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A Day In The Life Of Kimberly Post Rowe aka @iPhotoArtist – The Most Incredible Botanical Mobile Photographer

Welcome to our very exciting column on theappwhisperer.com. This section entitled ‘A day in the life of …’ and this is where we take a look at some hugely influential, interesting and accomplished individuals in the mobile photography world. People that we think you will love to learn more about.

This is our sixty sixth installment of the series, if you have missed our previous interviews, please go here. Today, we are featuring Kimberly Post Rowe also known as @iPhotoArtist who currently lives in Maine, USA. Kimberly holds a BFA in Fine Art Photography and MEd, and is passionate about teaching and learning. Although she is a working artist, her “real” job is trying to make a difference in higher education. Kimberly is also a published author, does occasional commissioned work and portraiture, teaches yoga and piano, and runs a small non-profit. Kimberly is also Judging the Plants & Flowers category of the Mobile Photography Awards this year, of which we’re Media Partners.

Kimberly’s mobile photography of flowers and plants were recently featured as part of a massive 32 image window based installation at the Los Angeles Mobile Arts Festival. She has also exhibited at the Vermont Photo Space Gallery, the Orange County Center for Contemporary Art, the Plymouth Center for the Arts, the Arty Gallery in Los Angeles, and Gallery 5 in Lewiston, Maine. A solo exhibition of her botanical iPhoneography took place in August at Art House in Portland, Maine.

Read more about Kimberly in the following interview. You can find all the links to the apps mentioned at the end of this article.

(If you would like to be interviewed for our new ‘A day in the life of …’ section, just send an email to [email protected], and we’ll get it set up.)

 

Kimberly Post Rowe

photographer

© Kimberly Post Rowe

 

http://eyepholio.com
Twitter

 

First Things First

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© Kimberly Post Rowe – ‘beyond structure’ – Apps – native camera, Laminar, PhotoCopier

 

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

Kimberly – Unless it is summer, I start the day like many moms, staggering out of bed to feed my two children, pack their lunches, and seeing them off to school. Then I usually meditate for about ½ hour, then coffee, email, a quick pass through IPA, Flickr, twitter, Facebook, and as many blogs as I can squeeze in, before getting myself ready and off to work.

Magic Hour

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© Kimberly Post Rowe – ‘beyond the blooming’ – Apps – Hipstamatic, Laminar, PhotoCopier

 

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

Kimberly – Typically no. My creativity doesn’t kick in until after lunch. Usually I try to get as much of the mundane as I can out of the way so as my day progresses, I can enjoy it more. I love taking photos in the late afternoon.

Photographer vs Mobile Photographer

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© Kimberly Post Rowe – ‘calla alone’ – native camera, Laminar

 

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

Kimberly – Once I discovered that I could take a raw image from start to its processed conclusion in one device, from any location, I was hooked. I’ve always been a photo manipulator, whether in the darkroom or in Photoshop, so the transition was very easy for me, and quite liberating.

New Apps

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© Kimberly Post Rowe – ‘clinging to summer’ – native camera, Laminar

 

Joanne – Do you like to download new apps regularly?

Kimberly – Unfortunately, yes. I have a gazillion I’ve never even opened. I know, pathetic. I’m like a raven…I’m attracted to shiny things but really only collect them…I don’t actually use them. (I’m slightly exaggerating…)

Updates

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© Kimberly Post Rowe – ‘conversation’ – native camera, TouchReTouch, Laminar

 

Joanne – How often do you update your existing apps?

Kimberly – I try to update regularly, but don’t do it to my iPad as frequently as my iPhone.

Location, Location, Location

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© Kimberly Post Rowe – ‘curl’ – native camera, Laminar, Photocopier

 

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

Kimberly – My garden. 🙂 Winter is really tough creatively for me. Even though I love Maine, I don’t think the cold, dead winters suit me.

Tools Of The Trade

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© Kimberly Post Rowe – ‘dancer’ – native camera, Laminar

 

Joanne – 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?

Kimberly – Nope! Had to google that actually.

Favorite Apps

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© Kimberly Post Rowe – ‘dying echinacea’ – native camera, Laminar

 

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

Kimberly – Laminar (had to give up my beloved Iris due to resolution issues), Hipstamatic, Superimpose, Photocopier, Retouch, Vintage, FilmLab, Lo-Mob, Snapseed…I could go on…

Joanne – About Iris Photo Suite, I’ve spoken with the developer about the issues, he has not been well for some time but now says ‘they are back on track’ and they should have a major update coming out shortly. He also went on to say, ‘I am aware of the issues, and we would have the update that fixes the bugs as well as some much need refresh to all our line up shortly. We are still working on the line up, but Iris is being ported with the Laminar engine, which would bring with it support for resolution equivalent to what we offer in Laminar. Plus another major release to complement the same’. So stand by for that!

