‘Tiny Collective in Paris Show’ at the Mobile Camera Club

Tiny members use their smartphone both for shooting and editing their images. The street is their playground, they study the human condition, seeking to highlight what remains surprising in everyday life.

Tiny does not see mobile photography as a niche or as an amateur practice. Seeking to push against the normative schemes at play in the mobile photography worlds, the collective seeks to actively develop new ways to exert its personality, more in tune with the digital age.

In 2013, Tiny began partnering with brands (Impossible Project) and exhibiting as a group in a variety of galleries and alternative spaces – The Re Evolution of Mobile – at The Garrison in Toronto, 2012 and – The Space Between – at the Centre for Photography at Woodstock (CPW) gallery, New York, 2014, and most recently, – Hiding in Plain Sight – at Pearson International Airport, Toronto, as part of the 2014 Scotiabank CONTACT Photography festival, and – Foto Istanbul – International Photography festival, in Turkey.

Members of the Tiny Collective have a combined audience of more than 500,000 followers via socials channels.

This exhibition was originally presented at Toronto Pearson International Airport, with the generous production support of the airport’s Art and Exhibits Program. Each member of the collective will exhibit a big format image. Tiny members’ works will also be displayed on screen during the exhibition, through videos and slideshows

Markus Andersen is a Sydney based photographic artist. His works have been exhibited in New York, Paris, Toronto and Sydney. His work is shot on 35mm film, medium format film, Polaroid and mobile phone. At present his focus is on documentary, street and conceptual bodies of work. He has worked as a professional photographer for the past 10 years.

The street and documentary pictures I take are usually based on pure instinct, I like to see the image quickly and grab it. Sometimes I shoot from the hip without composing, the camera acting as an extension of my arm. When shooting I observe a subject, look where the light works then attempt to capture the scene at its apogee.

Image below copyright Markus Andersen (@markusandersen, Sydney)

Originally a painter with a background in abstracts and mixed media, Carlein was introduced to photography while at art school. Currently residing in Toronto Canada, Carlein continues to explore the boundaries of mobile photography through her distinctive editing style.

My world is purely visual. Wherever I am, I look around me and see possible pictures. I let myself lead by mood, colours, light, shape. I work either “pure” so hardly reworked or I work in layers, like I build up my mixed media paintings.

Image below copyright Carlein Van Der Beek (@ilein, Toronto)

Loneliness and solitude are themes that run throughout the street photography of Vlad Chirkov. Primarily a mobile photographer, Vlad has trained his eye to reveal in his environment the moments and characters most others would miss or overlook. Originally honing his craft in Portland Oregon, Vlad has recently relocated to San Francisco where he continues to uncover the street through the lens of his mobile phone.

Image below copyright Vlad Chirkov (@vladatat, San Francisco)

Cecile Edelist is a street photographer currently living in Paris. Bringing to her photographic work a combined analysis of nature, urban modernity and the study fine art, she fuses these disparate inspirations in her work to a decidedly unique look. Refining such elements in her visual concept, Cecile’s work strives to make visible the everyday, the unseen, the routine while mapping the landscape of the Parisian street.

Image below copyright Cecile Edelist (@cecile_e, Paris)

While firmly rooted in product design, Dan Cristea sees photography as an alternative medium of creative expression. In his free time you will find him roaming the streets in chase of unprecedented moments. Dan lives and works in Toronto, Canada.

I am not a photographer, I am just lucky enough to have access to a tool that allows me to express my creativity in a new and unique way.

Image below copyright Dan Cristea (@dan.cristea, Toronto)

Crispin D. Giles is a self-trained documentary photographer and mobile artist focused primarily on street photography. A founding member of the international photography group Tiny Collective, he has exhibited his work in New York, Istanbul and Toronto. Crispin lives and works in Toronto, Canada.

I am not concerned with purity, technique or past movements and their tired conventions. I have learned that I achieve my best work, or at least what I’m looking for, when I stop thinking and allow my instincts to guide me.

With street photography things move very quickly, and I rely on this instinct to anticipate the scenes unfolding in front of me, to frame the subject almost before it exists or develops into something interesting. If I don’t, it’s too late and I have missed the moment. I have lost the shot.

Image below copyright Crispin D. Giles (@crispindgiles, Toronto)

Katarina Gavrilica currently lives and works as a conservator-librarian in Zagreb/Dubrovnik, Croatia and first came to photography during university. It wasn’t until the completion of her studies that she started pushing her photographic work further and once exposed to mobile photography Katarina started shooting much more regularly. It’s safe to say mobile photography has now become a passion for Katarina as she continues to develop and evolve her visual voice locating what has become a very unique style.

