A Picture’s Worth… With Lene Basma
Welcome to another new section to theappwhisperer.com, this new section is entitled ‘A Picture’s Worth…’ and it is a subsection of our Photo App Lounge column.
A Picture’s Worth… is where we ask iPhone photographers that have taken or made, as the case may be, powerful iPhone art to explain the processes they took. This includes their initial thoughts as to what they wanted to create, why they wanted to create it, how they created it, including all apps used and what they wanted to convey. We also ask these incredible artists to explain their emotions and how the image projects those feelings.
This is another totally unique section to theappwhisperer.com and one that offers the unique facility for the reader/viewer to find out more about an image and also for the artist to explain the complete process and message.
This is our second post to this new section, we previously published A Picture’s Worth by Roger Guetta, see here. We also previously interview Lene Basa in our A Day In The Life Series, if you missed that, you can read it here.
In this A Picture’s Worth … today, Lene talks us through her incredible image ‘At least Have My Red Shoes’, shown below.
(If you would like to contribute to this section or if you have seen an image that you would like to learn more about, just email Joanne@theappwhisperer.com and we will get it all set up).
The Birth Of A Concept
Copyright Image – Lene Basma – ‘At Least I Have My Red Shoes’
JC – Lene, I would like you to explain your emotions and feelings before, during and after the process and what the final image means to you and how you intend it to be interpreted by others.
OK, so when I am writing this, I just read the first installment of this series, written or rather performed, by the fabulous Roger Guetta – which sort of leaves me, well I am not quite sure where it leaves me. I guess all I can do is attend to business and try to explain what I thought and felt when making the image “At Least I Have My Red Shoes”.
What stirred me into making this image? The simple fact that I finally ventured into the costume shop at the local mall and dared to take a candid shot of a fantastic red carnival masque. I just wanted to make something with it, really. Even though my images are often grounded in a feeling or a thought, this time it was just this beautiful masque and my wish to try to see if I could do something interesting with it…
The Process
I started out with masking out the masque (no pun intended) in PhotoForge2, saving the end result – a white picture that only had the masque in it-, to the camera roll. I then opened it in image Blender and started to look for images that could make this masque “mine”.
First I layered it with a self portrait I did some weeks ago – I layered several times with different blending modes until I had the effect I wanted. The image was still white, which made it look unfinished, so I continued to blend in some texture images I have taken, and took the image to ScratchCam to grunge it up. There still wasn´t enough of a “story” there, and I wondered where to take it, as the title suddenly came to me, and then it was clear.
I opened Blender again adding the red shoes, and a body. The image still seemed to straight forward for me – if you know my other images I am a fan of quirkiness, ambiguity and surrealism, so I used Diptic to add a black stripe and shifted the two parts of the images slightly.
Lastly I took it into Blender again adding part of a machine and some rocks. And it was not quite an Eureka moment, but then I thought I just couldn´t do anything more. I had to let it go.
Afterthoughts
Which leaves me to the third part of the question, how I want people to react or how I feel about the image now afterwards. Honestly, this isn´t one of my favorite images of mine. Why? I am not quite sure, but perhaps because I didn´t start out the process as I usually do, with something I need to figure out or express. As far as all you other people go. I hope you like it, the best thing that can happen to me is if it can inspire someone else.
Joanne Carter
Joanne Carter is a British photography journalist, editor, curator, and the founder of *TheAppWhisperer.com*, one of the world’s leading platforms dedicated to mobile photography and art. Since its launch in 2009, TheAppWhisperer has become an international hub for artists of all levels to discover, learn, exhibit, and engage with contemporary photographic practice.Built on principles of inclusivity, accessibility, and artistic excellence, Joanne has spent almost two decades championing mobile photography as a serious artistic medium. Through interviews, critical essays, exhibitions, competitions, and education, she has helped shape and document the evolution of mobile art on a global scale.Her work has taken her internationally, lecturing on photography and mobile art at institutions and events including the Museum of Art in Seoul, South Korea, alongside appearances in the UK and Europe. She has served as a juror for international photography and mobile art awards across Portugal, Canada, the United States, South Korea, Italy, and the UK.Joanne is also the founder of *TheAppWhispererPrintSales.com*, one of the first online galleries dedicated exclusively to collectible mobile art, connecting artists with collectors across Europe, the United States, and Asia.Before founding TheAppWhisperer, Joanne worked extensively in print journalism and photographic publishing, including roles at a paparazzi photo agency and as deputy editor of a leading photography magazine. Her freelance journalism, criticism, and commentary have been published widely in both the UK and the US, with bylines in *The Times*, *The Sunday Times*, *The Guardian*, *Popular Photography*, *NikonPro*, *DPReview*, *Which?*, *Vogue Italia*, *LensCulture*, the *BBC*, and more recently, the *Financial Times*, where her published letters on photography continue to contribute to wider conversations around the medium.Alongside her editorial and curatorial work, Joanne’s own photographic practice has been exhibited internationally across the UK, Europe, South Korea, and the United States. Her work increasingly explores themes of grief, loss, death, memory, and the body.Her current research interests centre on grief, death, and poverty, with forthcoming postgraduate study leading towards doctoral research in these areas.Joanne is currently developing new long-form writing and photographic projects and is available for commissions, editorial projects, speaking engagements, and collaborations.Contact: joannetheappwhisperer@gmail.com)
2 Comments
Janine Graf
I found this very inspiring!
Kim Martino
Great image, & great style of writing, too, Lene!