A Day In The Life of Irene Oleksiuk – An Incredibly Unique And Talented Contemporary Flower/Plant iPhone Photographer
Welcome to our exciting new column on theappwhisperer.com, this section is entitled ‘A day in the life of …’ and we’ll be taking a look some hugely influential and interesting people in the mobile app world. Ones that we think you will love to learn more about.
This is our fifth installment to our new series, we previously published ‘A Day In The Life Of Ernesto Diaz’, if you missed that you can read it here and ‘A Day In The Life Of Veevs’, read here, ‘A Day In The Life Of Lene Basma, read here and earlier this week, A Day In The Life Of Natali Prosvetova, read here.
Kicking us off today is Irene Oleksiuk born and raised in Chicago and now living about 40 miles from the city, in a country setting where she feels she belongs. Back in 2001 Irene got laid off from a management position, ironically, the lay off was one of the best things that could of happened to her. Jobs were scarce but she needed something to do. So full of motivation Irene signed up at the Morton Arboretum and started working on her Nature photography certificate. She loved it and met some great people, who also shared her interest and most remain friends to this day.
As Irene honed her photography skills she entered some images into photo shows and exhibitions. Then two to three years ago, Irene bought her first iPhone and at first, pretty much treated it as a phone but with the advent of new and exciting photo apps her interest started to peak, big style! Irene discovered that she loved taking images and processing them with her iPhone, she actually fell head over heels in love with it.
Every once in a while Irene pulls out her DSLR but it’s not so often these days. The freedom that she experiences with iPhone photography is second to none.
Irene contributes to Pixels/the art of iPhoneography and combined with the help of Knox Bronson (Pixels), Irene’s images have been show in galleries across California.
Check out the full interview below…
We have included exif data, in as much as the app or apps that were used to create the final image. As many of the images were cross processed we have listed the apps in the sequential order they were used in the editing process, we have also provided links for each app to the iTunes App Store, just incase you’re inspired enough to try them out for yourself.
(If you would like to be interviewed for our new ‘A day in the life of …’ section, just send us an email and we’ll get it set up).
First Things First…
Copyright Image, Irene Oleksiuk – ‘Milkweed Seed head’ -iPhone 4S, Painteresque, Blender, Snapseed
JC – Let’s start at the beginning of the day, how does your day start?
IO – If I don’t have to rush off to somewhere, I take things nice and slow. Stretch, have my coffee and play with my iPad. I find that the morning in my pj’s is a great time for me to get creative. There have been mornings that I get so caught up in creating in the iPad that next thing I know its lunch time!
Magic Hour…
Copyright Image, Irene Oleksiuk – ‘Fairy seed head’ – iPhone 4: Snapseed, Pixlromatic
JC – When is your favorite part of the day for taking photographs, do you hanker for the magic hour or shoot whenever the opportunity arises?
IO – I do like to photograph in the morning, when there is good light and also in the late afternoon because of the light.
Photographer vs iPhone Photographer…
Copyright Image, Irene Oleksiuk – "Garden path: -iPhone3GS :Bracket mode, Pro HDR, DXP
JC – How did the transition from traditional photographer to iPhone photographer develop? (pardon the pun).
IO – It did not happen immediately. For a while to me it was just a phone, with internet and a camera and I didn’t take too many pictures. Then more and more apps were coming out and my interest peaked and then I became hooked.
New Apps…
Copyright Image, Irene Oleksiuk – ‘Koi in lily pond’ – iPhone4, Blender, Touch Retouch, Snapseed
JC – Do you like to download new iPhoneography apps regularly?
IO- Yes I do! I have a bunch of apps that are just waiting to be explored.
Updates…
Copyright Image, Irene Oleksiuk – ‘Long ago memory’ – iPhone 4, Snapseed, Blender for texture, Filterstorm
JC – How often do you update your existing apps?
IO – I check at least once a week to see what needs to be updated. I update the ones I use right away and leave the other updates for later or never
Location, Location, Location…
Copyright Image, Irene Oleksiuk – ‘Please Plant Me’ – iPhone4S, Blender, Filterstorm, Snapseed.
JC – Where’s your favorite place in the world for a shoot?
IO – My garden or Chicago Botanic Garden or anywhere with the beauty of nature.
