pivotal cyberspace for mobile artists of all abilities to learn about, to explore, to celebrate and to share mobile artworks. Joanne’s compassion, inclusivity, and humility are hallmarks in all that she does, and is particularly evident in the platform she has built. In her words, “We all have the potential to remove ourselves from the centre of any circle and to expand a sphere of compassion outward; to include everyone interested in mobile art, ensuring every artist is within reach”, she has said. Promotion of mobile artists and the art form as a primary medium in today’s art world, has become her life’s focus. She has presented lectures bolstering mobile artists and their art from as far away as the Museum of Art in Seoul, South Korea to closer to her home in the UK at Focus on Imaging. Her experience as a jurist for mobile art competitions includes: Portugal, Canada, US, S Korea, UK and Italy. And her travels pioneering the breadth of mobile art includes key events in: Frankfurt, Naples, Amalfi Coast, Paris, Brazil, London. Pioneering the world’s first mobile art online gallery - TheAppWhispererPrintSales.com has extended her reach even further, shipping from London, UK to clients in the US, Europe and The Far East to a global group of collectors looking for exclusive art to hang in their homes and offices. The online gallery specialises in prints for discerning collectors of unique, previously unseen signed limited edition art. Her journey towards becoming The App Whisperer, includes (but is not limited to) working for a paparazzi photo agency for several years and as a deputy editor for a photo print magazine. Her own freelance photographic journalistic work is also widely acclaimed. She has been published extensively both within the UK and the US in national and international titles. These include The Times, The Sunday Times, The Guardian, Popular Photography & Imaging, dpreview, NikonPro, Which? and more recently with the BBC as a Contributor, Columnist at Vogue Italia and Contributing Editor at LensCulture. Her professional photography has also been widely exhibited throughout Europe, including Italy, Portugal and the UK. She is currently writing several books, all related to mobile art and is always open to requests for new commissions for either writing or photography projects or a combination of both. Please contact her at: joanne@theappwhisperer.com

8 Comments

  • JQ Gaines

    Jun — I just love your work!!!
    I’ve got nothing more to say…. 🙂

  • Curt Bianchi

    I love Jun’s work. Such a creative artist. It is always a treat seeing his work on Flickr.

  • Jun Yamaguchi

    Thank you very much, everybody! I know well that you’re great artists. And thank you for giving me such a nice chance, Joanne.

  • Carol Wiebe

    I am here—Oct. 30, 2017–because of a new work of yours that was displayed on theappwhisperer today. You have such an outstanding body of work, and this interview is full of insights into your way of viewing the world. I love your “end of duality” statement, and the fact that you evolve through your intuition, but also because you get tired of your former way of doing things. That made me laugh out loud; it is so true, and so honest. Thanks for sharing this!