A Picture’s Worth…With Mel Harrison
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.
Today we are talking to Mel Harrison aka mahoganyturtle, we previously interviewed Mel in our A Day In the Life series, if you missed that you can read it here. Mel has always had an artistic outlet in her life, be it drawing, soft sculpture or textile art. Mel has seen her work exhibited around the world since, including one of her macro images projected onto a wall in New Zealand. Mel has been named Artist of the day at iPhoneArt and voted as Artist for the month of March.
In this A Picture’s Worth … today, Mel talks us through her image ‘Freckles’, enjoy…
(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 [email protected] and we will get it all set up).
The Birth Of A Concept
‘I truly believe as photographers that we can capture the beauty in anything. Even more so as iPhoneographers! Apps let us delve into a realm where the mundane becomes interesting and the normal can become a fantasy world’.
‘When I saw this orchid speckled with what I think might have been a mould I just adored it, it was flawed yes, but it’s flaw made it all the more beautiful. It had such character and charm. It looked back at me, head cocked to one side like a cheeky freckly faced child and I just knew I had to use that “face”.
‘I co-sleep with my youngest child so 99% of the time I do my editing when he is dropping off to sleep, it is the only time I ever get to sit still. Editing photos has become a very peaceful activity, something I very much look forward to at the end of a hectic day’.
‘I decided on an aged style “portrait” for this cheeky flower and started with a texture photo of rust that I blended with a paintFX background I had prepared earlier. I juxtaposed the Orchid onto the background and added in a steam using a saved stamp from another image. I love juxtaposer in the evenings. I find the process of erasing the background is very calming, each stroke brushes away all the cares and worries of the world’.
‘The next step on the journey for this image was Vintage Scene. I started out using the random button waiting for something to jump out at me. When the speckled background appeared I just knew it was perfect! I adjusted the colour and opacity of the effect and then moved into Image blender to adjust it further’.
‘I wanted to up the grunge factor so I moved the image into photowizard and used the textures there to darken up the edges. Then I went back into Image Blender to mask out the orchid and blend down the photowizard edit’.
‘Then it was off to PaintFX. I used my “secret blend of brightness and vibrance” painting it to just the areas I wanted to highlight, then it was back to Image Blender for one more final adjustment’.
Final Image
‘This image has become one of my personal favourites, It makes me happy, I can’t wait to get it printed to display in my home’.
Video Walk-Through
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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]
4 Comments
MobiTog.com
Mel (aka MahoganyTurtle) is an extremely accomplished and active contributor over @ http://www.MobiTog.com – where she is a valued member of the MobiTog Staff Room and helps run, among other things, various challenge and Projects for iMage sharing and discussions!
MobiTog.com is very proud to be associated with Mel and her work and is very proud that this iMage is already displayed on THE iPhoneography Community pages… > http://www.mobitog.com/threads/freckles.7241/
Check it out, along with Mel’s other amazing iPhoneography… 🙂
David
Oh my, Mel! I am so impressed!! One of these days I need to sit myself down and take some time to perfect my layering and blending skills…I tend to want to finish an image in a hurry. Reading thru your process is just the inspiration I need to do this! (So much to learn…so little time!) Thank you for sharing!!
Catherine
Wonderful image and fantastic tutorial Mel! Love to see the thoughts/feelings behind the process. 😀
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