Mobile Photography – A Picture’s Worth with Margherita Maniscalco
‘A Picture’s Worth‘… is where we ask mobile photographers that have created powerful mobile photography/art to explain the processes they took. This includes their initial thoughts as to what they wanted to create, why they wanted to create it, how they created it, including all apps used and what they wanted to convey. We also ask these incredible artists to explain their emotions and how the image projects those feelings. We have published a few A Picture’s Worth articles recently, if you have missed those – please go here.
In this A Picture’s Worth today we asked Margherita Maniscalco to tell us more about her image “Sguardi gemelli”. Maniscalco has detailed her thoughts below, we think you’ll find this invaluable…
“First of all thank you Joanne for your interest in my work. The story behind this image is quite simple and forms two parts, one static original, blended with my deep intuition.
The title of this image is in Italian: “Sguardi gemelli” (where “sguardi” means looks and “gemelli” means twins).
The meaning is like a joke of double entendre: twins in the sense of two and twins because one of the two photos was taken by my twin. In fact, this is a composition of two photographs: a self-portrait and a photograph that my twin brother (who works on the trains) sent to me about his working day.
I usually work only with my own photographs but this is an exception (or maybe this is the start of other possibilities of creating art).
Unlike at other times when I start from a very precise idea or a communicative or/and emotional specific intent (or when I create without knowing where I will arrive), this photograph comes from a simple and immediate intuition.
When I received this beautiful snowy photo taken of a running train by my brother, I immediately figured it. I blended it with a funny and quite absurd self-portrait that I took some days before. I’m accustomed to thinking of images as a result of double or multiple exposure.
I like the possibility to stratify images and realities. It’s like putting together different times and spaces, it is quite magical for me and reminds me of the oneiric world. Thinking by images is our first way of thinking, our “primordial” thinking. The words come after and sometimes not all. Maybe this particular way of thinking does not detail things as well as words, but actually communicates in a more complete and comprehensive way, in my opinion. I think this is one of the reasons why i love photography so much.
I used only two applications to create this image: Image blender to put together the two photos and VSCOcam to apply a filter to enhance both photo details and to “amalgamate” the tone of the two single images.
I love to play with photos, in my experience this aspect is so important, and this image is a simple result and example of that.
I think that’s all”.
“Sguardi gemelli” – ©Margherita Maniscalco
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Joanne Carter
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]
