Visual Artist Rafael Mantesso Is First Photographer to Use Sony’s Newly Announced Xperia X Smartphone
Brazilian visual artist, Rafael Mantesso, has become the first photographer to use the newly announced Xperia X smartphone from Sony. Touring Barcelona with a team of adorable dogs, Rafael used Xperia X’s all new Predictive Hybrid Autofocus to capture a selection of quirky photos and then characterised them with his unique illustrative style.
Mantesso turned to art three years ago while going through a divorce. He found himself living alone in an empty house with white walls after his wife left. But it was Jimmy Choo, his French Bull Terrier who inspired him to start drawing again, turning his life around when the images went viral on Instagram.
Now, in a brand new challenge, Rafael has stepped out from the white walls and used Barcelona as his latest canvas, enlisting a few furry friends from dog fashion designers Brott Dogs to lend a helping paw along the way.
The team of dogs included:
• Nela, 7, Greyhound – Peaceful, loving and quiet
• Sopa, 5, Flat-Haired Retriever – Gentle and bubbly
• Joy, 5, (no-one quite knows) – Active and thoughtful
• Pato, 3, Scotty – Adventurous and really curious
• Compi, 3, Wire-Haired Dachshund – Excitable and mischievous
• Eddie, 1, Jack Russell Terrier – Cute and really intelligent
Image ©Rafael Mantesso
Image ©Rafael Mantesso
Rafael photographed the lively hounds using Xperia X’s all-new Predictive Hybrid Autofocus feature, which was developed in close collaboration with Sony’s αTM camera engineers. The camera let him select the dog on the screen and then predicted its movement, letting him capture in perfect focus, free from blur.
After photographing the dogs around the city, Rafael took the photos back to his studio and put his own unique twist on them. The dogs were shown feeding pigeons outside Sagrada Familia, working the bar in the Gothic Quarter and dreaming of bones in one of the city’s many tavernas.
Rafael said: “It can be extremely challenging capturing photos of one animal, let alone six, but I was really surprised at how easy it was to get great shots of the dogs, even as they wriggled about and refused to sit still! The autofocus on Xperia X anticipated their movement and meant the images always came out without any blur.”
Jun Makino, Senior Manager, Product Experience Marketing at Sony Mobile said “Rafael has such a unique and recognisable style, so it’s great to have him on board as the first ambassador for our new Xperia X series smartphones. His photos are a true testament to both his talent and the quality of the Xperia X camera technology. It was an absolute pleasure to work with him.”
Sony Mobile’s new devices, Xperia X, Xperia X Performance and Xperia XA will be available from Summer 2016.
Image ©Rafael Mantesso
Image ©Rafael Mantesso
Image ©Rafael Mantesso
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]
