Extension Of The I Interview With Dilshad Corelone aka Italian Brother – A New And Very Talented iPhone Photographer

Instagram: @italianbrother

Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/italianbrother/

Facebook-Fan-Page: https://www.facebook.com/DilshadCorleone

Tumblr: http://italianbrother.tumblr.com (work in progress, watch this space!)

About.me: http://about.me/italianbrother (coming up shortly)

© Dilshad Corleone – ‘Ain’t Nobody’s Business’ – Apps – Camera+, BigLens, Noir, VSCO Cam, Scratchcam, Phototoaster, PictureShow, Lo-mob, Qbro, a touch of Snapseed

Joanne – How did you get started in photography?

Dilshad – Well… The funny part is that I never owned a camera in my life… I played with my father’s polaroid when I was a child. However… Almost 10 years ago I bought my very first mobile phone with a Jurassic-low-resolution camera: a great toy that produced loads of quantity and very little quality (or maybe that was because of me), but I was hooked… It all changed when I got myself an iPhone! I have to say it is a complete solution: it snaps, it organizes and it post-processes! Brilliant! I have a professional photo-studio in my pocket! Still, I did not know how to properly channel all this power. One day, however, browsing the Internet I found an iPhoneography course, first of its kind in the UK: five weeks, once a week, three hour per session!! The Facilitator of the course, Richard (@rugfoot on instagram and is also a Contributor to theappwhisperer.com) provided us with great ideas and helped us explore what the iPhone and the apps could do! Wonderful! It’s five months from when I enrolled and since then it is like being on a mind-blowing-emotional-rollercoaster-ride every day!

© Dilshad Corleone – ‘The Italian Job’ – Noir, Scratchcam, Snapseed

Joanne – Who and what are your influences?

Dilshad – Thanks to Richard (the iPhoneography course facilitator), I came across Richard Koci Hernandez (@koci on instagram), (interviewed on theappwhisperer.com here), one of the greatest personalities that I have ever known, an incredible human being! I watched his video on Lynda.com, a true love letter to photography, and the only thing I wanted was to get to know the lad! I almost stalked him… lol.. I followed him on instagram, asked him friendship on Facebook… wrote him a never-ending email, tagged him on photos that I was taking… (my girlfriend was quite confused..) and, yes!!! He answered back, and not with an injunction!! I could not believe it!! Since then, we have spoken on Skype. I have learnt so much from him! Each time I take a photo I think and wonder what would he think… Thank you Koci!!

© Dilshad Corleone – ‘Walking Man’ – Native Camera. No edit, yes!

Joanne – What draws you to the subjects you seek?

Dilshad – It is really difficult to say… I don’t know, I feel it! I know that it is the right subject for me to photograph! Bresson, once said: “To take photographs means to recognize – simultaneously and within a fraction of a second – both the fact itself and the rigorous organization of visually perceived forms that give it meaning. It is putting one’s head, one’s eye and one’s heart on the same axis.” I would not know how to say it better!

© Dilshad Corleone – ‘Winter or Summer, rain or sun, hot or cold, I live and dream here’ – Snapseed, Scratchcam, Snapseed

Joanne – What is it about these subjects that you want to capture/communicate and ultimately convey in your images?

Dilshad – There is something peculiar about their expression, About their eyes, about their gestures… sometime is the loneliness that they convey, sometime is joy… again, there is something enigmatic about my subject that I am drawn to and that is exactly what I am trying to convey all the time …

© Dilshad Corleone – ‘I Have Many Stories to Tell You’ – Vintique, BlurFx, Scratchcam, Snapseed

Joanne – How did you ‘settle’ on this subject?

Dilshad – God! You really dig deep into this! Good! Because this is the first time that someone has made me think quite seriously about this, thank you! So, where were we? Ah, yes… how did I settle? I haven’t…. I keep changing, I keep experimenting and sometime I get it right and sometime… well… There is a lot of work in progress going on in my head… I don’t think I will ever settle, I keep exploring and trying and experimenting and I love this, I love the fact that I can change when I want, and that there is so much to learn!!

© Dilshad Corleone – ‘The Shining’ – Noir, Scratchcam, Snapseed

Joanne – Is there another are/subject that you would like to explore, if so, what and why?

Dilshad – I would love to get into portraitures, I really want to learn how to photograph one of those portraits that make you breathless! I walk on the streets and once in a while I see those really rugged, wrinkled, full-of-character faces, but when I photograph them I am never satisfied… I really want to become good at this! And also, artistic nudes would be something that I would like to try… there is still time.

© Dilshad Corleone – ‘Wake Up and Live’ – Snapseed, Noir, After Focus, BigLens, Phototoaster, Phototoaster (twice), Noise Master, Colorsplash (just to get a better Black and White), Snapseed

Joanne – Which photographers (not necessarily mobile photographers) do you most admire and why?

