A Day In The Life Of Fernando Prats – An Incredibly Talented iPhone Photographer

©Fernando Prats – ‘+IVA’ – Booster!, Part, Photoforge2, Snapseed, Blender

JC – Let’s start at the beginning of the day, how does your day start?

FP – I get up at 7 a.m., have breakfast while listening to the radio, take a quick look at the headlines of messages and comments in social networks on an iPad 3, take my children to school and open the studio, all within a distance of 300 m.

©Fernando Prats – ‘1000secrets’ – Mattebox, NoiseMaster, Phototoaster, Squaready

JC – Do you like to head out and take photographs early on?

FP – Yes, I do, and I usually do it even compulsively whenever I’m on a trip. In my day-to-day routine I don’t usually get a chance or a time that seduces me particularly, so early, with some hurry and in already assimilated landscapes.

©Fernando Prats – ‘A day in advance poetry’ – Camera+, CropSuey, TouchRetouch, Picfx

JC – How did the transition from traditional photographer to iPhoneographer develop? (pardon the pun).

FP – I don’t consider it a transition but rather a widening of tools and possibilities. I’m not interested in purism in any of its sides, unless it is a personal and intimate game or simply an artistic decision. Even if it’s true that I don’t see any point anymore in photographing with compact cameras (in fact, snapshots as such have been for a long time a prerogative of the iPhone, in my case), there is a variety of circumstances and possible shots that I enjoy in the company of a Nikon and some of my favorite lenses, such as a 11-16 mm, 30 mm,, 50 mm, 85 mm and a 70-200 mm. I think we are in an era of fast changes and, while mobile photography doesn’t incorporate a high quality optical zoom, longer battery life and more manual settings, there are some photographic results that are simply hard to achieve. I enjoy 645Pro, Mattebox, MPro and Booster! because they allow me to customize the result of the shot and not simply filter it with a particular effect. There is still a long way to go. In any case, I’m interested in the concept rather than in a correct photography or in an image which is only the trace of the apps used.

©Fernando Prats – ‘A new days is always possible, I guess’ – 645Pro, Snapseed

JC – Do you like to download new iPhoneography apps regularly?

FP – I must admit I receive and fly over the daily notifications of Appsfire and Appshopper.

©Fernando Prats – ‘A possible area for maps mentioned before’ – Procamera, Blurfx, ScratchCam, PictureShow, Snapseed

JC – How often do you update your existing apps?

FP – Daily.

©Fernando Prats – ‘Abstract my building’ – Leme Cam, VintageScene, Snapseed

JC – Where’s your favorite place in the world for a shoot?

FP – A city with a character of its own.

©Fernando Prats – ‘Almost always’ – MPro, ScratchCam

JC – Do you also use iPhone photography tool apps, such as The Photographer’s Ephemeris and if so do you use it to plan your shoots?

FP – No, I use a plain iPhone 4S, with over 500 apps and a plain new iPad. I plan shots thinking on composition and what I want to show about something.

©Fernando Prats – ‘Although she also used to wear a 15 year olds Miles Davies t-shirt’ – Camera+, Lego Photo, Interlacer, PhotoFX by Tiffen

JC – Where do you like to upload your photographs? Flickr, Instagram?

FP – I upload them to Flickr, Instagram, iPhoneArts, Tumblr and my website. And share these links on Twitter, Facebook, Google+ and Pinterest. Besides this, once in a while I update other galleries at 500px, Saatchi, litmind, etc.

©Fernando Prats – ‘Boson’ – 645Pro, PerfectlyClear, Phototoaster, iColorama S, SnapseedThe cup – 645Pro, PerfectlyClear, Phototoaster, iColorama S, Snapseed

JC – What are your favorite, at the moment, iPhoneography apps?

FP – For shooting: 645Pro, MPro, Booster!, Mattebox and SlowShutter. For editing Snapseed, PhotoForge 2, PhotoToaster, iColorama S. Utilities: PerfectlyClear, PhotoSize, Squaready. FX: Pixlromatic+, ScratchCam, Picfx. DOF: Big Lens. Layers: Superimpose, Blender. Retro: Lo-Mob, Instant110. Experimental: pxl, Satromizer, Decim8, Piece, Part. Other: CameraTan, FluidFX, PicFrame, Hipstamatic, Photo fx by Tiffen, etc. I also usually employ some other apps for video and music.

©Fernando Prats – ‘Candidates for another babble speech’ – Hipstamatic, Iris Photo Suite, Normalize, FX PhotoStudio

JC – Do you take photographs with your iPhone everyday?

FP – I’d say so. There’s hardly a day when I don’t take any.

©Fernando Prats – ‘Difficulties when it’s time to choose’ – Camera+, TwistCam, Snapseed

JC – What are your favorite subjects?

