Mobile Photography Interview – A Day In The Life Of Daniele Martire – A Fabulous App Addicted Creative!

‘Me’ – ©Daniele Martire

Flickr link

‘Requiem’ – ©Daniele Martire – Apps used – Phoster, KitCam, Photowizard, Lenslight

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

My weekdays usually start at 7am, when I sleeperly wake up to go to work through the subway and finally come back home late evening. Therefore, most of my days are usually spent in the darkness of commuting or artificial lights of the office, without having the pleasure to catch the sun’s rays.

‘Jeremy’ – ©Daniele Martire – Apps Used – Decim8, Stickr, Photowizard

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

Due to my work, is sort of impossible for me to get up earlier and have a walk to get some nice pictures, also because I would not catch any light through my lens. But, i can still make some iphoneography; most of my latest pictures are taken during commuting times (strawberry milk series) or during my business/personal trips.

I still use the weekend days to choose and manipulate the shots i’ve taken during the working days, usually in a park relaxing under the sun listening to music, from which most of my pictures titles came from.

At least, these few moments are the ones when I can truly enjoy this nice spring weather and my passion for photography.

‘The cold lights of morning’ – ©Daniele Martire – Apps used – Slowshutter, Tangent, Snapseed

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

My love for arts began early in my high school days, while playing music and making web design for passion. During the university I amused myself in concert photography, experimenting with my very first film camera (Zenit) and toy cameras (Holga, Actionsampler) as well. Then, one lucky day I purchased an iphone 3GS, attracted by its UI design and low-res photography skills.

By now, my reflex has more and more been forgotten. The fact that i could modify my pictures in a creative way (Lomography alike), without the need to be sit in front of a laptop and its light weight compared to my reflex, were the features that brought me to mobile photography. Today, my iPhone is my main photography device.

‘Pray for Japan’ – ©Daniele Martire – Apps used – PictureShow, Colorblast, Iris, Spookypic

Do you like to download new mobile photography and/or art apps regularly?

I am what you can call an “app addicted”: each day I follow iphoneography blogs to learn about new design and photography apps. I     also get updated on discounting / free apps news, to quickly download,them before they get back to paid again. This is why my idevices are quite     full-blown of applications, which, most of them are left “just in case”. In the end I have very few favourites apps which I strongly use most of the     time and with them only I try to express all my needs and creativity.

‘The longest mile’ – ©Daniele Martire – Apps used – VSCO cam, Mextures, Titlefx

What is your preferred platform, Apple iOS, Android, Windows?

Since I purchased an iPhone 3GS in 2010, my most used platform has been Apple iOS, currently owning an iPhone 5 and iPad mini 2. These are also overruling my photography habits, since my reflex is left unused, just for video shooting.

‘Stockholm’ – ©Daniele Martire – Apps used – VSCOcam, Fragment

Would you consider changing platforms and why?

I have already tried many of the platforms available in the market, but I can truly state that the one which really suit my photography needs the best is iOS. Android and Windows mobile platform and device are not that responsive, simple and “manipulation friendly”. It’s not just a matter of lens/sensor quality.

‘I’m an English man in New York’ – ©Daniele Martire – Apps Used – Pictureshow, Photowizard

How often do you update your existing apps?

Due to my “addicted app-ster” attitude, my apps are being updated as soon as a new version come out, but only if that version is really an improvement and will not over right some of the great features already available.

‘Apologies – end’ – ©Daniele Martire – Apps used – Phoster, Image Blender, Lenslight, Lightingcam, mextures

What are your favourite photography apps and why, what features do you look for in a new photo app?

My most used apps are Decim8 (cyberpunk de-structuring, mainly used in my “le valse d’Amelie” photo set), Photowizard (for photo tuning and precise masking purposes), Handyphoto (for re-touching needs), Artsudio (for painting needs), Phoster / Tangent / Fragment/ Percolator / TitleFx (for typography and design) and finally VSCOCAM (for realistic filters). I’d like also to mention Tales of Us, which I used to get very realistic Lomo multiple exposures shots. Even if these are my most used apps, I do also make use of totally different apps dedicated for single pictures/design. I love to experiment and try different apps features configuration before getting to the final result.

‘Flick ering’ – ©Daniele Martire – Apps used – Decim8, Snapseed, idesign

Where’s your favorite place in the world for a shoot and why?

I don’t have a favorite spot for shooting pictures. I am quite attracted by urban places therefore, personally I believe that every place where there are living beings and design inputs is the best place to shoot pictures.

Further personal source of inspirations are the Cyberpunk movement, David Lynch, the Pop Art, Murakami Haruki’s books, visual impulses from the Asian cultures and the music I love the most.

‘Macroonde’ – ©Daniele Martire – Apps used – Tangent, Snapseed, Pixlrexpress+

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

All of my iphoneographies are being uploaded on Flickr (@MD_photography), Eyeem (@mdphotography) and, recently, on Instagram (@md_photographyit) as well.

Eyeem, especially, is the one I like the most: it’s a great source of inspiration since most of the pictures/design are truly amazing, quality and emotionally wise. Their application is easy and quick, as well.

‘duality’ – ©Daniele Martire – Apps used – Image Blender, Photowizard, retrocamera

Do you use your mobile phone everyday to take images?

