Jun Yamaguchi – Extension of the I Mobile Photography Interview With A Very Creative Artist

© Jun Yamaguchi

© Jun Yamaguchi – “Man In Desert” – Apps Used: Brushes, PhotoForge2, and ScratchCam FX

Joanne – How did you get started in photography?

Jun – I had never had an interest in photography for a long time, but about six years ago, suddenly one day, I wanted to record things around me with a camera, I bought a compact digital camera and began to take pictures. And in 2010, suddenly again, I wanted to paint this time. I used to draw pictures as a child, but had not done it from that time. Then I knew the way how to paint with my iPod Touch 3 I had already had, practiced for a couple of months and joined Flickr. At this time I joined in Flickr as an iPhone painter, in 2011 I bought a new iPod touch 4 with camera and began with a photo paint style.

© Jun Yamaguchi – “Stepping Out” – Apps Used: Brushes, PhotoForge2, PictureShow, ScratchCam FX, and DXP

Joanne – Who and what are your influences?

Jun – I have been influenced by many photographers, painters, movie directors, writers, poets, musicians, e.g., Nicholas de Steal, Edward Hopper, Piet Mondrian, Eugene Atget, Saul Leiter, Jean-Luc Godard, John Cassavetes, Federico Felini, Daniel Schmid, Luis Bunuel, Yasujiro Ozu, Wolfgang von Goethe, Soseki Natsume, Emily Dickinson, Neil Young, Sly Stone, Kevin Ayers, Pat Metheny etc. I especially love music and movies very much, I am inspired strongly by them.

© Jun Yamaguchi – “Back To The Good Future Days” – Apps Used: Brushes, PhotoForge2, PictureShow, ScratchCam FX, DXP and Snapseed

Joanne – What draws you to the subjects you seek?

Jun – My life itself.

© Jun Yamaguchi – “Reading On The Beach” – Apps Used: Brushes, PhotoForge2, and, ScratchCam FX

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

Jun – It is about the end of duality, or how our social life and system are just an illusion and releasing from them.

© Jun Yamaguchi – “Back Of Old Man” – Apps Used: Brushes, PhotoForge2, and ScratchCam FX

Joanne – How did you settle on this subject?

Jun – I have not been able to become familiar with human life in general from my childhood, I dropped out from various things in my life, and I therefore could not think deeply about it.

© Jun Yamaguchi – “Rain In The Small Town” – Apps Used: Brushes, PhotoForge2, Pixlr-o-matic, and ScratchCam FX

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

Jun – Portrait. I had been afraid of humans for a long time, but the situation has been changing recently. There was a big change in and out me.

© Jun Yamaguchi – “Tired” – Apps Used: Brushes, PhotoForge2, and ScratchCam FX

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

Jun –

Eugene Atget – I love his perfect composition and quietness, and also sympathize with the unique and complex emotions coming through his photos.

Vivian Maier – I love her self-portraits. I have never seen such sad portraits.

JQ Gaines – I believe that her works are supreme in mobile photography, her portraits are especially fabulous among all her work. I did not liked portrait photography very much, but seeing her work, I changed my mind.

Curt Bianchi – He is a great photographer using both iPhone and DSLR. I love his exact framing, signature tone, sense of humor and intimate attachment to his subjects, and also feel something common between his work and mine.

© Jun Yamaguchi – “Double Man” – Apps Used: Brushes, PhotoForge2, Pixlr-o-matic, ScratchCam FX, and DXP

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?

Jun – Yes. His distinct ways were timeless and universal, even if a mobile photographer doesn’t know his works and ways, the photographer has been under his influence in one way or another.

© Jun Yamaguchi – “Square With The Statue” – Apps Used: Brushes, PhotoForge2, and ScratchCam FX

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

Jun – Intuition! I have never received art education, in fact know nothing about the traditional techniques of photography.

© Jun Yamaguchi – “Jail To Jail” – Apps Used: Brushes, PhotoForge2, and ScratchCam FX

Joanne – How has your photography evolved?

Jun – With my intuition and getting tired of my own former style.

© Jun Yamaguchi -“Hair Salon” – Apps Used: Brushes, PhotoForge2, Pixlr-o-matic and ScratchCam FX

Joanne – 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?

Jun – Half yes and half no.

© Jun Yamaguchi – “Stillness” – Apps Used: Brushes, PhotoForge2 and ScratchCam FX

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

Jun – Yes. I want to unite various styles, such as photography, painting, drawing, design etc and make my distinct style. And actually, I have been carrying it out.

© Jun Yamaguchi – “Double Man 2” – Apps Used: Brushes, PhotoForge2, and Pixlr-o-matic

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

Jun – love all my work and also don’t like it all. I feel a strong attachment to all my work, at the same time I tend to find what parts I don’t like or didn’t go well.

© Jun Yamaguchi – “East and West” – Apps Used: Brushes, PhotoForge2, and ScratchCam FX

Joanne – Do you get emotionally involved with your photography?

Jun – Partly yes.

© Jun Yamaguchi – “Percolator and Reading Man” – Apps Used: Brushes, PhotoForge2, and ScratchCam FX

Joanne – Does your life become entwined with your subjects?

Jun – Surely!

© Jun Yamaguchi – “Farewell To The City” – Apps Used: Brushes, PhotoForge2, Pixlr-o-matic, ScratchCam FX, and DXP

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

Jun – My style is “photo painting”, so firstly I paint or draw over the photo I took.

© Jun Yamaguchi – “She Is Transparent” – Apps Used: Brushes, PhotoForge2, and PictureShow

Joanne – Do you have any tips for post-processing?

Jun – Yes, I have, but I would rather not say about those, sorry…

© Jun Yamaguchi – “Cover Girl” – Apps Used: Brushes, PhotoForge2, and ScratchCam FX

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

Jun – I don’t have such a system.

© Jun Yamaguchi – “Permanent Calm” – Apps Used: Brushes, PhotoForge2, Pixlr-o-matic, and ScratchCam FX

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

Jun – I think that the equipment for photography have only changed, the basics of photography itself has not changed.

© Jun Yamaguchi – “Upstairs” – Apps Used: Brushes, PhotoForge2, and Pixlr-o-matic

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

Jun – Yes! I basically don’t like digital art (photography, movie, music, painting, illustration etc). But mobile art is so cheap but has kind of a good old mood and analog feel, I love it.

© Jun Yamaguchi – “Time For A Book” – Apps Used: Brushes, PhotoForge2, and ScratchCam FX

Brushes
PhotoForge2
ScratchCam FX
PictureShow
DXP
Pixlr-o-matic