FP – What I’m not interested in at all is unary photography. One as professional and codified as naïve and indolent, postcard or report-like in any of its forms, emphasizing the real without splitting it or making it hesitate. What Barthes called the stadium. My interest is the production of concepts daring to pierce the fat and trigger possible readings. Proposing diverse, not univocal associations around an idea, which I try to complete with the choice of a title, tags, descriptions and links. In practice, in order to do so I look for possible shapes, figures, situations and geometries, any object-subject is good.

©Fernando Prats – ‘Exchanging claps’ – Camera+, Phototoaster, Iris Photo Suite

JC – What are your top five tips for iPhone photography?

FP – Studying, experimenting, deciding what is intended to communicate, not settling for the effects of effects per se nor the froth of empty praise, and publishing.

©Fernando Prats – ‘Flowers of a digital era’ – CameraAwesome!, TinyWorld, Picfx, Snapseed

JC – Do you edit images on your iPhone or do you prefer to do that on a desktop/laptop?

FP – Most of the images taken with my iPhone I edit them on the iPhone itself and then check on the iPad, while I usually edit photos taken with other cameras on an iMac 27’’. However, and picking up my hybrid ethics and a certain rebel spirit, every now and then I edit any image in any device.

©Fernando Prats – ‘FMI’ – Hipstamatic, Picfx, Phototoaster

JC – Do you enjoy videography with your iPhone?

FP – Yes, and I’m very interested in it. I use FilmicPro, CinePro and I sometimes play with 8mm, Movie360 or Silent Film Director and AvidStudio on the iPad. I consider that the big limitation in this aspect, nowadays, is storage space, and thus I edit most of the videos with Final Cut Pro X.

©Fernando Prats – ‘Gestures around localization’ – Procamera, Blurfx, ScratchCam, PictureShow, Snapseed

JC – Where do you see the future of iPhone photography?

FP – I think we are witnessing a moment of change and discussion of old paradigms which comes cyclically. Shortly, approaches, value differentiations and disquisitions between photography and mobile photography will have ceased existing, giving way to new old dilemmas.

©Fernando Prats – ‘Harpo was right’ – Mattebox, pxl, Snapseed

JC – What do you think is the most popular area of iPhone photography?

FP – I guess street photography, because of the discretion, size and ubiquity of the device, and “casual” photography, omnipresent in Instagram. But I don’t think the area of interest depends on the means or adjusts to a thematic axis. Certainly, the popularization of mobile photography is based on a certain simplicity in its use –achieving results popularly legitimated as “cool” is just two clicks away- and in sharing those images. And this is not an exclusive prerogative of those devoted to photography.

©Fernando Prats – ‘Images as metonymy, expansive force’ – 645Pro, iColorama, Photogene2, Snapseed

JC – Do you think it’s country specific, are some nations more clued up?

FP – I don’t consider it is country-specific, not in the slightest; it’s just that the unequal socio-economic landscape transforms market prizes into everyday gadget or object of desire, depending of the area the finger points at in the map.

©Fernando Prats – ‘Imaginary drawings: Leila’ – SlowShutter, Iris Photo Suite, InstantSketch, Picfx

JC – What do you hope for in the iPhone 5?

FP – I’m hoping for a 10 Mbpx camera, a little lighter, with a larger screen within the same body, with a longer-lasting battery, and renewed features through iOS6. What I also would like is a substantial increase in storage space, the incorporation of optical zoom, and the increase in sensor size along with resolution increase.

©Fernando Prats – ‘Imaginary people: Alessandro – SlowShutter, Iris Photo Suite, Grungestastic, Snapseed

JC – What do you think of Joanne and theappwhisperer.com?

FP – I think it is a clearly expanding website, in which Joanne’s dedication shows and is noticed, fortunately.

©Fernando Prats – ‘Imaginary people – Eulalia’s boys’ – SlowShutter, Iris Photo Suite, ScratchCam, Snapseed

645PRO
Big Lens
Blur fx
Booster!
Camera+
CameraTan
Cropsuey
Decim8
dof
FluidFX
Hipstamatic
Image Blender
Instant 110
Interlacer
Iris Photo Suite
Layers
Lego Photo
Mattebox
MPro
Noise Master
Pixlormatic
ProCamera
Satromizer
ScratchCam
Snapseed
Squaready
Superimpose
TouchRetouch
Vintage Scene

©Fernando Prats – ‘Imaginary people – Rachel, and the crowd’ – SlowShutter, Iris Photo Suite, ScratchCam, PaintFX, Snapseed

Website: http://fernandoprats.com
Flickr: http://flickr.com/photos/fernandoprats
Instagram & Twitter: @fernandoprats

CV: http://fernandoprats.com/es/impressum/

TheAppWhisperer has always had a dual mission: to promote the most talented mobile artists of the day and to support ambitious, inquisitive viewers the world over.

As the years pass TheAppWhisperer has gained readers and viewers and found new venues for that exchange. All this work thrives with the support of our community.

Please consider making a donation to TheAppWhisperer as this New Year commences because your support helps protect our independence and it means we can keep delivering the promotion of mobile artists that’s open for everyone around the world.

Every contribution, however big or small, is so valuable for our future.

click here to help us