Mobile Photography & Art – ‘Intimate Interview’ with Manuela Basaldella from Offenbach, Hessen, Germany
Our fifty first interview in this new series of intimate interviews is with talented mobile photography and artist, Manuela Basaldella from Offenbach, Hessen, Germany. This is an interview demonstrating clearly originality of thought mixed with stunning expression through her images. Enjoy!
To read the other published interviews in this series including artists, Adria Ellis, Rino Rossi, Mehmet Duyulmus, Alexis Rotella, Lou Ann Sanford Donahue, Irene Oleksiuk, Kerry Mitchell, Filiz Ak, Dale Botha, Lisa Mitchell, M. Cecilia Sao Thiago, Deborah McMillion, Rita Colantonio, Amy Ecenbarger, Jane Schultz, Anca Balaj, Joyce Harkin, Armineh Hovanesian, Kate Zari Roberts, Vicki Cooper, Peter Wilkin, Barbara Braman, Becky Menzies, Sukru Mehmet Omur, Sarah Bichachi, Michel Pretterklieber, Alon Goldsmith, Judy Lurie Whalberg, Andrea Bigiarni, Sean Hayes, Oola Cristina, Kathleen Magner-Rios, Linda Toki, Deb Field, Emilo Nadales, Lydia Cassatt, David Hayes, Jean Hutter, Frederic Deschênes, Mark Schnidman, Fatma Korkut, Fleur Schim, Rob Pearson-Wright, Dieter Gaebel, James Ellis, Marco P Prado, Jeronimo Sanz, Manuela Matos Monteiro, Bleu Chemiko and myself, go here.
All images ©Manuela Basaldella
What was your earliest childhood ambition?
I was always in search of harmony, iIn color, form, smell, movement, in all senses, feeling.
Finding and maintaining harmony has remained an ambition until today.
First Recognition?
In the first school class, the art teacher’s clear enthusiasm for a painting I painted: a monkey cub in a golden cage.
First Job?
In Summer mowing the lawns of the neighbourhood, cleaning their cars and also in the winter to eliminate snow.
Private or State school
State School. Many State schools because my dad was often sited elsewhere. It was hard to find good friends for a long time.
University or work?
Both. I worked to finance my studies and my life.
Who was or still is your mentor?
In 1978 I started studying photography. In 1980 I met Joseph Beus and was allowed to accompany him for 2 semesters. He taught me to take different perspectives. These lessons changed my life.
How physically fit are you?
I am happy every day for a day when the sun is shining. I’m getting old and that’s sometimes clear, but I can choose my own life.
Ambition or Talent. What matters more to success?
It is important to define what is success?
I succeed if I feel good about a something that I try do, when I reach a goal and I am/ we are happy.
How politically committed are you?
Actually not at all. I feel completely helpless about the incredible number of things that build people and destroy people as well.
What would you like to own that you don’t currently possess?
I would like to have a Beamer. This is an invention of science fiction to move in a short time to any location.
What is your biggest extravagance?
My biggest extravagance is to want to be what i am and to expect other people to handle it without complaint.
In what places are you happiest?
I am happiest at the sea. It has everything I need.
What ambitions do you still have?
I want to make my life positive and surround myself only with people who want that too.
.. to become a bit happier ,
.. to finally do what I want, only.
What drives you on?
My inner clock works and runs and runs …
What is the greatest achievement of my life so far?
my greatest achievement is to help other people with my knowledge and my hands.
What do you find most irritating in other people?
Cunning and deceit, liars, deliberate manipulation, I cannot understand.
If your twenty year old self could see you now, what would she think?
I would be jealous of my carefree life. Living without fear. Experiencing what is coming, no matter what tomorrow is. It is wonderful.
Which object that you have lost do you wish you still had?
.. a little bit of lost money.
What is the greatest challenge of our time?
… to stop the destruction of our world …
Do you believe in the afterlife?
I think we as an energy form are not lost. I would like to believe in a rebirth, but I do not.
If you had to rate your life satisfaction so far, out of ten, what would it be?
7 Points.
Please read…
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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]
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