I love how shooting mobile feels immediate, like it’s an extension of me. The possibility of going unnoticed and having the ability to edit and share in the moment… it allows me to build a daily visual diary.

Image below copyright Katarina Gavrilica (@kejtgejv, Zagreb)

Richard Koci Hernandez is a national Emmy award-winning video and multimedia producer who worked as a photojournalist for 20 years. His work has earned him two Pulitzer Prize nominations and was awarded a national Emmy award for the New Approaches to Documentary category. His work has appeared in a National Geographic Book on iPhoneography, The New York Times, Wired Magazine.

For me, painting with light is about change and acceptance. My daily struggle is learning to embrace the now, to find a clear, quiet signal amidst the noise. Photography is my memory, a constant reminder to allow events, people and the circumstance of the moment to influence and change me. Having a smartphone camera in my hand at all times, opens doors, removes excuses and forces me to be ready and participate in the dance of light. In the end, it’s the final artefact that matters, not the tool.

Image below copyright Richard Koci Hernandez (@koci, San Francisco)

David Ingraham is a Los Angeles based musician/photographer. When not working his day job as a musician, he can usually be found obsessing over and indulging in photography in one form or another. Although he can’t recall a time when he wasn’t interested in taking pictures, it wasn’t until his mid-to-late thirties that something clicked and he began to take photography more seriously, immersing himself in the work of the masters as well as building a darkroom at home.

After years of experimenting with different styles, genres, and cameras in an attempt to find his own voice, something unexpected happened that would forever change the course of his photographic pursuits: he bought an iPhone. Being able to shoot, edit, and post his work all from the palm of his hand revolutionised his whole approach to photography and he’s shot with almost nothing else since.

As a member of Tiny Collective, David hopes to play a role in the legitimisation of mobile photography in the fine-art world, viewing it as the latest chapter in the history of photography.

As a photographer, I’m not interested in documenting reality so much as just trying to capture or create a feeling; something ineffable that hopefully resonates with people in some sort of subconscious and universal way.

Image below copyright David Ingraham (@dayzdandconfuzd, Los Angeles)

New York City based street photographer Diana Lopez has a way with words. If you know her at all you know this to be true. Diana also has an undeniable talent with her mobile camera; a gift in making her surroundings a visual archive. Capturing hidden moments from Brooklyn to The Bronx, Lopez can be found late most nights creeping the NYC boroughs shooting in-jokes, fashionistas, speeding trains, the mundane. Revealing neighbourhoods on the up, the down, the all-around and never without her mobile camera, Lopez is an urban archivist marrying her love of story and the visual image.

Image below copyright Diana Lopez (@dopez, New York)

As a member of Tiny Collective, David hopes to play a role in the legitimisation of mobile photography in the fine-art world, viewing it as the latest chapter in the history of photography.

Using a mobile sparked my passion for street photography, taking me to the streets in search of the wonderfully odd or the tragically beautiful.

Image below copyright Wes Quarles (@wesq, Atlanta)

Elif Suyabatmaz was born in Baltimore M.D. U.S.A. She moved with her family back to Turkey and lived most of her life in Istanbul. After getting her BA in Graphic Design, she traveled the world for a year taking photos in numerous countries such as Cuba, Yemen and China. She opened an exhibition of her black and white Cuba photographs at the British Council, Ankara, Turkey. After finishing her M.A. in Film Studies, she photographed and filmed the urban transformation of Galata, Istanbul. In 2014 she had a solo BW photography exhibition in Gama Gallery in Istanbul titled Traces of Istanbul.

I live in a very beautiful and wild city; Istanbul. So I roam the streets and it is my stage. The history, culture and the wonderful light creates my backdrop. What goes in between is my passion to capture.

Image below copyright Elif Suyabatmaz (@fisheyedreams, Istanbul)

Ideally located in the cultural heart of Paris, Mobile Camera Club exhibits mobile photography in all its forms. The name of the gallery is a tribute to camera clubs and photographic societies, which were the real test kitchens of the early photographic years. It is also a reference to Alfred Stieglitz, a photographer and gallery-owner born 150 years ago, who was a real talent scout, a forward-thinking artist, and a staunch defender of photography as a fine art in its own right.

At Mobile Camera Club, you find art prints for sale, either mounted or framed, or not. The gallery also provides lectures and workshops to help you use your smartphone as an effective camera, and make the best use of photography apps. A reference spot for mobile arts.