Dilshad – Well, Koci definitely! Bresson, Robert Frank, and also one that you haven’t mentioned: William Klein, who said something that to me means a lot and it aligns with how I look at photography… “I came from the outside, the rules of photography didn’t interest me… there were things you could do with a camera that you couldn’t do with any other medium… grain, contrast, blur, cock-eyed framing, eliminating or exaggerating grey tones and so on. I thought it would be good to show what’s possible, to say that this is as valid of a way of using the camera as conventional approaches.” W.K.

© Dilshad Corleone – ‘The Slap’ – Camera+, BigLens, BlurFx, Qbro, Photo Fixer, Scratchcam, Lo-mob, VSCO CAM, Snapseed

Joanne – Henri Cartier-Bresson is in many ways, the Godfather of street photography, even in the 1930’s he enjoyed using a small camera for discretion in order to capture people and tell a story – do you feel this way regarding mobile photography?

Dilshad – Yes! I completely agree! I would never be able to do what I do if I were to go out with a huge camera! The iPhone allows me to go in stealth mode (not always…), to capture real candid movements, expressions, gestures and so much more! I remember once standing at a bus stop, I saw a girl shouting and then slapping her “friend”, I was there… she did not notice anything..

© Dilshad Corleone – ‘Il Duce’ – Noir, After Focus, RetroCamera, Snapseed

Joanne – Tell us about your photographic technique – do you rely on intuition or do you believe in a more formal/trained approach?

Dilshad – Ah! I am all about instinct and intuition… I see, I shoot! I don’t think, don’t plan a lot! Not that I am against a more formal approach. The fact is I never had any real training… I remember once talking to a friend of mine, who told me that my photos were always following the rule of thirds.. I thanked him and quickly changed topic… as soon as he left I went on wiki to look at what was he talking about… Having said this, I am going to sign up to more courses, especially to the Mobile Photo Workshop With Anton Kawasaki and Sion Fullana, thank you theappwhisperer.com, for letting me known about this!!!

Going back to my technique, I walk and when I see something that catches my eye, I shoot. If I miss, I follow and overtake my subject and then position myself and I try again… Simples…

© Dilshad Corleone – ‘She’s the Queen’ – Hipstamatic: John’s S Lens, BlackKeys SuperGrain Film, Flash Off; BigLens, PhotoToaster, Snapseed

Joanne – How has your photography evolved?

Dilshad – I don’t know, you tell me? It keeps evolving, I keep evolving… Black and white was always very hard for me… I was not able to capture something that looked good in B&W, and now I love it… I will be going back to colors for a little while; I have some ideas that I want to explore. What I really want to try to achieve is going completely natural: shoot, crop, post… no edits.. But there is a lot of work ahead that I have to undertake… I have to learn the secrets of composition, of storytelling and I am working on it! Some great photographers find their backgrounds first, be it a building, a landmark or something that has captured their attention, they also are very careful about the light… and then they wait for the right subject to pass by… I, to the contrary, see them in the middle of the crowd, I don’t have or look for a background setting, I see my moving, sitting, sleeping subjects and I take my iPhone out and shoot… But sometime I lose, or have to lose the background… I would love to get everything in one place! We shall reanalyze this in the next interview…

© Dilshad Corleone – ‘Oh My God!’ – Camera+, Scratchcam, Qbro, BlurFX, Noir, Phototoaster, Noise Master, Snapseed

JC – Many of the great photographers, Jacques Henri Lartigue, Robert Frank, Henri Cartier Bresson described only shooting images for “themselves”do you see this attitude with mobile photographers?

Dilshad – I differ on this. If they did it for themselves, and only for themselves… then why do we have so many of those photographs out? Yes, you do it for yourself first, but then one needs to be praised… or even constructively criticized… so that one can better oneself… I shoot and I think about my followers of instagram… I am thinking about this interview and wonder what people will think.. I love when I can show something that I love and I always hope that it will be liked by others too… I have an exhibition starting soon and I am so excited… well there you go.. we are vain and we need praises…

© Dilshad Corleone – ‘I Have a Knife in My Pocket’ – Camera+, BigLens, Scratchcam, Phototoaster, Snapseed

Joanne – Do you take risks with photographs, push boundaries? If yes, please give examples, if no, why not, would you like to?