Sharing

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© Kimberly Post Rowe – ‘found flat’ – native camera, Laminar

 

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

Kimberly – I’ve found that strictly adhering to a sharing flow keeps me from feeling too overwhelmed. I may get behind but I always do the same thing. As soon as an image is complete, I blog it on tumblr. (That’s how I keep track of everything.) Then when I have time, I upload (never more than 5 at a time) to Flickr. I use Flickr as my backup storage, so I make sure everything worth saving eventually makes it there. I post links of my favorites on Flickr to Facebook and Pinterest.
Then I post my favorites on IPA.

Frequency

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© Kimberly Post Rowe – ‘golden’ – native camera, Laminar

 

Joanne – Do you take photographs with your iPhone everyday?

Kimberly – No…but I try to. That was the primary reason why I started a 366 project this year. But some days my creative juices are sucked up by other things. I guess that’s just the way it goes.

Favorite Subjects

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© Kimberly Post Rowe – ‘I pursued nature to her hiding places’ – native camera, Laminar, VintageScene

 

Joanne – What are your favorite subjects to photograph?

Kimberly – Botanical specimens in all stages of living and dying.

Teaching

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© Kimberly Post Rowe – ‘magic trio’ – native camera, TouchRetouch, Laminar

 

Joanne – How did the teaching side come along?

Kimberly – I’ve worked in education for most of my adult life. I’m a teacher by nature.

Top Five Tips

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© Kimberly Post Rowe – ‘milkweed pod’ – native camera, Laminar

 

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

Kimberly – 1. Take lots of shots of your subject. They’re free and you’d hate to sit down to app and realize you didn’t have a shot you were happy with. 2. Delete! Get rid of all the crap. 3. If you’ve tweaked an image a little and you’re happy with it, LEAVE IT ALONE! Over-apping is a common mistake. Sometimes simple is best. 4. Give yourself time to get to know an app. Watch youtube tutorials if you need to. There’s nothing wrong with RTFM. 5. Share! There are so many great iphoneographers out there doing tremendous things. Get into the fray and be prepared to be inspired.

Editing

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© Kimberly Post Rowe – ‘multitudes’ – native camera, Laminar

 

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

Kimberly – I primarily edit on my iPad because my eyes suddenly decided they were aging. I never edit on a laptop. iOS only!!

Videography

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© Kimberly Post Rowe – ‘nature alone is antique and the oldest is a mushroom’ – native camera, Laminar

 

Joanne – Do you enjoy videography with your iPhone?

Kimberly – Not yet…but it’s an area on my list to explore.

The Future Of Mobile Photography

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© Kimberly Post Rowe – ‘orchid’ – native camera, Laminar

 

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

Kimberly – I see it as becoming less about the iPhone and more about the unique qualities of the operating system. The social media aspect has pushed the medium so quickly that an immense body of work now exists that is strikingly different from photography. I can’t claim to know the future, but I do see that because of these two things, iphoneography (or whatever it ends up being called) is now an established art genre.

Popularity

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© Kimberly Post Rowe – ‘platanus occidentalis’ – native camera, Iris

 

Joanne – What do you think is the most popular area of iPhoneography?

Kimberly – I used to think street was, but I’m seeing more and more collage work out there…perhaps that’s the most rapidly-growing area, not necessarily the most popular.

Worldwide Phenomena?

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© Kimberly Post Rowe – ‘revealed’ – native camera, Laminar, PhotoCopier

 

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

Kimberly – It seemed that early on Spain and Singapore had a lot of ground-breaking artists, but now I think the playing field has been broadened to include most of the developed world.

iPhone 5

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© Kimberly Post Rowe – ‘seedhead’ – native camera, TouchRetouch, Laminar

 

Joanne – How are you finding the iPhone 5, is it everything you hoped it would be?

Kimberly – I love my iPhone 5! First of all, it is lighter and thinner and there’s more usable screen space…which makes it very easy to hold and work with. I love the back of it (I got a black one) but I don’t get to enjoy it much because I do use a case. Ah well. The battery life does seem slightly improved but not as much as I hoped for. The new lightning connector is very cool, although I hated spending the extra money to buy an extra. I have not had any issues with the flare that some have, so I am quite happy with the camera and it’s mystical sapphire thingy. All in all, the 5 is a WIN in my book.

TheAppWhisperer.com

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© Kimberly Post Rowe – ‘tomatillo remix’ – native camera, Retouch, Laminar, VintageScene

 

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

Kimberly – Well I’ve never met Joanne but I love her icon and she must be very industrious, since theappwhisperer.com is chock-full of reviews, tutorials, and more. I really love reading about other folks’ processes in particular.

Links To All Apps Used And Mentioned In This Interview

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© Kimberly Post Rowe – ‘umbels’ – native camera, Laminar

 

 

Laminar

PhotoCopier

TouchRetouch

Vintage Scene

Iris Photo Suite

Hipstamatic

Superimpose

Film Lab

Lo-Mob

Snapseed

 

NB: All images were shot with the iPhone 4s and processed on the iPad 2 except for “found flat” and “magic trio,” which were both shot with the iPhone 5.

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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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