Mini Mobile Portfolio Review (MMPR) – Davide Capponi

‘Animals 2’ – ©Davide Capponi

9 December 2014

500-word Mini Mobile Portfolio Reviews (MMPR)

Davide Capponi – A set of 10 single images and a series of 10

The series of images that you have sent titled On the Fuzzy Side of the Street involve considerable post-production using a range of apps, and are heading towards Mobile Art rather than Mobile Photography. With the single images you also do a fair amount of post-production with apps, except in the image On Another Plan, which is the only black and white image. The series of images are all portrait format, so too the single images, with the exception of three using landscape format and a couple using square format.

If we start with the series of images first: you use street photography to shoot individuals and small groups, mostly in movement walking down a street but sometimes standing, often shot in the rain. The use of a slow shutter app to create blur is further softened by the use of apps to give the finished image the feel of a watercolour. For me, it feels as though they are more about the style of the app rather than the content of each image. After looking at a few of these, I feel that you could either take the work much further or strip it back. This relates to your question about competitions and their criteria; the work falls between two camps at this point and I think you need to make a firm decision about which direction you pursue. You could push the post-processing such that the original image recedes further and you concentrate on the colours and shapes to create far more abstract images; you could find a detail in one of the images and work more on one of the elements/textures in the frame or explore multi-layering. Or take some street shots (unprocessed) and pay attention to point of view, composition and tonal range/colour palette, in particular the placement of each element in the frame.

Many of the images in this series are too similar to each other and I am not sure what it is you are focusing on in each one. The perspective in most of these images is the same, looking down a street receding into the distance; this becomes predictable and it does not help with the pace or dynamics of the images when presented in sequence as a series. The black and white single image On Another Plan is intriguing as is the colour image On its Own, both of which have different points of interest; in the former, with the tonal range and texture of the foliage and the way it envelops the vehicle, in the latter, the use of colour and the way the frame is divided by the various elements.

Your use of apps that give a watercolour-like texture suggests an interest in the artistic use of paint and it could be an idea to get a sketchbook and start painting with watercolours from the original scene, or a photograph of a scene you like, and get a feel for the way watercolours work. This could give you ideas as to how to use the apps to create different textures and layers. Thanks to an artist friend of mine for his suggestions for some of the artists and art movements to look at with regard to your work.

Ways forward (associations and resonances include):

Watercolourists, especially J.M.W. Turner (http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/35/Rain_Steam_and_Speed_the_Great_Western_Railway.jpg)

Impressionist cityscape, e.g. Camille Pissarro (http://www.camille-pissarro.org/Boulevard-Montmartre;-Night-Effect-large.html)

Expressionist cityscape, e.g. Ernst Ludwig Kirchner (http://whitehotmagazine.com/articles/2008-ernst-ludwig-kirchner-moma/1656)

Street photography. For example, in-public website (http://www.in-public.com/photographers)

Harry Callahan. Look at composition; light and shade, line and geometry, and multiple exposure work. E.g. Multiple Exposure, Tree. (http://www.mutualart.com/Artwork/multiple-exposure–tree–chicago/2ADCD25420C3C84A)

Idris Khan: (http://fraenkelgallery.com/exhibitions/idris-khan)

(http://www.victoria-miro.com/artists/14-Idris-Khan/)

Dafna Talmour, Constructed Landscapes for bold use of space – positive or negative. (http://www.dafnatalmor.co.uk/photography.html)

Many thanks for sharing your work with us.

Miranda Gavin

@MirandaGavin

http://theroamingeye.wordpress.com

c/o TheAppWhisperer.com/Joanne Carter

[email protected]

Dear Joanne and Miranda,

Many thanks for this analysis of my works, that confirmed and rationalized my feelings about my creative direction.

The single works pinpointed by Miranda, (On a different plan and On its own) are the most recent in the set that I sent and they also mark my choice of concentrating on mobile photography rather that mobile art.

About the series, even though it was important for my own creative growth, I also felt it was an artistic cul-de-sac.

Joanne, I would be happy to see the review published, and I hope it will be useful for others as reading the one of Alon’s portfolio has been for me.

Thanks a lot to you both for your precious help!

Davide

‘All images shot with iPhone 5s, all post processed.

Series: On the fuzzy side of the street

Shot with Slow Shutter Cam

Post processed with Snapseed, Waterlogue, Decim8, Vintage Scene, DistressedFX, Filterstorm

Single images

Animals 1, Animals 2

Shot with Pro Camera

Post processed with Snapseed, Waterlogue, Decim8, Filterstorm, DistressedFX

Flight for two, Spirit in the sky, Unknown traveller, Walk

Shot with Slow Shutter Cam

Post processed with Snapseed, Waterlogue, Decim8, DistressedFX, Filterstorm

Hazy morning

Shot with Pro Camera

Post processed with Snapseed, Waterlogue, VintageScene, Filterstorm, Repix

On its own

Shot with Pro Camera

Post processed with Snapseed, Waterlogue, Mextures

On another plan

Shot with Pro Camera

Post processed with Snapseed, Tintype

The waiting

Shot with Pro Camera

Post processed with Snapseed, Glaze, Repix, Filterstorm

Question: in contest/exhibitions often the selection criteria either lean towards unprocessed images or very heavily post processing (more digital painting than photography) and I find myself sort of in between these two styles – should I choose one of the two sides ?’

‘Animals 3’ – ©Davide Capponi

‘Flight for Two’ – ©Davide Capponi

‘Hazy Morning’ – ©Davide Capponi

‘On another plan’ – ©Davide Capponi

‘On its own’ – ©Davide Capponi

‘On the fuzzy side of the street’ – ©Davide Capponi

‘On the fuzzy side of the street 2’ – ©Davide Capponi

‘On the fuzzy side of the street 3’ – ©Davide Capponi

‘On the fuzzy side of the street 4’ – ©Davide Capponi

‘On the fuzzy side of the street 5’ – ©Davide Capponi

‘On the fuzzy side of the street 6’ – ©Davide Capponi

”On the fuzzy side of the street 7′ – ©Davide Capponi

‘On the fuzzy side of the street 8’ – ©Davide Capponi

‘On the fuzzy side of the street 9’ – ©Davide Capponi

‘On the fuzzy side of the street 10’ – ©Davide Capponi

‘Spirit in the sky’ – ©Davide Capponi

‘The Waiting’ – ©Davide Capponi

‘Unknown Traveller’ – ©Davide Capponi

‘Walk’ – ©Davide Capponi