Yes. It’s indeed my favourite photography device which, for obvious reasons, I now carry with me all the time.

‘Scoria n.4’ – ©Daniele Martire – Apps used – Percolator, wordphoto, photowizard, pictureshow

Do you like to use external hardware products with your mobile device for image and video capturing, such as lenses, tripods, external storage and battery packs? Please elaborate as much as possible.

My main concern with my iPhone is the low duration of its battery, this is the reason why I always bring with me a really nice (and inexpensive) battery cover, to charge it on the go in any situation, without spoiling the mobile capability of my iPhone. I also own an 3-1 Olloclip lens which I always have in my pocket whenever I am traveling. I really love its portability and easy to use approach; the fisheye lens, and so its quality, is the one I appreciate the most during my travels, letting me take great angle pictures without carrying around my heavy reflex.

‘Apologies – schism’ – ©Daniele Martire – Apps used – Phoster, Image Blender, lenslight, lightingcam, mextures

Do you edit images on your mobile devices or do you prefer to use a desktop or laptop computer?

The great thing of owing such powerful mobile devices, nowadays, means that you can manipulate any picture/video on-the-go without the needs of desktop/laptop computer. In my case, since most of my day is spent at my workplace, the possibility to create anything directly on my iPhone or iPad, even during commuting time, is the reason why I chose to switch on mobile photography.

‘Pure morning’ – ©Daniele Martire – Apps used – Tangent, Snapseed, Pixlrexpress+

Where do you envisage your mobile photography passion will take you? Have you been involved with exhibitions etc? Please elaborate if you can.

Photography and Design are my passions, not a work. I never raised any money from them, since they have a much more idealistic and complicate goal: my need to express myself, my thoughts and emotions. During my “photographic” life, i’ve been involved in some exhibitions in my country and worldwide, and been featured in some books and blogs, as well.

‘Lives changed forever’ – ©Daniele Martire – Apps used – easytitler, photowizard, pictureshow

Do you also enjoy shooting videos with your mobile phone? If so, what do you do with them? Have you considered uploading them to our Mobile Movies Flickr group?

This is one of the things I still demand to my reflex, which I mainly use for shooting videos. Personally I still don’t like the quality (e.g. stabilizer) of video shoot through the mobile cameras, but I use my iPad mini 2 to manipulate them.

‘Timeline 15.04’ – ©Daniele Martire – Apps used – Decim8, Snapseed, Artrage, Image Blender

Where do you see the future of mobile photography?

Mobile devices nowadays are easy to access to (and hopefully they will be much more “low-cost” in the future) therefore virtually anyone is already taking part to the mobile photography revolution, which, indeed, brought to a whole different perspective of freedom. This is having artistic, but also social consequences. Arts can be processed anywhere and anytime. We have already seen how much these devices have already changed the whole art and entertainment world (e.g. movies and photo reportage entirely shot through mobile devices). But changes are in the way we perceive sociality, as well: far away problems are now everyone concerns. Mobile photography is and will be the way everyone will show out their full freedom of creativity and expression to the world, influencing and shortening distances.

‘Meredith’ – ©Daniele Martire – Apps Used – VSCO Cam, Mextures, Titlefx

What do you think is the most popular area of mobile photography?

I don’t think there is a most popular area for mobile photography. Mobile devices are, perhaps, right in the hands of everyone right now, so anyone makes a huge amount of mobile pictures. Talking about quality, I believe that the most amazing mobile design and photography came from North America, Japan, South Korea and, in general, central Europe.

‘Scoria n.1’ – ©Daniele Martire – Apps used – Easytitler, Photowizard, Pictureshow

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

This is not a country specific phenomenon but a worldwide one. There is already a vast community of mobile photographer / video maker which belongs the whole world. Of course these movement where first tightly connected to more open minded societies, since iphoneography was yet a “difficult to label” kind of photography. But things are changing now.

‘In dreams begin responsibilities’ – ©Daniele Martire – Apps used – Typedrawing, Picfx

If you could select a specification for a mobile smartphone, what features would you select, photographically speaking?

I would surely go for a longer battery life and, also, the possibility to have an interchangeable lens system, already implemented in the mobile device design.

‘We don’t forget that time’ – ©Daniele Martire – Apps used – Easytitler, Photowizard, Pictureshow, idesign

What do you think of Joanne and TheAppWhisperer.com?

TheAppWhisperer is a quality huge source of inspiration, great review and app tips, one of the best iphoneography website one can ever found. This is even more amplified by the passion and professionalism with which Joanne carry on all of that! Don’t know her in person, but I do really hope we could collaborate somewhere in the future.

‘When the leeve breaks’ – ©Daniele Martire – Apps used – Phoster, Kitcam, Photowizard, Lenslight, Wowfx

Phoster

KitCam

Photowizard

Lenslight

SlowShutter

Tangent

Snapseed

PictureShow

Colorblast

Iris

Spookypic

VSCOcam

Fragment

Image Blender

LightingCam

Mextures

Decim8

Pixlrexpress

Retrocamera

Percolator

WordFoto

Titlefx

Typedrawing

Easytitler

idesign

wowfx