Dilshad – Ah!! I always say that one day I will end up badly… but that day hasn’t arrived yet and I live to die another day… I’m such a drama queen, right? But yes, I‘ve ended up in trouble.. The Naples’s photo-shoot was one of those instants. It was this summer, after almost two weeks that I wasn’t doing any proper photo-shooting I decided to go to Naples for a day (I was staying at my friend’s house for the holiday, an hour away from there). Once there, I started, as my usual to walk and warm up, to feel the soul of the city, breath and taste the atmosphere. Just a few meters away from the train station, this lovely old man tried to sell me a dodgy phone… I was fascinated, for some strange reason, with his face! After kindly declining his generous business proposal…erm not, I walk away and position myself quite far away from him, and start snapping, at one point he notices me, and without waiting a second, he starts walking towards me and shouts and screams in a Neapolitan dialect, all good until then.. Soon after he pulls a knife… I run if there was no tomorrow, although I was very tempted to stop for a second and capture him again with the knife in his hand… there are many more stories like this one, but I shall leave it for the next time…

© Dilshad Corleone – ‘London Noir. Noir, Scratchcam, Lo-mob, Snapseed

Joanne – What is your favorite picture, of your own and why?

Dilshad – London Noir! I love it! So perfect, such a lucky and fantastic capture! I saw this young chap with a bowler hat, brilliant, but he was giving me his back, I zoom with my feet, closer and closer, he snaps and look behind him, not at me. I was just a meter or even less away and then, oh my, oh my, then a bus stops and inside, there was another chap, a lot older, reading a news paper and a fantastic hat. Boom! Shot, I felt ecstatic!!! Absolutely priceless!

© Dilshad Corleone – ‘The Bag’ – BigLens, Scratchcam, Noir, Lo-mob, Snapseed

Joanne – Do you get emotionally involved with your photography?

Dilshad – God Yes! Shortest answer ever… (maybe not). I get goose-bumps all the time!! I can’t stop thinking about it. I try to imagine their stories, think about their lifestyles… etc.. etc.. (that wasn’t a too long answer, was it now?)

© Dilshad Corleone – ‘Sleek’ – Camera+, Biglens, Scratchcam, Blender, VSCO CAM, Snapseed

Joanne – Does your life become entwined with your subjects?

Dilshad – What do you think?

© Dilshad Corleone – ‘Do You See That Car Park?’ – Camera+, BigLens, Phototoaster, Scratchcam, Lo-mob, VSCO CAM, Snapseed

Joanne – Do you have a special post-processing style?

Dilshad – I am very heavy handed with the use of my apps… Blurs and textures, overworked backgrounds, black and white, faded… Vintage, old, noir used and abused photos! I usually start with Camera+! And I end with Snapseed in the middle anything from BigLens, Scratchcam, After Focus, to Lo-mob, Qbro and PhotoToaster could drop in to say hello and help me out.

© Dilshad Corleone – ‘Pulcinella’ – Noir, BigLens, Scratchcam, Snapseed

Joanne – Do you have any tips for processing?

Dilshad – Think what you want to achieve and stay on your plan! Get to know and learn your apps! And don’t app-it too much.. that’s my goal!

© Dilshad Corleone – ‘Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down)’ – Camera+, Colorsplash, BigLens, Phototoaster, Scratchcam, Snapseed

JC – Do you have a digital workflow system to sort your images, if so what is it?

Dilshad – Once taken the photograph I transfer everything into my iPad. And then dived all the photos in the correct folders. Once organized, I start working on it. I just cannot stop, I feel like as if I were a child in a candy shop and with the storekeeper not there… I keep apping and apping… I have to force myself to stop!

© Dilshad Corleone – ‘Night at the Cemetery’ – Snapseed, After Focus, Noir, VSCO CAM, Scratchcam, Noise Master

Joanne – How do you think photography has changed over the years?

Dilshad – Well, Everyone now can go out and take photographs, one has so many options, and it is incredible how easy it is to start! The technology available is just mind-blowing! The iPhone has dramatically changed how you do things, how you can do things! We have so much more power in our hand, and it will get only better! Scary!

© Dilshad Corleone – ‘Breath of Fresh Air’. Snapseed, After Focus, Qbro, Noise Master, Noir

Joanne – As a mobile photographer you’re at the cutting edge of technology, do you ever hanker for the 35mm film days?

Dilshad – I am a nostalgic, quite old-style at heart… had I ever had a 35mm, I would have definitely hankered for one now…

© Dilshad Corleone – ‘I Swear on My Grandfather’s Soul’ – Camera+, BigLens, Phototoaster, Phototoaster (twice), VSCO CAM, Qbro, Lo-mob, Snapseed

Camera+
BigLens
PhotoToaster
VSCO CAM
Qbro
Lo-Mob
Snapseed
Noir Photo
Noise Master
ScratchCam
After Focus
Blur FX
Hipstamatic
Retro Camera
Photo Fixer
ColorSplash
Vintique
PictureShow