Tools Of The Trade…
Copyright Image, Irene Oleksiuk – ‘Rain Drops’ – iPhone3GS: Originally just Photogene, later Snapseed
JC – Do you also use iPhoneography tool apps, such as The Photographer’s Ephemeris?
IO – I started to look at Photographer’s Ephemeris but have not used it yet. I have used apps like Sunrise and SoLuna to figure out sunrise and moon phases.
JC – Do you use these apps to plan your shoot?
IO – At times.
Favorites…
Copyright Image, Irene Oleksiuk – ‘Soft’ – iPhone 4s and Olloclip macro lens: Snapseed.
JC – What are your favorite, at the moment, iPhoneography apps?
IO – Snapseed, Filterstorm and Pixlromatic and Photo fx.
Sharing Images…
Copyright Image, Irene Oleksiuk – ‘Spring at the Botanic Garden’ – iPhone4 – Painteresque, Blender, Snapseed
JC – Where do you like to upload your photographs? Flickr, Instagram?
IO – I upload to Pixels: The art of the iPhone/ pixelsatanehibition.com. and I also belong to several Facebook iPhone groups.
JC – That’s great Irene, make sure you join our Flickr group – Mobile Photography and Imagery, too.
Frequency…
Copyright Image, Irene Oleksiuk – ‘Tulip Time’ – iPhone4 – Snapseed, Blender, Filterstorm.
JC – Do you take photographs with your iPhone everyday?
IO – Yes almost everyday. Not all get to the point that I work on them, those get deleted.
Subjects…
Top Tips For Mobile Photography
Copyright Image, Irene Oleksiuk – ‘Water lily in pond’ – iPhone4 – Blender, Filterstorm, Snapseed.
JC – What are you top tips for iPhoneography?
IO –
1 Shoot all the time.
2 Experiment, play around/
3 Seek out and learn from sites like The App Whisperer all that is new and technique.
4 Take an online class on iPhone photography technique. I took one a while ago and it was very helpful.
Editing…
Copyright Image, Irene Oleksiuk – ‘Summer Vision’ -iPhone4 – Blender, Touch Retouch, Snapseed.
JC – Do you edit images on your iPhone or do you prefer to do that on a desktop/laptop?
IO – Mostly on the iPad and a little bit on the iPhone . I would like to do more on the desktop but most sites I submit to want only images processed on iPhone or iPad.
Videography…
Future Of iPhone Photography…
Popularity…
Copyright Image, Irene Oleksiuk – ‘Tree of Dreams’ – iPhone4 – Blender, Filterstorm, Touch Retouch, Snapseed.
JC – What do you think is the most popular area of iPhoneography?
IO – It seems to me that the area where people can express themselves in very artistic ways and not just straight photography.
Where In The World…?
Copyright Image, Irene Oleksiuk – ‘Summer Lily’ – iPhone4 – Snapseed, did the blur in there
JC – Do you think it’s country specific, are some nations more clued up?
IO – No, I really don’t think it’s country specific.
iPhone 5…
Copyright Image, Irene Oleksiuk – ‘Spring Rains’ – iPhone 4 – Snapseed, Photo Fx, Pixlromatic
JC – What do you hope for in the iPhone 5?
IO – Better optics on the camera,sharper screen, I would like to the software change more, where i have more control of what I can delete in the album and camera roll. Now if want to delete an image from the album it also deletes in the camera roll.
TheAppWhisperer.com…
Copyright Image, Irene Oleksiuk – ‘Seeds’ -iPhone 4S – Snapseed
JC – What do you think of Joanne and theappwhisperer.com?
IO – You are creative and innovative.
JC – Thank you for your compliments Irene and thank you for working with us on this interview. Your images are simply stunning and we’re sure our readers will agree.
Joanne Carter
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: [email protected]
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3 Comments
Laurence Zankowski
Irene,
Joanne,
The first image made me think of two pioneering women in the photo arts field:
Jo Whaley and Dorothy Krause.
http://www.dotkrause.com/artist/artist.htm
After the little bit about using a scanner and such for experimentation( older posting). I feel like a novice in viewing Irene’s work, though I have been around some form of digital acquisition for awhile.
Oh well, you sure kicked off this series with some strong artists.
Be well
Laurence
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