Instagram TAKEOVER,  News

Mobile Photography – Instagram TAKEOVER with @iphoneartgirl Meri Walker and @dleibo – David Leibowitz – Day 7 the story so far…

Day 7 of our Instagram TAKEOVER with @iphoneartgirl – Meri Walker and @dleibo – David Leibowitz was as inspiring as ever, not least because on this particular day @iphoneartgirl featured a mobile photographer who I have personally admired for a long time, @olddog13 – Susan Rennie. I admire her so much in fact, that during my lecture at the Museum of Art in Seoul, South Korea in 2015, I screened a video I had curated of her cafe portraits to the live professional audience.

Prior to my presentation in Seoul, I asked Rennie for more information, her behind the scenes ethos of this portrayal series. I was inspired by Rennie’s critical approach, none of the models are aware that she is capturing their photographs, seizing their private moments whilst simultaneously exploiting the freedom of the Apple iPhone, enabling her to capture the dynamic inhabitants of her local coffee shop in California. This is what she told me, “One of the great challenges of portrait photography is the self-consciousness of the subject, who invariably presents a public persona to the photographer. With some street photography one can grab a fleeting image that momentarily penetrates the outer mask  at least until the person becomes aware of the camera. But how can a photographer make a candid shot, with a different truth, from extended observation?  Sitting in my local Venice cafe I thought how I would like to photograph the expressions, gestures, body language of my various fellow patrons, making a portrait that observed the inner persona  the candid persona that provokes a story for the viewer. The simple answer was that using the iPhone I had in my hand I could become a modern participant-observer. Made possible by the thoroughly modern technology of the iPhone I’ve made my cafe my community/ studio, and the stream of people at the small tables across from me my fellow participants/ sitters. Like the other patrons, I am absorbed in my iPhone: reading news, checking emails, getting the latest on FaceBook  but also taking photographs. As Meri Walker, an inspired mobile photographer, commented about this project: This is an ethnographic portrait of the Abbot’s Habit tribe”.

I have also attached the film that I presented in Seoul, South Korea that I discussed above.

Now, lets get to Day 7 and read @iPhoneartgirl’s thoughts on @olddog13’s latest work. She writes “@iphoneartgirl here for @theappwhisperer. I can’t NOT feature this photo today captured by the experienced eye of @olddog13 aka Susan Rennie. Susan’s street photography caught my attention four years ago and I haven’t lost interest in her journey since. This image, like so many in her “Cafe Portraits” series speaks volumes about the ways human beings use coffee shops now to find solitude while being right out in public. Tones and composition accentuate the bittersweet”

We are so excited with our latest Instagram TAKEOVER this time with @iphoneartgirl – Meri Walker and @dleibo – David Leibowitz. Singularly they are hugely talented mobile photographers and artists but combined, they are a phenomenal force of mobile talent! We are so honoured that they have taken over our Instagram feed for fourteen days. I particularly like how they put into words, what these discoveries mean to them, take a look, I’m sure you will agree.

Please take a look at our @TheAppWhisperer Instagram account to follow all the goings on and please also tag your images with #TheAppWhisperer, so that they can be found and potentially featured.

@olddog13

‘Spotlight’ As Shown At Museum of Art in Seoul, South Korea with Susan Rennie

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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]